Author Topic: 11 week old: need help with naps, cluster feeding in eve  (Read 1315 times)

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Offline benandjen

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11 week old: need help with naps, cluster feeding in eve
« on: May 02, 2016, 14:51:43 pm »
Hi Everyone! I have an eleven week old baby boy who is a textbook baby. Here is our routine and additional info about baby boy at bottom; need critiques esp on naps, cluster feeding:

6 am wake (would love this to be 7 am!)
6:15 am breastfeed followed by activity (tummy time, showing a toy or two)
7-7:15 am begin wind down--swaddle, paci, darkened room and sound machine (falls asleep easily)
8-8:15 am ON THE DOT: 45 min wake up (cuddle, put paci in and use swing...totally a prop at this point)
9:30 am I usually have to wake him as he's in a deep sleep in the swing :/--breastfeed, activity
10:30-10:45 am begin wind down, swaddle, paci, darkened room (falls asleep easily---repeat 45 min nap followed by settling in the swing, then waking him up for the next feed)
1:00 pm breastfeed after waking him in the swing from a sound sleep, activity
2:15 pm start wind down, easily falls asleep, repeat 45 min nap and swing
4:00 pm breastfeed and activity
5:15 pm wind down for catnap in the swing or carrier while I feed and bathe 2.5 year old brother
6:00 pm breastfeed, bath and gentle activity
7:15 pm wind down for catnap #2 in the swing or in carrier while I put 2.5 year old to bed
8:00 pm feed on one side without swaddle, then reswaddle nice and snug and feed on other side, usually falls asleep
8:30 pm asleep in bassinet
He sleeps reliably from 8:30 pm until about 3, 3:45 am--I feed him swaddled, don't change him and put him right back down and he can sometimes get to 6 am without me putting paci back in.

*Probably a textbook baby--pretty happy
*We tried literally every night for three weeks to do the dreamfeed but he was either too disturbed by it or too asleep no matter what time adjustment we made, so we finally just let him sleep--this is why I've continued to cluster feed him in the evening despite Tracy's warnings to stop after 8 weeks--trying to get enough calories in him to get him to that early morning feed
*He is usually ready to go back to sleep after an hour of awake time and gets really cranky and harder to get down if we go past 1 hour 15 mins
*He is on the small side, tenth percentile at his 2 mo check up--born at 5 lbs 14 oz but now over 10 lbs and a good eater; no reflux, not a big spitter, plenty of wet and poopy diapers, not too gassy
*On the occasion when he has taken a pumped bottle while I'm out of the house he is drinking at least 4 oz
*Toddler in house makes settling him outside of the swing really difficult/impossible!

THANK YOU!

Offline Lindsay27

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Re: 11 week old: need help with naps, cluster feeding in eve
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2016, 01:45:53 am »
Hello!  Those 45mim naps are the worst aren't they!?  I have 2 thoughts on that, one is that 45min naps can simply be a case of not being able to transition sleep cycles yet (I found my DD was able to do this a little over 3 months) and the other is that 45min naps are usually a sign of being UT.  As he's near 12 weeks I would definitely try to keep those A times up at 1.15 or even a touch more.  Sometimes LOs seem tired but really they just need a change of stimulation/activity. If you are placing him in the swing after the first 45mins it can also be that he doesn't yet know how to soothe himself back to sleep.

Once in the swing are you waking him because of the next E?  I am just wondering if you let him sleep a little longer if it would be more restorative?  That said as you did say he was on the small side I can understand wanting to get in as many feeds as possible.  I think at this point the cluster feeds are fine.  We don't DF either because I haven't found that it helps.

I know it can be tricky getting 2 LOs to bed as well, but I am wondering if shortening your day overall might actually help with the 6am waking.  Usually we try to keep the day roughly 12 hours so I am wondering if there is a way you can actually pull BT forward a bit?








Offline benandjen

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Re: 11 week old: need help with naps, cluster feeding in eve
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2016, 16:56:54 pm »
Hi Lindsay, I keep meaning to reach out to you and thank you. Over the past few days I increased his awake time to about 1.5 hours and put him down for the night earlier, around 7:30 pm. This has resulted in two nights of totally sleeping through: 7:30 pm-5:45 am. We're starting the day a bit on the early side but I am SO HAPPY! Take care
Jen

Offline Lindsay27

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Re: 11 week old: need help with naps, cluster feeding in eve
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2016, 00:21:10 am »
Yay!! Fantastic update! Those A times can creep up on you and sometimes you don't realize they need to be pushed until things go wonky.