We're really struggling here. Our sweet girl takes ages and ages to fall asleep so her A times are often incredibly long. She really dislikes ssh-pat and it is not effective at all so the routine is as soon as she shows signs of tiredness I swaddle and put in the crib with a pacifier (recently started pacifier as were desperate for help). This typically happens around 45-50 min A time. 5% of the time she will fall asleep but only after I've gone back in several times to put the pacifier back in, usually around 20 minutes. If that just isn't working, though and she's getting OT then I'll eventually rock in the chair. She will then fall asleep pretty quickly and I'll try to put her down right away/drowsy so she falls asleep on her own. She will then either immediately wake up or wake up a couple of minutes later and need to be soothed. So I'll rock again but this time rock her until I think she's in a deep sleep before I transfer to crib. This will take another 15-45 minutes at times. Occasionally she will then sleep in the crib but often she will then wake up again. I then rock for remainder of nap or put her in a wrap as by this point my DS is quite tired of being ignored and I need to tend him or some house duties.
She will then typically only nap for 30-45 minutes. So EAS ends up being a 1.5-2 hour cycle and A times end up being 45 minutes up to 1 hr 45 at times as she just won't settle
. Occasionally she will have a long nap but it's rare. She used to in the first few weeks but they are getting more and more rare. However, yesterday I put the pacifier back in her mouth when she woke while I was carrying her in the wrap and she fell asleep for another sleep cycle. I did this again when going for a walk in the stroller. That's when I clued in that she isn't waking up because she's hungry, she's waking up because she's OT. Add to that, she is typically awake for 2.5-3.5 hours in the evening and simply will not settle for the night. The only thing that makes her stop crying is nursing even though she's just doing it for comfort, not for food most of the time. She will fall in and out of sleep during that period of time but instantly wakes if I try to put in the pacifier or put her in her crib. Eventually DH will take her on the couch and sleep with her as we are do tired and desperate for her to go to sleep.
What to do? Stop trying to teach independent sleep and just APOP naps so A times are not so long, making naps short since she's still so young? When I do APOP she falls asleep WAY faster. If she's in the wrap/sling or stroller she'll fall asleep in 5-10 minutes.
"Typical EAS":
WU 7:30
E 7:30
S 8:30-9:15 (45) - usually in crib
E 9:15
S 10:45-11:30 (45) - sometimes in crib, sometimes have to give up and rock or put in wrap/sling
E 11:30
S 1:15-1:45 (30) - sometimes in crib, sometimes have to give up and rock or put in wrap/sling
E 1:45
S 3:00-4:30 (1.5)- sometimes in crib, sometimes have to give up and rock or put in wrap/sling or walk in stroller
E 4:30
S 5:30-6:15 - in wrap/sling while we eat supper as won't sleep in crib
E 6:15 - 9:15 (won't settle to sleep)
S 9:15-1:00 (4) - usually on couch with DH
E 1:00
S 1:30-4:00 (2.5) - usually in crib and goes down easily
E 4:00
S 4:45-5:45(1) - usually in crib, sometimes on couch, often has a hard time going down
E 5:45
S 6:45-7:30 (45) - usually in crib, almost always has a very difficult time going down
