Advice needed for 2 months old

[ameliebob]

Hi everyone! I'm looking for any type of advice regarding my 8 week old DD  . She's has silent reflux and is bottle fed but is not on meds yet (we have an appointment in 2 weeks to dicuss that!). We keep her upright for 30-40 min after feeds, burp her frequently and her matress is reclined.

I've been tracking her naps for 2 weeks now and I can't find a pattern as it changes from day to day, which leads me to having trouble to implement a routine and having her to settle herself for naps and sometimes BT.

I wake her up at 7:00-7:30 and she asleep by 18:30-19:00 every day. She STTN with one or two feedings.
She feeds on a 4 hour schedule at 7:00, 11:00, 15:00 and 18:00. We found out that she won't take full feeds (just snacking) if it's been 3 hour between them.
Our wind down routine takes between 5 to 15 min ; swaddle, dummy, rocking and patting with white noise. I remove the dummy once she's relaxed and put her down when she's very drowsy. then she will fuss or cry and I resettle her in the crib with very loud white noise and gentle patting and she usually falls asleep quickly.

BUT only for the first nap and SOMETIMES the second. the rest of the day she just won't settle  any idea why??
Morning nap will last somewhere between 1 to 3 hours. Every other naps she wakes at 40-45 min and we always try to get her B2S using loud white noise and ssh-pat (works 25% of the time). the last nap of the day is the hardest and she often has to sleep on us with her dummy sometimes after 2 hours of A time!
her A times are 1:15 unless she won't settle to sleep and then we have to do APOP to get her to sleep and avoid OT.What do you do when she won't settle after an hour of A time? She's tired and yawns by then! Am I trying too soon?

I can't really post her EASY routine as there is not really... we simply try to avoid OT and put her to sleep without feeding. how do you implement a sort of schedule when naps are so erratic?

[tathi-b]

Hi there, sounds like you are doing really well! Reflux is hard to manage!

Have you tried keeping her first nap to about 1.5hours? Mine didn't wake up on her own initially and seemed to bulk a lot of her sleep so I started to gently wake her up after about an hour and a half and then bring her back for a nap about an hour and a quarter after that. At around 8 weeks she was awake for an hour at a time at the most! Sometimes I'd finish feeding and changing her only to have a 5 minute move around the house and bring her back for an hour and a half nap again.

She may not be settling because she's overtired? I guess that if you start structuring her sleep with the first nap the others may fall into place?

I hope she naps better for you!
X

[FPT23]

Following for the same advice!

Our first nap of the day is totally off because I'm not sure of his exact A time since he wakes to eat between 4-6am and then usually will light sleep and grunt or dozes off but wakes again and again until he does cry for me to help.

Our first nap is so unpredictable  including the morning feed (he's never hungry for first "WU")  and then A times from there I wouldn't know! ....sometimes our wind downs or resettling after naps runs into the 3 hour feeds and then I feed but he's falling asleep and then messes up EAS. He's either too sleepy by then to eat a full meal, and also not hungry enough by the morning.

If it's any consolation.... Our wind down can take 20-30 mins and then I give up and try again in a bit b/c my other toddler! ...our morning nap is always 30 mins or less and if I resettle (I pu and hold/pat for now. Haven't started leaving him down drowsy yet) ...I can get an hour/45 mins it seems.

Nap two goes longer BUT takes awhile :/ as he is OT

[FPT23]

I am in the same boat though!! I hear around 3 months there's more structure? Our EASY isn't well either and w/ feeds too! I too just try and get him to sleep as much as we can with any AP atm! (I've been doing patting or caressing on the forehead with paci and remove as well once calm or he spits out... No rocking for now unless he's super OT/OS, we do. Haven't done the down drowsy yet as I need him to sleep as much as possible for now haha it scares me it will be worse!)

I'm with you though mama! My baby is 7 weeks. (Almost 2 months)

[ameliebob]

happy to know we are at least two with this  try not to stress too much about that i know things will eventually fall into place but damn it's hard right now loll  and my one year old keeps running and screaming around the house while you try to settle the tiny baby to sleep 

i should try to cut short the nap that's an idea! but i'm afraid it will mess up the feeds and fall asleep on the bottle (more like EASAES?)
and yes one hour seems to be not enough... she settles way faster now if it's been 1h15 (meaning we wind down an hour after wake up)

[FPT23]

Right!? It's hard NOW and you have a one year old!? Power to you ...I keep counting down the days till he's older but then I'm going to look back and miss the little toes hehe! I'm struggling too it so hard we are just desperate for some change or better yet, regularity in our days!!! Hugs!!!

I would give anything for a structured morning as that is when I need it ......I've been looking for answers myself on here :p
At least we know it's apparently "normal" for 2 month olds

Thanks for the post! I'm def following!

[ameliebob]

I'm thinking to myself it can't be worst than my son's 4 month sleep regression!! THAT was hard lol
I just hope she won't be the same at 16 weeks 

Any tips for a congested little nose? I already have a reclined mattress and humidifier plus nasal drops but it seems to run down her troat and she wakes up coughing

For the moment I just enjoy the fact she's asleep cuz we never know how long it will last 

[FPT23]

Thought of you! Since you have the 1st two naps down then you should applaud yourself! I don't yet!

http://www.babysleepsite.com/newborns/2-month-old-baby-sleep-tips/

This might help ease your mind a bit as I stumbled across is! Xoxo

[ameliebob]

Quick update ; she chronically sleeps for 40-45 min at a time. Even for the first nap. We can manage to get her B2S with ssh-pat and when it doesn't work a bit of APOP does the trick. Am I creating bad habit with apop? I know she's still tired as she falls back asleep really quickly with paci and rocking, although she initially falls asleep on her own at the beginning of the nap...

[lauradj]

Hi there!  There's nothing wrong with a bit of APOP in the beginning, so long as you're aware of it.  Keep in mind that there is a reason the first 3 months are referred to as 'The Fourth Trimester'.  Your baby is still all over the map and a little confused but she does need her sleep so do what you need to help lull her back. 

[ameliebob]

Thank you I just hope I'm not creating bad habits here...! I will try the swing first before holding and rocking her. She sleeps in 40 min cycles no matter if I put her down 15 min earlier or later, and she falls asleep on her own. Any advice on that? Could this means it's developmental? My son was the same until he took one nap a day, no matter what I tried

[lauradj]

It could be but most likely it's just that she's not fully sorted out her sleep.  It takes time for babies to be able to connect their sleep cycles together, which is one of most common concerns here.  Have you considered putting her in a carrier so she can nap and you can still take your DS out?

[ameliebob]

Yes but I can't stop moving otherwise she wakes up 
Today I used the swing after first nap wake up and afternoon nap and we got 2.5 and 3 hours!!! Her naps were so long I didn't have time to fit the CN.  last time she did that I think she was 3 weeks lol

[FPT23]

Yay! Seriously, I've given into APOP with this one... Yes I have concerns and questions too! Haha! But honestly, the faster and quicker, the easier I can tend to my other one also. It has to be done! I think I'm done stressing the longer naps for now myself!

I've been having issues w EWs and it's not due to hunger... As soon as I hear him fussing.. I do the swing and he stays asleep until a reasonable WU time! My other one wakes by 7am and I'm up breastfeeding... For suuuuure I'm using that swing! It was advice given to me by another mom on here with the same issue. I remember my son did the swing... When he started to roll to his tummy around the 4mth mark I think it is, I switched him to his bed and he did great! Never ended up using the swing as a prop. I think he was just ready for more space!

Good luck! Still following!! I would love to see other advice from moms with this too!

Super awesome about your long nap!!!