Please Help-Bedtime Issues Worsening-ENW and NW

[JennVanessa1083]

Hi Shiv!

Nights have gotten slightly better. He went from 6 NW to 3 🎉🎉 however, he still is waking up 35-45 minutes after bedtime. He is also still up for an hour or so until he finally goes to bed at 11-12. I figure it may take a couple of night to adjust.

I have been having a hard time keeping him up for the first A. Yesterday he made it to 2:10 but couldn't settle so I had to give him a jiggle then today only made it until 2:05. Is that normal in terms of having trouble settling?

I also was wondering if it's normal for a 19 week old to only sleep 10-11 hours at night (not including NW). How do I accommodate the routine for shorter night sleep if it is normal?

Thanks again!

[Shiv52]

Yeah hes maybe finding the increase difficult after the shorter night.  How long did he nap for?

I'd say at 19 weeks 11 hours is probably ok but you'd be needing two longer naps and a longer CN to make up the day.  10 hours I'd think is too short with the napping he's doing. 

[JennVanessa1083]

Well yesterday he only did 2:03 A and slept for 1 hr and 16 minutes so definitely under tired. The great news is today he just about made 2:15 and slept for 1.75!! He needed slight resettling in his sleep which took two seconds. So needless to say I am on the right track. However, we were out and he took a short UT nap in the stroller at like 1.75 A. So now I'm just keeping him up for the 2 hrs and hope for another shorter nap and push up bedtime.

I think as we have said before the NW are linked to UT as well as developmental. He did sleep 11 hours collectively last night but also had 3 ENW before midnight. The good news is he self settled at bedtime at an A of 1.5 so I'm thinking that might be suitable for him. Hopefully it will work out tonight. This weekend will be all over the place in terms of naps since we are traveling to family and my mother will be babysitting while I attend an event.

[lily_layne]

The good news is he self settled at bedtime at an A of 1.5 so I'm thinking that might be suitable for him.

That's great!

[JennVanessa1083]

Thanks Jillian!

Well early night wakings and fighting bedtime is still a thing. He is still waking then staying awake for a full A. I wanted to know what is to be done with LO when he is now wanting to practice rolling instead of going or staying to sleep? lol of its not one thing it's another. 

[Shiv52]

It depends. Some people leave them to work it out.  I could do that with my DD2. My DD1 no way. I needed to just stay in and put my hand on her when she started so she knew if was sleepy time and then just faded it.  Otherwise she got wayyyyyyy OT. So it does depend on the LO.

[JennVanessa1083]

Thanks Shiv!

I realize more and more LO is sensitive to OT so I try to have him practice during the day. Sleep has improved 👏🏼

I still have a fight at bedtime but I will give it a few more days and then maybe reevaluate what I should do. I am still doing 2:15 A but will do it for a few more days to see if naps lengthen and bedtime improves. We are very loosely following bc we are away.

[Shiv52]

Enjoy being away!! Am really glad things have improved. Go you!

Hugs xx

[JennVanessa1083]

Thanks Shiv! It's a much needed time away.

The little guy is battling a cold and/or tweeting so his sleep and eating are all over the place since yesterday. I'll be back to probably get some advice on getting back on track lol

Last night he was up every 2-3 hours unable to settle for sleep and crying. He woke up at around 10:30 today! He only feeds a little at a time and pulls off a lot. We were finally spacing feeds out. Or maybe he's ready for 3.5 spacing? I feed him 2-3 hours.

 Any suggestions on how to shorten the day so he can still do an earlier bedtime tonight? I felt bad waking him up.

[JennVanessa1083]

Hi I'm posting this question here since it's all related:

I have been doing 2.25 A times for a week and a half. I have had longer AM naps at first but now they are shortening again. Unless he has had many wakings (more than 3) then he gets a good nap. He is now 20 wks should I stick to current A for another week to see? I realized he is back to waking up every 2-3 hours and short napped his AM nap and fought me when attempting to resettle.

Just wondering when I should think about an increase.

[Shiv52]

At 20 weeks babies generally do anywhere from 2-2.30 A time so it wouldn't be ridiculous if he needed a bit more. I always found if mine were OT I could resettle a nap but if UT there was no chance.

Have the NWs gotten worse again? 

On feeding I would definitely feed No less than 3 hours since the last feed and he likely does need a push to 3.5 to encourage good full feeds and not snacking.

[JennVanessa1083]

I agree...UT is always hard if not impossible. I managed to resettle but it took awhile bc he was wide awake. For his second nap he was cranky and would not self settle but that could be bc I didn't do enough of a wind down and his first nap was broken so could have been residual from that.

Yes NW have increased to about 4 ranging from 1-4 Hrs apart. We had a couple of days where it seemed that we were getting back on track as he was doing 5-8 hr stretches. Not sure of its a growth spurt, wonder week, possible teething, or needing an increase A lol

I realize my LO seems to be on the higher end of A times so he may need a push in A. I don't mind pushing at all if it means he's more tired for bedtime.

Feedings are all messed up. He wakes up around 6 to feed then goes straight back to sleep so when he wakes up at 8-9, he's not hungry and tends to just take one breast which sets the tone for snacking in my opinion.  I agree I can push to 3.5 hours between feeds. He almost did it today and got a nice feed but still wanted a top up before the second nap. I think he likes to go to bed full or maybe BF is becoming a prop. What are your thoughts on this?

[lily_layne]

You could try feeding before the nap rather than after. I was feeding DS after naps and then a top-up just before and then he dropped the post-nap feeds in favour of a nice little nurse and cuddle before sleep.

[JennVanessa1083]

I agree that is what I have been doing but I thought maybe I should stop if I was trying to encourage 3.5 hour feeding schedule. Maybe I should go back to that? Today was pretty good feeding wise. I only did a top up once before his second nap then he wasn't hungry until 3.5 hours later. He took a nice big feed then a small top up of 1 oz before sleep.

The issue of NW has worsened since throughout the night he isn't going past 4 hours; but bedtime has slightly improved where he doesn't really stay up for an hour after bedtime anymore. The most is a half hour.

Perhaps if I work towards pushing A in the am it could improve?

[JennVanessa1083]

I meant to ask you Jillian, when you do top ups; how long afterwards would you feed again? That's where I get a bit confused.