10 week old waking at 40 min for all naps!

[marjorie_kate]

Hi there,
I'm new to BW and have a question about my short napper!  My DD is a happy baby and sleeping 6 or more hours most nights in her crib!  We are 2 weeks into an EASY schedule although before I was trying to go with an eat/wake/sleep routine since she was 6 weeks old.
Here is her EASY:
Wake 7:00
E:-7:30
A: 8:35- took 10 min with shh/pat
S: 9:15- stirred, I went in to resettle
9:30- by then super aggitated after major crying, shh/Pat did not settle.  Kept her up but she yawned and was so tired
E: 10:15-10:45
A: 1100
S: 1210
1250 awake, sitter was with her so she got her up
E: 1:00-1:10- bottle with sitter
A: 1:10-2:30
S: 2:30-4:00- only bc I got home from work and she was so tired she fell asleep on me before I could even start the 4s thing so I put her in the sling.
E: 4:00-4:30
A: 4:30-5:30
S: 5:30- 6:15, she woke up and I
Got her up as this is supposed to be a cat nap anyway, right?
E: 6:45-7:15
Tried to put to bed right after but she woke up after 15 minutes due to DH being loud... Ugh
Finally asleep at 800
Slept till 645AM!!!
My primary questions are what to do if shh/Pat doesn't work when I try to resettle her? I used to walk her around the house and don't want to resort back to that!
Also, what A time should I expect for her age?  I haven't read through all the boards yet and am trying to figure that out.
Does A time include Eating time for the total? Thanks for any help!

[deborahchristine]

Hi! I am new to the boards too. I found this on average awake times. Disclaimer - I literally copied and pasted it from someone else post so these are not my words. I do include feeding as awake time. Good luck. I hope someone with more experience can help you but thought I would let you know what I could.

Here is a general guideline of what you can expect regarding awake time for your lo: (remember some babies get a little more, some a little less. It's just a rough guideline)

Awake time for babies

Newborn 50-60 mins
1 month 60 mins - 1 hour 15 mins
2 months 1 hour 15 - 20 mins
3 months 1 hour 20 - 30 mins
4 months 1 hour 45 mins - 2 hours
5 months 2 hours - 2 hours 30 mins
Late 5 months/early 6 months 2 hours 30 mins - 3 hours
6.5 - 7 months 2 hours 45 mins - 3 hours 15 mins. Some are getting more.
8 - 10 months 3 - 4 hours. Some are getting more.
11 - 12 months 3 hours 30 mins - 4 hours 30 mins. Some are getting more if moved early to 1 nap


***Remember these are guidelines, NOT rules, so if you feel that your baby is not yet ready for these A times, please do not force them, as this will cause further problems***

[lily_layne]

Thanks Deborahchristine for sharing that info!

I read through your EASY but had a bit of a tough time understanding it. Did she go to sleep at 8:35 and then woke at 9:15? Was she awake from then until 12:15?

Most LOs transition to a new sleep cycle so it's a common time for them to wake up. 10 weeks old is still pretty young and 40 minutes naps are pretty common so your routine may vary a bit from day to day. Usually babies need a bit less A time after a 40 minute nap.

A time is everything from eyes open to eyes closed (includes eating and the time it takes to fall asleep). If sh/pat doesn't work, you can just get her up and shorten the next A time or since she's still quite small, you could try popping her in a sling or rocking her.

[marjorie_kate]

Hi again,
Thanks for the post about activity time.  I'm pretty sure my LO is awake a lot more than is normal for her age primarily because she wakes up after 40-45 minutes and then has more A time until she's ready to eat again.  She's on a consistent 3 hour eating routine, so I try to keep this in between time very low stim and keep her up on my shoulder in hopes she might fall asleep again. 
Here's our EASY from today- modifications had to happen as we were at church and out to lunch.
745- up, diaper change
800- eat
830- activity, bath
925- 4ss
935- sleep on mom (getting ready for church)
1000- woke up when we arrived at church
1110-eat
1150-sleep in car seat
205- awake/activity
325- 4ss
340- sleep
415- woke up, tried to shhpat but got more upset, wanted to be held and yawning bc she was still tired
450- eat
5:20- activity
620- 4ss
640- sleep
720- woke up with wide eyes, not sleepy
750- eat, swaddled and prepped for bedtime
820- bedtime but needed major diaper change from blowout and was super unhappy about this
840- 4ss
855- quiet in crib, not fully asleep but wasn't yelping or crying so I left her in there
902- cried out but then settled, I did not go pick her up

So, what do I do about all this extra awake/activity time due to her short naps?  I will try to put her in the sling and already leave her swaddled and just shhpat in her room but she gets more upset if I try it in her crib, so I pick her up and put her on my shoulder.  About 75% of her naps I go in at 40 min bc she's loud enough I know she won't settle on her own and she is wide awake and greets me with a smile.  Sometimes she is awake but still visibly tired which is when I try my best for her to sleep more. 
She's been sleeping 7-10 hours at night (thank God!) last night she woke at 5am which is why our EASY started late this morning.

[marjorie_kate]

I did feed her at 150 for half an hour... Missed that in the above post.  Thanks for any thoughts, advice.  I know she is still so little... How long until her sleep cycle gets longer or she learns to sleep through a new cycle starting?

[lily_layne]

It will be a while yet until her sleep cycle gets longer (I know that's not what you want to hear - sorry). Usually around 5-6 months things get a lot easier. She's still in her "fourth" trimester and is really still so small so it's normal for things to be so unpredictable.

I didn't get a chance to read through your whole routine - sorry. I just returned to work full-time and am pretty tired in the evenings. It would be easier if you posted it in a shorter format.
Ex:
WU: 7
E: 715
S: 8:30-11
E:
S:
etc.

If you're both getting frustrated with sh/pat, it's ok to just get her up and move on with your day.

[marjorie_kate]

Thanks for reading and for the encouragement.  She's really doing pretty well except for the nap thing so I am thankful for that.  Here is our EASY
730 WU and E
800 A
840 4ss, S
940 A
1030 E
1100A
1145-1215 S (nap in car)
1215 A
130 E
200 A
245 S
415 A
430 E
500 A
555 S
640 A
730 E
805 Bedtime
835 WU
845 S

I guess I just need to be patient and let her keep growing.  Her naps today were short just like always but I did get her in the Ergo for her afternoon nap and thankfully got her to sleep a whole 1.5 hours!  She just is so tired when she wakes up and still usually has an hour before I can feed her.  Thanks again for your feedback.  People who actually are doing this too area so encouraging!

[lauradj]

Hey there!

  I thought I'd chime in as well.  I noticed some of your A times are quite long, most babies her age are only awake for 1hr 20-30mins.  Anything more and they fall into an OT cycle which can be wretched to get out of.  Below I've attached the link to give you an idea of how long your LO should be awake for, eyes open to eyes shut. 
Young babies really do give their parents a run for their money but I think if you keep your A times consistent she'll begin to even out. 

Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!

[marjorie_kate]

Thanks!  Should I put her down for a second nap if she has 1 hr 20 min of A time, 40 min nap?  That leaves me an hour before she needs to eat again... She usually wakes up happy and wide awake so she's not easy to resettle and get back to sleep.  I've only been able to do this once actually.

[lauradj]

Generally I would feed my babies when they were due for their feed, even if it was 15mins before their next nap.  I think you'll find though that the 40 min naps will quickly reduce if you keep a consistent A time.  If she keeps having 40 min naps at 1hr 20 minutes, push it out to 1.5hrs and hold there for at least a week to see if that helps.  With young babies, you usually notice a change pretty quickly but it's best to give it a solid 4 days before you can see if the new time suits.