Hi!
We have just put my four and a half month old on shush pat/PU PD routine and I have SO many questions! He has been in the eat/play/sleep routine for a while now, I just never knew I was doing it before I read the book. He has acid reflux so he has never been the best sleeper and up until a couple of days ago he was sleeping in his swing. We have transitioned him to the crib now (we elevated the crib mattress) and he seems to be taking it very well.
So Night 1 of doing shush pat and PU/PD was a long one. It took him 45 minutes to go to sleep at bedtime, then he was up every hour until 11pm (dream feed) and then up from 1:30am-3:30am and then 5:00-6:30am and then up at 8am for the day. Naps the next day went well with him having two 2 hour naps and a 30 minute cat nap - I was so surprised because he never does that! I thought this whole thing was going to be a breeze.
Night 2 took him around 30 minutes to go down at bedtime and again up every hour till 11pm(dreamfeed) but then slept all the way to 6am (!!) where I nursed him and then he went back down until 8am. Naps this day were horrible. He fought going down and it took about 30 minutes to get him down and then he would only sleep for 30 minutes each time. So two 30 minute naps and a 30 min cat nap. I tried to do shush pat and PU/PD till his nap time would have been over for both naps to no avail. He was very cranky.
Night 3 was like going back to the beginning! I swear in the book she said it should be smooth sailing by this night. Took 15 minutes to go to bed but up every hour till 11. Fed him and he was then up every 45 minutes from 1:30-6 when I fed him and then he went back down till 8:30am.
SO my questions are -
1. How do you get rid of the waking up every hour between bedtime and dream feed? It's like he never gets into a deep enough sleep to tide him over.
2. Is it normal to go backwards in terms of the routine working? First night was rough, second we made huge progress, and then third we are going back to square one.
3. He settles with the pacifier, but I don't want to get up 1000 times a night or during nap time to pop it back in. Do I ditch it all together? Do i let him have it to settle him and then take it out before he is 100% asleep?
4. If he wakes up early/doesn't go back to sleep for naps, do I feed him early or wait until i "should" feed him according to the routine?
Usually -
8am wake up and feed. He is a super fast nurser and gets super distracted so 5 minutes usually
9:30-45 starts getting tired so we wind down
10 try to have him asleep
Between 11:30-12 wake up and eat (every day is different though! it could be 45 minutes or 2 hours)
1:30-2 wind down and go to sleep
Between 3:30-4 wake and eat
Between 5-6 cat nap for 30 to 45 min
7 eat
715- 730 bath
8 bed time
11 df
that is on his absolute BEST days. Usually it is just all over the place. I feel like I have a lot more questions but we can start from there
Thanks so much!!