3 month old EASY gone wonky... help!

[Lindsay27]

That sounds perfectly okay! 3hrs day sleep is plenty . My DD is almost 7 months and she does 2hrs in the morning and 45 in the afternoon.  Any more day sleep and I think you would find it would rob her nights.

[ladyboz]

Things are going a bit wonky today. Her first nap was going great, but I ended up having to wake her an hour into it as we had an appt to make. She was very grumpy. I was able to keep her busy and distracted but by 12:45 she was totally ready for a nap. She fell asleep while being swaddled but woke 45 minutes into her nap crying. She was able to get herself back to sleep. But its been a very restless nap so far. She sleeps for 5-10 minutes then wakes and takes a few minutes to fall back asleep. I could go rock her, but don't want to create a habit. I just wish she was getting a restorative nap.
Also, last night we did the 6:30 bedtime as she was exhausted from being up by 3:30pm. She went down great, but woke an hour after falling asleep. Luckily we didn't have to pacify her as she drifted back to sleep on her own. But she's never woken after falling asleep at initial bedtime and I'm wondering why she did that?

Also, I think our swaddling days are over! She turned over from back to tummy several times today. Any advice on how to wean the swaddle without messing her naps and nightime sleep? Feeling a bit overwhelmed with her naps and now swaddling issue for safety...

[ladyboz]

Here's our easy so far today...
6:30am awake. Gave her a paci and she fell back asleep.
7:00am Up
9:00 E/Sleep
10:00 I woke her
12:45 E/Sleep she was exhausted
1:30 woke up crying but stopped after a minute or two, she put herself back to sleep. But the cycle has been repeating every 10 minutes or so.

[Lindsay27]

If you had to wake her to go to an appointment then I wouldn't necessarily consider anything that happened today to be normal, yk?  I kind of just write those days off lol.  It does sound like she was OT and just couldn't settle properly because of it, which is normal, that happens to my DD too.  I would maybe try the same A time and see how she does on a full nap.  Wakings early in the evening after BT are usually OT as well.

For the swaddle, my DD starting rolling at 4 months as well and I tried to wean the swaddle doing 1 arm out and it was disastrous, she was up all night long.  2 days of that and I was done and reswaddled her and tried again 2 weeks later, same thing.  So 2 weeks after that we tried again (5 months) and she was totally ready and we weaned in less than a week.  It is important to be aware of safety issues, but also know that it can take a bit longer.  Just start with a gradual approach and leave 1 arm out and see how she does.  If it is going okay then a few days later do the next arm etc. 

[ladyboz]

I definitely think you're right and that she was overtired for her afternoon nap. She ended up finally sleeping and woke around 3p. Then she was very fussy/tired when 4:30 rolled around. She ended up taking a catnap at 5pm-5:30 which surprised me at hown easily she went down. But then we had an epic bedtime struggle. She didn't drift to sleep peacefully and I had to do the pu/pd from 7pm-8pm. Maybe she tricked me, but she was showing super sleepy cues by 6:30. Super red eyes, rubbing her eyes, and just a bit fussy. Once she fell asleep though she was out and slept till our usual 4am feed and went back to sleep.

I think our problem is that we're gone from home most mornings... whether it's appointments (she has pt twice a week), playdates for the 3yr old ect.

Should I wait with the swaddle weaning till she's got her naps squared away? Also, should I do naps only and then nighttime? Agh I want me content happy baby back. Lol

[Lindsay27]

So she was probably in a UT/OT situation at BT, she was UT from the late CN but overalls OT from the short naps if that makes sense.  If you are out most mornings and she isn't taking a good solid nap, then I would aim to have a good one at home in the afternoon, but fully anticipate OT and try to resettle a short nap as much as possible.  I would also aim for an EBT vs a late CN which might help with BT battles. 

As for the swaddle, I mean if everything is kind of a bit jumbled anyway you might as well hair give it a go.  I tried just naps at first because I figured if they went to pot at least she's sleep ok at night. 

[ladyboz]

Ok. So yesterday I stayed home all day and she did great with naps. Had to really keep her occupied when we were reaching the 2.5-3hour awake mark. But she did it and had great naps and went right to sleep at bedtime and slept all night. Yeah! Now to make things work when we have to be out in the mornings. Lol I'll definitely being doing early bedtime as you mentioned.

Yesterday was the ideal perfect EASY
6:30AM awake
8:00 eat
9:30 sleep
11:15 awake/eat
2:15 sleep
4:00awake/eat
5:30 Solids
6:15 bath
6:45nurse/put down to sleep
7:00 she was out with no tears. Yeah!

Funny, I didn't think she was old enough to only be taking two naps. I forget how quickly the first year goes. From sleeping most of the day to only needing two 2 hour naps. My baby is growing up! Sniff sniff lol

I'll work on the swaddle weaning next week as we'll be out of town this weekend. Thank you so much for all the advice!!

[Lindsay27]

Sounds great let me know how you get on!

[ladyboz]

I'm back! lol Ok, so naps and swaddle weaning have been going pretty well. Still having trouble with her falling asleep at bedtime and now she's having trouble falling asleep after the 4am feed. Here's how its been going...

7:00am Awake/Nurse
8:00 solids or nurse if she didnt nurse at 7am
9:30 Sleep (sometimes have to give her a paci 45 minutes to an hour into the nap as we're working on unswaddling, but she falls back to sleep on her own. Yay!)
11:00 I wake her/Nurse
2:00 Nap/Nurse
3:45-4:00 Awake/Nurse
5:30 Solids
6:00 Bath/bedtime routine
6:30ish Nurse

Here's where it gets a little wonky. She'll fall asleep, but then 5 or 10 minutes later she wakes up and does these short cries (all with the paci in her mouth), she'll toss for a bit and then close her eyes and it seems that she'll fall asleep, but then her eyes will pop open and she'll start fussing again. The process repeats for a good hour. Last night it was an hour and a half. I finally went in and rocked her to sleep. During that hour and a half she never cried tears or uncontrollably, they were all just fussy short cries/whines. Early this morning, she did the same thing again at 4am after I nursed her. She didnt go back to sleep till my husband picked her up. Again, they were just short little whines. We didnt want her to wake our 3 yr old dd. Not sure whats going on or what we should do. Im worried that us picking  her up is making a bad habit thats now affecting her 4am feed. I know shes tired because she's not babbling, but trying to sleep. I should mention that we have not weaned from swaddling at night yet, just one arm at naps. We are going on vacation for a week tomorrow and don't want to throw too many things on her. 

Should I be putting her to sleep earlier??? Are these signs of her being OT?

[ladyboz]

If she is being ot at bedtime, what time should I put her to sleep? And if it's before 6:30 will she begin waking early in the morning? Just trying to figure out what to do tonight so we have a peaceful and resrful evening for all.

[Lindsay27]

No I think her BT is fine   I'm actually wondering if she's UT.  If she's napping 9:30-11 (1.5hrs) and then 2-3:45/4pm (1.45-2hrs) that's nearly 3.5hrs of day sleep if I'm reading your routine correctly.  I think both the trouble at BT and NW could be UT.  How old is she now?  I think I would be capping her PM nap to 1.5hrs so that she's not getting more than 3hrs of day sleep.

[ladyboz]

She turned 6 months this past week. And yes, she is averaging about 3.5 to 4 hours of day sleep. Curious, today she woke at 3:30 (an hour and a half nap) by 6pm she was super fussy and tired. We bathed and got her ready for bed by. I nursed her around 6:45 and she was asleep with eyes closed. I put her down and not 5 minutes later her eyes were open and she was crying by 7pm. I did the pu/pd till 8:30. I hated doing it but after an hour I started doing the time intervals.

[ladyboz]

As far as the daytime naps and daily routine for a new 6 month old does this look ok or any suggestions?
7:00 Awake
10:00 Sleep
11:30 Awake or let her sleep capping at 2hours tops
 2:30 Sleep capping at 3:30

I will say that in the afternoon. It is a struggle to keep her awake until her afternoon nap. She's exhausted. Should I try keeping her awake longer in the mornings and shoot for a 10am nap?

[Lindsay27]

The 3-2 transition is really awkward to navigate, we had a really difficult time with it.  My best advice would be to stretch that morning A as much as possible, sometimes my DD would wake at 30mins after such a long A but I was normally able to resettle.  What I had to do was a long A followed by a capped nap, slightly shorter A followed by a long nap, and then a CN.  We did have EWs to contend with though. 

We had to push to a 3hr A and ride out the OT and then A times kind of stabilized at 3.15ish, sometimes more or less.  If she can do a 3hr A you can let her do a full 2hrs:

7 Awake
Nap 10-12
Nap 2:45-3:45/4
BT 6:30/7

A little over 3hrs day sleep is probably ok, but I would go so far as to allow 3.5hrs + otherwise it will affect nights.

[ladyboz]

Ok, so I've been doing the schedule you mentioned and things have been going wonderfully. But we just weaned her completely from the swaddle as shes been turning over it wasnt safe anymore. The first 3 nights she did great! However last night she was up from 12am to 3am. First she was just babbling and playing with her blanky, but then she started fussing and crying. My hubby and I alternated doing the Pu/Pd with her. Eventually she stopped crying, but just laid there for another 30 minutes before falling asleep. It was not a hunger cry, more of  frustrated cry. Did we handle it ok or is there something else we can do? It just felt like forever and I dont want a repeat. lol Also, she is sleeping in this morning (I would too if I could! lol). Do I let her sleep in to catch up on the sleep she missed during the night? Or should I wake her so as to not encourage crib parties/cries in the middle of the night? Thanks!!