overtired at bedtime

[Amel]

hi there

my 7 week old daughter has some good and some bad days when it comes to nap time.. i can live with that.. however, i am sure i am doing something wrong with the last feed of the day, bath time and bed time.. she gets overtired and becomes hysterical every night after her bath is over. everything is fine before and during the bath..

our routine is as follows:

wake up 7
E 7
S 8.30 (most days she sleeps between 1 to 1.15 hrs, some days it takes me a very long time to get her to nap and she ends up napping for 30 mins only)

E 10
S 11.30 (1 to 1.5 hr nap)

E 1 pm
S 2.30 (some days she naps in her infant car seat)

E 4 pm
S 4.45 (1 hour catnap)

E 6.30 (very difficult to breast feed her at this time... she fusses a lot and cries hysterically and so i end up not feeding her.. it happened for several nights)
Bath 7 pm (10 minutes only)
Bed time (very very hard to calm her down, it takes 45 mins to 1 hr, while i rock her although i follow the same routine every day but she still won't settle by herself).
DF 11

NF 4 am

please help as bed time is becoming a nightmare.. oh and by the way i am only BF and so far it is going very well.

[goldmom]

DD used to also get very hysterical after a bath when she was that little. I think she was over-stimulated by it. I just tried to keep it really quick, dimmer lights, and immediately feed as soon as we were out. She grew out of it eventually and could handle the bath better, we only bathed every other night.

[creations]

Hi
Could you add to your EASY times please to show how long she is sleeping?  If you click on 'modify' to the top right of the post you will be able to edit your post to add in the times she wakes from naps, could you also put in the morning WU time (when she wakes in the morning) and the evening BT (what time she falls to sleep).  It would be helpful to see how much sleep she is getting at each nap.
Thanks.

[danaadell]

Is she sleep 2+ hours at each nap? I am lucky to get 1.5 hours out of my 8 week old.  We have the same problem whether or not his naps have been good that day.

[Amel]

thanks gold mom and danadell..

creations, i have edited as you requested. so please check it out and help please

[creations]

Hi there.
It looks like her A times are too long for her age. Now, you did say that it was only the evenings that are difficult so you might want to only change the evening routine (for the rest of the day 'if it's not broken, don't fix it' approach) although you might also find it beneficial to tweak the rest of the day too.
So, at 8 weeks guidance A time is 1hr 15 to 1hr 20.
Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!
This is not a time set in stone and if you feel she is doing well on longer and following her cues then that's fine.  A few of the day time As are much longer than this, eg
S 8.30am - 9.30/9.45
A 2hr
S 11.30
Like I said, this might suit her well, if you consistently had 1.5hr naps here I would certainly say to leave well alone.

The evening then. It looks like you have this:
S 4.45 - 5.45
A 2hr 15
BT 8pm ish based on reading 10 min bath and 45 - 60 mins to settle for bed.

Seems she is getting way OT for BT making it really hard to settle to sleep.
I would aim to have her asleep for no later than 7pm based on her morning WU time of 7am and her last nap.  Some LOs need a shorter A before BT because they are getting more tired through the day even though they nap, even LOs who do well on a full A time before BT prob couldn't cope with an A this long before having a melt down.  I would begin her BT routine as soon as she wakes from the last nap. Get the bath in early before she is too tired for it, a calm feed and cuddle and into bed.
E 4pm
S 4.45 - 5.45
E (cluster feed if needed/wanted and during GS)
A 1hr 15 (I would begin bath straight away, it can be hard to fit everything in)
E (begin early enough to get the feed finished before BT. It doesn’t matter that 3hrs has not passed)
BT 7.00pm (this is the time to be asleep)

Hope this helps.

[Amel]

thanks a lot creations.. ill try out the BT routine you suggested tonight and let you know..

fingers crossed

[Amel]

hi again

so i tried your suggestions for the past two nights and here is what happened.. she refuses to feed longer than 5 minutes when she wakes up from her catnap (which by the way i usually do by pushing her on a stroller while taking a walk with my other daughter).  the only time she would take the breast is when she is calm and asleep..

i tried everything but she refused my breast, and cries hysterically if i try to give her.. i don't have this issue in the earlier feeds.

anyways my two issues at the moment are:

- my daughter seems less interested in taking a feed in the later feeds of the day (3 o'clock feed and 6 o'clock feed)
- bed time takes my 1 hour just to calm my baby down after her bath although in the morning naps, it takes her 15-20 minutes to go to sleep.

it seems to me that she is overtired because of the short catnap of the evening.

please helpppppp

[creations]

Have you tried moving the bath much earlier in the day? She might be finding it over stimulating which isn't helping to settle for sleep? It may be worth trying it in the morning hours when she is happier and just do a quick top and tail before bed instead?

[Amel]

i have tried skipping the bath once and still she seems to be unsettled.. I'm assuming it is be cause of the catnap.. it is too short for her at this age, and i was wondering if it is possible to extend it without affecting night sleep? has anyone tried having a 1-1.5 hour nap instead of a short catnap?

[creations]

If you post your current EASY times I might be able to suggest something. Post the times that happen rather than what you hope for and a short note on her mood and what you do to settle her.  Maybe yesterday's or today's.