Hi
What time does she typically fall asleep at night? You're just at the start of the month of her life in which her A time will change most, so let's get you sorted so you're able to move through it with least discomfort. Basically between 13 weeks and 4 months, "typical" A times go from 1.5hr to 2hr, so from:
7 - wake, E
8:30 - S
10 - E
11:30 - S
1 - E
2:30 - S
4 - E
5:30 - CN
6 - E
6:45 - BT feed
7 - asleep for the night (expect a couple of night feeds)
10 - DF if you choose
to:
7 - wake, E
9 - S
10:30 - E
12:30 - S
2 - E
4 - S
5:30 - E
6:30/6:45 BT feed
7 - asleep for the night (expect a couple of night feeds)
10 - DF if you choose
In general, the easiest way to get from one routine to the other as seamlessly as possible is to have a 'typical' A time in mind, clock watch to get to ~10min before A time is up and watch LO for cues. Sleep cues are so variable that I found I needed a window to watch for them or I'd interpret everything as a sleep cue or nothing as a sleep cue and get into a right mess.
Can you please provide a little detail about birth & feeding - was she premmie, presume from your post that she's bottle fed formula, any current medical issues?
Is there anything stopping you putting her in your room in a bassinet or something to sleep while you are up still in the evening?
I reckon chances are with the long A time in the afternoon (2.5hr is a LONG time for a 13wo) she is really OT by the evening and struggles to get to sleep. TV may be too stimulating to really allow her to get to sleep in the evening too.
Ditching the paci - your call, really. This is the age to do it if you're going to do it. By 7-8 months, I think, most babies can replug themselves and it becomes a comfort item rather than a prop but then you also have teeth and mouth development to think of and is much harder to take a dummy from an attached 2yo that a 13wo.
Naps - length variations suggest she's UT and OT at various times, maybe just waking up out of that sleepy newborn phase. Do you have detail of when the naps were short/resettled, etc. in the last few days?
Let her sleep past E time - yes, unless she's taking insufficient milk, producing insufficient wet nappies or was premmie (in which case I defer to your paed), its fine to let her sleep, though I would say not more than 2hr for naps in the day or you can end up with day and night reversing or shifting which I think is likely what you had with her sleeping most of the morning given BT is so late. For night feeds, unless there is a medical reason to do so, only feed when LO wakes or you can create habits you don't really want.
Don't worry too much about bad habits in terms of props at this age, get through your move - that's enough big change and upheaval for your family I'm sure without taking on much sleep training or prop breaking at this point. Providing you've got a solid routine in place, I think ~5 months is the easiest age to sleep train.
