8 week old

[grace annes mommy]

J is 10 weeks now and still not much of a napper.    Night sleep, however, has been pretty good. *touch wood!*  For naps, we have a LOT of AP going on and hardly any independent settling.  Part of it is I'm clueless about her A time.  Her first nap is her easiest to go down for when she's not OT, but usually seems to be an UT 45/55 min nap.  But if I push the A out, she's hard to get down and needs lots of patting or APing.  All the other naps, I pretty much either rock her to sleep or she's in the ergo mostly bc I think she's OT from the first short nap.  At night, if she doesn't fall asleep at the bottle, she needs quite a bit of APing to go down as well.  But overnight, she's only getting up for one feed and sleeping 11 to 12 hours so she must know how to self-settle to some extent, right?  What do you think - is all the APing going to come back to haunt us later down the road or is it OK for now.

[lily_layne]

is all the APing going to come back to haunt us later down the road or is it OK for now.

My vote is that it's ok. I kept worrying about all the AP I did with DS, feeling that he was getting too big for it (at only 10 weeks!) and looking back, that's still pretty little. Josephine is still enjoying her fourth trimester! I wouldn't start to think about alternatives to AP for a few weeks yet.

[grace annes mommy]

Thanks! That's my feeling as well but always nice to hear it from someone else.

[lily_layne]

I had to hear it from lots of moms on here before I could really relax about it. In fact, I have a whole thread about it

[grace annes mommy]

Me again. 

I've moved DD2 into the "rock and play" for naps and that's helped her finally get some long naps that aren't in the sling.  In fact, yesterday she had too ultra long naps and then I couldn't settle her until 9pm for bed.     She woke more than usual last night, then I had to wake her this a.m. at 8:30.  If it's not one thing, it's another!  I have a hunch she's inching towards a 3.5 hr routine.  What does that transition look like?  Seems hairy. 
Also, what's your rule of thumb as far as waking from naps or in the a.m.  I hardly ever woke DD1 but that's bc sleep was rare for a long time.  With DD2, long naps don't seem worth it if she's up til 9pm and at night.

[lily_layne]

That's great that the rock 'n' play is working. DS (and DD) had a lot of swing naps. DD almost always napped better in the swing and it was no problem weaning it when the time was right.

I don't remember consciously transitioning to a 3.5 hr routine. It just sort of happened naturally as DS's A times increased. I do remember that one day he was just all of a sudden ready to be awake longer. Stretching the feeding wasn't an issue with him as he really only ate every 4 hrs from the start. With DD, I think we just jumped to a 4 hr routine around 4 months. Sorry - that wasn't much help!

I woke DD from naps way more than I ever did with DS. DH always said I was "messing with her" and it would be alright if I left her be and in hindsight, I think he was right. I was more inclined to leave DS but he does need more sleep in general. I would try a few days without waking her and just see if it does reliably cause BT issues and wake her if it does. If I did cap a nap, it was usually the last one, to try and keep a decently early BT. I had intentions of waking DS at a consistent time from about 8 weeks on but really never did follow through. If he slept longer than 7/7:30, I usually did the first nap in the stroller which virtually guaranteed a short nap which got the day back on track. At 11 months, I still rarely wake him and it's working ok.

[grace annes mommy]

Thanks for your thoughts!  She was up more times than I can count last night so something's up.    Gonna just ride thru the day and see what it brings...

[lily_layne]

Wonder week? Both LOs had silly amounts of NWs during a WW.

[grace annes mommy]

Possibly?  She's 11 weeks now.  I can't remember the WWs - is there one at 12 weeks? 

She's massively OT today... I feel like all I've been doing all day long is trying to get her down for a nap.

Today so far has been:

WU 7am (after being up every hour or 2 all night...)
E 7:30 (not much, also ate at 5am)
A
S 8:30 - 9:10, resettled by rocking until in a deep sleep...
S 9:15 - 10:20

E 10:30
A
S tried for a nap around 11:45, she just played in her crib.  Finally started fussing, so rocked her til drowsy.  Slept from 12:40 til 12:50!

E 1pm - figured I'd just feed her...
A
S 1:10-1:35  Fell asleep with bottle, but then up again...
A
S - in sling now at 2:10pm

Just really hoping all this AP hasn't affected her ability to self-settle at night...  Bedtimes have been annoying for a couple weeks now.  She dozes off at the bottle, then wakes about 10 minutes after being put in the crib.  On a good night (which has only happened once or twice), she'll look around for a while, then doze off.  Sometimes, if she's fussing, I can replug her and she'll go off.  Or I may have to pat a bit.  Other nights, I have to get her up and rock her to sleep.  Sometimes she just wakes once.  Sometimes, I have to go in multiple times.  I don't know if I'm putting her down too late or too early or it's a self-settling issue or what.  It makes me dread bt though since I also need to read books with DD1 and give her some attention.  Hard to be running back and forth between rooms...

[grace annes mommy]

So the rest of the day was:

S 2:10 til 4:30 - in the ergo but transferred her to rock and play around 3:45/4.  woke her at 4:30pm
E 4:30
A
S 6:15 to 6:45 - in ergo, DH tried earlier but took a long time to settle.
E 7:30 fell asleep at bottle
in bed at 7:50

It worked out for a shorter A than I'd been doing to bed and for the first time in ages, she hasn't woken just after being put down, so I'm really hoping I just answered my own question there and she's been a bit OT at bt. 
I'm wondering if she needs more A time for naps, though.  I've been shooting for 1.5 hrs give or take but she's been so hard to settle sometimes.
Thanks for your input and letting me think out loud here!   

[lily_layne]

Just really hoping all this AP hasn't affected her ability to self-settle at night... 

It shouldn't. Night sleep is controlled by a different part of the brain than day sleep. I did lots of APOP with DD in the day and it never caused a problem at night.

I checked my app. The smooth transitions leap starts between 11-12 weeks so I'd say that's definitely part of what's going on. Some LOs (like my DD) are more affected by wonder weeks than others. She could also be ready for longer A times. I was better at catching A time leaps with DS than with DD and I remember that one day he went from 1.5 hrs to 2 hrs!

I hope the shorter A to BT helps. I was never able to figure out BT with DD. We struggled for months. In hindsight, I think part of it was just the way she was (she still takes ages to settle to sleep) and part of it was I was putting her down too late.

[grace annes mommy]

Interesting! I never read the WWs book, just heard about it here and there from here.  But something's definitely changing in her this week so now I'm intrigued.

Of course, spoke too soon about bt. She woke after an hour but settled quickly with a replug and a quick pat.  I'm off to bed myself as who knows what tonight will bring...

Thanks for the reassurance about APOP during naps.  DD1 is off school for the next 3 weeks so we'll be having a lot of APing with naps on the go, I'm sure.

[grace annes mommy]

Well she was up every 3 hrs to eat last night, but then only took a few ounces each time.  Really hoping this is a WW blip and things will settle down soon...  Naps have been pretty decent so far today, though.  She sleeps pretty well in the rock and play.  I'm considering putting her in it tonight for bed to see if we can get a better night sleep.  Don't want to create another issue, though.  What do you think?

[lily_layne]

Really hoping this is a WW blip and things will settle down soon... 

It really sounds like a ww to me. I haven't read the book either - I just have the app. It's $2 but I like knowing when the next WW is coming.

I would try her in the rock 'n' play tonight. Sometimes, you just need sleep! If nights are generally ok, I don't think a night or 2 will ruin that. I used to put DD in the swing when nights got tough and it didn't become an issue.

[grace annes mommy]

So, all the night time antics were definitely a WW!  Will have to keep that in mind from now on!

J is 3 months tomorrow!!!  And doing all sleeps in the rock and play.  That vibrates!    She can self settle, but I typically rock her til drowsy.  She also still can't make it thru that 40 min mark of naps usually, and I again rock her back down bc it's faster.  Her naps are not great, but we have a good routine for the family that allows us to get out.  And she sleeps well at night with 1 wakeup.  The other night she did 12 hrs for the first time.

So my question is.....   How long can I get away with this before it all comes back to haunt me???  I was skimming BWSAYP yesterday and started getting very nervous!!!