Author Topic: 5 month old new to routine  (Read 965 times)

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Offline firsttimemommy89

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5 month old new to routine
« on: January 26, 2016, 22:00:48 pm »
Hello,
Sorry in advance for this long post. My LO is 5 months old and was not on a schedule until just 2 weeks ago when I found BW techniques. He has never been exposed to CIO or any other sleep training methods. We coslept for 3 months and he had never been in his crib for naps or bedtime until a two weeks ago when we started this. He is EBF and takes a bottle but is usually fed only by myself.

This is what his EASY looks like:
7 AM wake
7-720 eat
730-830 activity
830-10 nap
10-1020 eat
1020-1230 activity
1230-1240 wind down
1240-115/130 nap then wakes and shh/pat or pu/pd until about 2 or 230
230 -250 eat
250-420 activity
420-430 wind down
430-515/530 CN
530-550 eat
550-610 activity
610-645 bath, story, wind down
645 bed
10pm DF (BF)


So here are my concerns:
He was doing great the first week - he actually slept from DF to 7 AM a few times. However this week has been very wonky. His morning is fairly routine (he can normally have a 1.5 hour nap). However, nap #2 is such a struggle. He falls asleep for us very easily but then he wake up at about 30-45 minutes - if we sh/pat we can't get him fully back to sleep - he starts crying while we are still shush patting (not even slowing the rhythm). If he starts bawling we do PU/PD but we are unsure what stipulates a cry that is "big enough" to PU/PD.
We continue to persist with PU/PD or sh/pat for the entirety of the nap (2-230 ish) then carry on with EASY but I can tell he is exhausted when I finally allow him to wake up from that 2nd nap.

2)He habitually (the last 4 nights) is waking at 345 AM with mantra cry but it turns into a regular cry and takes over 1 hour to settle back down. I know he is not hungry or in any pain (even though he is teething right now).

3) We have been swaddling him but lately he rolls onto his stomach so we are worried about swaddling and stomach sleeping. During the day I usually allow it and just watch him on the monitor as I find he actually seems to sleep better on his stomach.

Any insight would be appreciated! He has truly come leaps and bounds but I just want him to sleep better because he is such a grouch when he misses out on those hours!
Thanks!

Offline trimbler

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Re: 5 month old new to routine
« Reply #1 on: January 27, 2016, 21:33:46 pm »
Hi there and welcome to BW :) Sounds like you and he are doing really well, well done :)

My first thought was that for his first long nap, he goes down after 1.5h A time and has a good nap. But then he's up over 2.5h before his second nap, so he's probably overtired by that point and that is a common cause of short naps, which is what you're seeing. Can I suggest that you start by trying to push out that first nap a little? Perhaps keep him up a little longer so he has 1h45min awake before his first nap? He may still nap the same length on that or he may surprise you by taking a longer nap, you can let him have up to 2h. But then you can try offering the second nap earlier, perhaps at 1.5h like you have been for the first nap, or up to 1h45min if you prefer. We often find that whilst younger babies may give us reliable tired cues, older babies start being so much more interested in things around them that they may seem wide awake but actually be getting tired, and an OT LO has a harder time staying asleep. On the other hand, he may be rubbing his eyes like crazy after being up for 1.5h first thing, because his body is used to going to sleep at that time, but what he actually needs is a longer A time, so he can be ready to take a longer nap. Most 5mo LOs would actually be doing more like 2-2.5h A time, it varies greatly on the individual child, but I wonder if yours likes A times on the shorter side, given the good first nap you're currently getting. Does that make sense? Sorry, I feel I'm rambling!

The night waking may also be related to OT built up during the day, but as you say it's habitual, you might like to try using 'wake to sleep', have a read of this: How do I address habitual wakings? (wake-to-sleep and other methods)

Swaddling can be great during the newborn phase, but unfortunately it's not recommended once they can roll :-\ So really I should advise you to wean that now, but there are some great products that can help with this - do you have sleeping bags at all? They're great for providing a feeling of snugness, avoid the issue of moving blankets and they can roll around safely in them :) Can he roll from front to back? Although it's advised to always place babies on their backs to sleep, if they can get themselves on their tummies and roll back again themselves, you shouldn't need to worry about that. Not so with swaddled LOs as they can't use their arms to roll back again.



Offline firsttimemommy89

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Re: 5 month old new to routine
« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2016, 18:49:55 pm »
Thank you so much for your reply!
I am slowly losing steam!!! Man I didn't realize this mom business would be so tough:)
Okay so I tried extending A time but then it really threw off his nap - had to do PU/PD  for an hour ending in more of my tears than his.
I am wondering - when I put him down while doing PU/PD can I do shush pat??? Or no? I wasn't doing it as I believe that's what it said in the book... But I think it would
Help him.

As for swaddling yes I will wean him off.

Offline trimbler

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Re: 5 month old new to routine
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2016, 14:17:24 pm »
Oh dear sorry it didn't go well (((hugs))) I always found it really hard to extend A times with my DS especially - once we'd got past his usual sleep time he'd easily get so wound up that he couldn't settle for ages, just like yours seems to have done. In the end I found ways of keeping him calm, sometimes this meant going outside just before nap time, he could kind of zone out a bit in the sling, then straight down for nap once back inside. Or it was carrying him around in low light, just outside the bedroom, looking at photos on the wall, or the mirror, for example. I think I only ever managed to extend his A time in 5min increments or we ended up with what you've just described ::) but we got there eventually, and it was worth it actually to get longer naps and push the day later. You know your LO best though :-*

Yes, you can use shh pat with PUPD, to help to calm him, but the idea is generally that you stop that before he actually goes to sleep.



Offline firsttimemommy89

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Re: 5 month old new to routine
« Reply #4 on: January 30, 2016, 22:18:16 pm »
Okay, great thank you! Will try :)