12 week old: Night waking and short naps

[jowen239]

Hi,

first of all I am very glad to have found this forum.

My son Sam is 12 weeks old, he was born 3.5 weeks early and is overall a very easy-going child and easy to sooth besides sometimes at the late afternoon before bedtime.

So, my questions is I put Sam to bed around 7 pm every night with before a bath and bfing, I dream feed  him at 2130 and afterwards I go to bed, he wakes up around 3 am for another feeding and goes right back to bed. however, between430 and 0600 he is waking a lot and often very gassy, i give him his pacifier and he relaxes for 30 more mins and does the same thing again until we get up at around 0630. Is there anything I should do differently? or do you guys have any advice?

My second question is about naps. He only naps longer than 20-30 mins for his nap around lunch time all the other times I pretty much can set a clock that he will be  awake after 20 mins. He is swaddled and we have downtime right before, he falls asleep pretty fast.. How can I get him to take longer naps?

Besides those questions I am very happy with his progress so far since we started about a week ago, he stopped waking up a 1 am and sleeps now until 3 am at night and only has one feeding instead of two at night

[Skadiver13]

My son Sam is 12 weeks old, he was born 3.5 weeks early

Hi Hun welcome. Quick question is he 12 weeks adjusted or really 9 weeks?

between430 and 0600 he is waking a lot and often very gassy,

This can be normal but can also be a sign of some possible reflux or just gastro issues. How long has this been going on. If just recently have you added anythign new to your diet that could be causing him gas?

What does your wind down for naps and bedtime look like? How long in advance d you start. Does he go to sleep independently or do you rock, feed him to sleep etc? We fought with that 20-35min wakeing for naps for AGES. I finally realized for some of it when he was that age was he was a huge jolter. So even though he was swaddled he would jolt and would wake himself up. So for a bit I would sneak into his room right about at 20min and put gentle pressure on his chest to help him through the jolts then sneak back out. 

What does your EASY look like?

[jowen239]

Thank you for your fast answer.

He was born 12 weeks ago, so he actually would be 9 weeks old now!

I haven't added anything new to my diet, although I rarely eat meat and feel like it is worse when I do eat meat. not 100% sure though. It been going on on and off for a couple of weeks.

My wind down for naps is getting shutting the blinds, swaddling him, and having him on my lap, often he is sucking on his pacifier. Before bedtime we do the same just we give him a bath and feed him before wind down time. Bedtime wind down is about 45 mins and for naps about 5-10 mins! I do not rock or feed him to sleep, he get swaddled and get his pacifier if he wants it, a lot of times at night he spits it out and falls asleep on his one, he seems to be more dependent on the pacifier for naps

[jowen239]

this is his schedule from the last days, I didn't add the As which I always did before his naps or after. sometimes often it was hard to do for an hour because he gets so sleepy

26 January 2013
640 feed 652 done
710 put down 730 sleep
815 awake

1000 eat
1025 sleep til 1230 during church (2hrs)

1245 eat
1335 in crib with down time before including swaddling
1340 asleep
1420 awake (40 mins)
1425 in swing

1520 eat
1545 swing
1547 asleep
1556 awake (11 mins)
1600 asleep
1625 awake (25 mins)

1700 eat
1800 bath
1815 eat
1845 sleep
1900 awake
1905 asleep

2130 dreamfeed


27 January 2013
0115 eat
0139 sleep
0430 awake pacifier
0525 eat
0615 sleep

0715 eat
0800 in swing
0803 asleep 0807 awake
0809 asleep
0830 awake

955 eat
1030 in bassinet and slept right away with wind down time
1045 woke up, put pacifier back in
1053 up again pacifier back in
1300 wake him up

1310 eat
1350 in crib
1420 awake

1545 eat
1655 sleep in bassinet
1725 awake

1820 eat
1845 in bassinet
1900 asleep

2125 dreamfeed

28 January 2014
0140 eat
0410 awake
0500 eat and change
0515 back to b

0545 gas pain in bed
0640 eat poop in potty
730 sleep in swing
0755 awake
0900 asleep in ergo
0925 awake

0945 eat
1035 in bassinet
1045 asleep
1130 awake pacifier back in

1300 woke up
1310 eAt
1350 on bed
1445 awake

1530 eat
1600 asleep in swing
1630 awake
1700 eat again

1807 eat
1845 in bassinet

2145 dreamfeed

0330 eat
0340 back to bassinet
1815 awake

0635 eat
0720 asleep in swing
0740 awake
0850 asleep in stroller
0915 awake

0920 eatv20 mins
1015 in bassinet
1040 asleep without pacifier
1045 awake again
1100 asleep
1120 awake
1138 asleep

1255 eat
1400 in crib
1430 woke up

1535 eat
1600 sleep in bassinet
1630 awake
1730 asleep in swing
1800 awake and bath

1825 eat
1900 in bassinet
2134 dreamfeed

30 January 2014
0230 awake and eat

0515 awake with gas
0630 eat
0730 asleep in swing
0900 awake

1000 eat
1015 asleep in stroller
1245 awake

1245 eat
1315 asleep
1445 woke him up
1600 wake up again

1600 eat short nap afterwards
1915 in bassinet
2200 dreamfeed

31 January
0300 eat
0645 eat
0730 asleep in crib
0800 awake
0905 asleep in swing
0930 awake

0945 eat
1030 in bassinet
1045 asleep

[Skadiver13]

naps about 5-10 mins!

Hi Hun, maybe try lengthening your wind down a bit. Maybe 20min or so? I would say no tv, bright lighted/noisy toys at least 30min before a nap.  A lot of lo's (mine still at 20months) get over stimulated by all that stuff and so a nice 20min wind down before a nap with a book or lullaby soft music etc is a nice way to get them settled in. So really he's just about 2.5 months so he's really just getting the hang of sleeping on his own etc. I think you are doing  a great job. It's hard to look through all info you posted and make sense of it all not your fault it's just that many babies don't do a lot of awake time before 8 weeks so there really is no set routine until you start to see one emerge and then you can work off of that. 

Take a look at this link if you haven't already and look at some of the samples for your lo's age group and see if any look like what you are doing now.

chronological EASY samples, 0-3 months

Hope this helps.

[jowen239]

Great thank you I will try a longer wind down window, he often starts to fall asleep in my lap though once he is swaddled should I just hold off on swaddling until 15 mins into the wind down window?

thank you so much for your help!

[Skadiver13]

I would make the swaddling part of your wind down but do it just before putting to sleep. Have you read about the 4 S's?

What does a good wind down consist of (Includes 4S ritual)

Also this is a great post full of info.. I know it's a lot of reading but hopefully you may find some info helpful.
Sleep Training  - the early days

[jowen239]

Thank you I will look through all that! I haven't read about the 4S yet. I need to read faster

[Skadiver13]

LOL yeah in all your free time.

[jowen239]

Okay… i read a lot today I have one more question about the 4 S. She wrote in her book to shush and pat the baby in the crib and she did it 10 mins even when the baby was quiet! Does that mean I do it even if the baby is sleeping? or do I stop before he falls asleep in his bed? I read it three times and seem to not understand if I do it until he is almost asleep or do I keep going?

Do I stay 20 mins and just watch him and make sure he is asleep or do I actively shush and pat for 20 mins and cover his eyes?

[Skadiver13]

Hi hun, sorry for the delayed reply. That's a good question. I think the point is to shush until your baby is fully asleep but then progress to before they fall asleep there for teaching them to eventually fall asleep on their own. I wouldn't stay in the room because eventually you'll want him to fall asleep after you leave the room so you wont want him to be dependent on you being in the room to fall asleep.

Heres another explanation.
Shush-pat - How to

[jnjurgy6]

How did you get Sam down to 1 night feeding? I dream feed around 10:15-10:30, but then he wakes between 1:45-2:30 and 4:45-530 to eat. I would love if he only fed once after dreamfeed.