11 week old. Napping and EASY questions

[AbbG]

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is at the right place...

My DS2 is 11 weeks old Friday.

Until around a week ago he'd regularly sleep 1-2 hours at a time, and a few days a week I'd wake him from 1 sleep at 2-2.15 hours. Now we're back to 40-50 minutes.

Around a week ago he cut his naps so I extended awake time to 1.10, doesn't seem to have helped!

Also, I'm finding it near impossible to feed him in longer than 2 hour intervals (daytime), due to this cat napping.

Our EASY is kinda all over the place depending on wake up time, but is kinda like this...

E 6am (he's often awake earlier but I try to hold him till 6am)
S down 7.10, asleep 7.20
E 8am
S down 9.10, asleep 9.20
E 10
S down 11.10 asleep 11.20
E 12
S down 1.10 asleep 1.20
E 2
S down 3.10 asleep 3.20 (often wakes from this sleep like he's been startled - crying)

I'd usually take him out for a walk in the pram here to get him a little more sleep, so feed him either before or after, maybe 4/4.45 (generally he refuses to nap in his cot if he has woken after around 3.30 - so have to do APOP to get an extra nap in - when possible with DS1).

E 6.15/6.30
S depends how long he takes, maybe 7/7.30

I'd like to feed him less regularly but with the short naps it gets too hard to work around.

Night time he mostly wakes between 2 and 3 and then morning wakes between 5 and 6 and as much as possible I leave him till 6. (But sometimes closer to midnight and then 4-5)

I'm sure he needs more sleep as he's constantly falling asleep while feeding and almost always does at his 6pm (ish) feed. He also gets cranky before 1.10 sometimes so I put him down earlier - still results in 40 mins.

I have tried to bump A time a bit, and sometimes it takes him longer to go to sleep. Doesn't change the sleep time.

Any thoughts, or should I just ride it out and hope for a change at 3 or 4 months?

[AbbG]

Good news.

Today we followed above, but I fed at 2.5 hours (9.30) and he took a little longer to settle... He's currently still asleep, creeping up to 2ish hours.

[becj86]

Hi

Welcome to BW!

Around this age can be a bit tricky with A times as they wake up from the sleepy newborn phase. I'd give 1:20-1:30 A time a go and see if those naps get longer. Those 40min naps are pretty classic undertired/developmental length naps (one sleep cycle) and at this age and that A time, I'd guess at UT rather than developmental at this point. You could give hold through the jolts a go to extend the nap if you want to give that a go with DS1 around. I'd go with the A times first then if you still have the 40min naps with 1:30, think about extending.

[AbbG]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

Ive actually been a BW member since DS1 in 2013, however my login wouldn't work, so Ive signed up again!

Anyway, I'll try the 1.30.. we're creeping up to 3 months anyway, so guess it's getting close to time. Ive stretched a little and we have been getting closer to 1 hour sleeps this arvo - which is a little more restorative for him.

I have 3 questions, which may or may not be easy answers..

1) DS2 sometimes cries out at 10 minutes, generally just rolls over and goes back to sleep - I dont think that DS1 really ever did this ... any idea is this is a sign of OT or UT?

2) DS2 tends to wake from his 2nd last sleep crying - so assume a sudden wake.. any idea what this could mean?

NO worries if neither of these are easy answers.. just 2 things Ive been wondering about!

Thanks

[becj86]

1) no, just happens to some babies. Maybe a variant of the jolts.
2) possibly overstimulation - certainly that was the case for DS when he did that and it seems to happen more in spirited LOs and/or when siblings/mum/dad have arrived home.

With that increase extending the nap but still at UT length, I'd keep pushing those times a bit more