what should i change?

[jigsaw30]

My 4 month old daughter was never a great sleeper except for a couple of weeks when she was 3 mo and she slept 8-9 hours uninterupted and then another 2 hours and  naps where good also.At that time i used a 1.5 hours A time. Now at 4 months things changed overnight for the worse. I started the 2 hours A time thinking that this is the problem, and for naps things seem sometimes to be good (1-2 h naps) but i have 2 problems:1. many times she wakes from naps after exactly 30 min and needs my intervention to get back to sleep. 2. she wakes up a lot at night , somewhere around 5-6 times, with the longest stretch of 3 hours. She seems sleepy and falls asleep really easily but has problems staying asleep and she is happy only after a nap of at least 1,5 h, otherwhise she cries a bit when she wakes. Help pls.

[becj86]

Hi, welcome to BW

Sounds like the 2hr A time is about right - how long have you been doing that? Can you write out a day in EAS format, please?

It sounds like she needs to develop some self-settling skills, so I wonder if you've tried shush/pat and if you can write a bit about how she currently falls asleep and where she sleeps.

[jigsaw30]

hi, I've been doing the 2h A time for almost a week now. She sleeps in her crib, she falls asleep in my arms with gentle rocking and she also sucks her thumb. This is the way she fell asleep from the time she was a newborn with the exception of the short period of time at around 3,5 mo when she had those good night stretches of 8 hours, when i held her in my arms just till she got drowsy and then put her in the crib, she would stir and suck her thumb for 5-15 min and then fall asleep. this worked also for naps, sometime s she needed PU/PD. The sush/pat does not work,it only works if i pick her up and hold her. Also, she moves a lot in her sleep, she likes to sleep n her tummy or on one side and she moves a lot, lifting her but and some sort of crawling , if she turns on her back then she's wide awake and her hans start flailing.

my easy from the last days:
yesterday:
6:15 wake up
8:10-9:55 nap (woke after 30 min and needed to PU to fall back asleep )
11;45-13:20 nap
15:15-17:35 nap
19:15 bath and feeding
20:00 asleep...woke up during the night 7-8 times

today:
6:30 WU
8:25-9;00 nap (could not get her to fall back asleep)
11:10-12:30 nap (woke after 30 min, fell back asleep in my arms)
14:20-15:00 nap
17:00-17:40 nap
19:15 bath, feed
20:00 asleep


thx for the feedback, hope things get better with a little bit of coaching.

[becj86]

When in the night is she waking?

Can you make bed time a little earlier? She's probably overtired at bedtime with 2.5hr to bed - After a long nap, you could go with 2hr to bed but after a short nap, you could shorten that a little to 1.5hr A time.

Now is probably a good time to do what you were doing at 3.5 months again and just work on putting her down a little more awake every few days - its a sort of gradual withdrawal modification that works pretty well for gently teaching a baby how to get to sleep in increments.

[jigsaw30]

thanks for the feedback. during the night she usuallu wakes for the first fime at 1 AM or so (but last week she would wake at 10 PM and then again around midnight) and after that she would wake more often, after each 1.5 h or so and after 4 AM she wakes even after 20 or 30 min.
i will start again the PU PD thing, fingers crossed

[becj86]

You said you were feeding at night - those wakings after 4am could well be discomfort - any gas issues?

[jigsaw30]

does not seem to be any discomfort, when she wakes she is even smiling sometimes (after moving a lot with her eyes closed, she eventualy wakes herself). then she falls asleep pretty easy but wakes just as easily. she never had colic or other digestive discomfort. ypu suggested to move bedtime a bit earlier but i/'m afraid she's just wake for the day at 5 AM.

[becj86]

It seems counterintuitive but putting her to bed earlier gives her a better chance at an appropriate amount of sleep for the night.

A 'typical' routine at 4 months is something like this:
7 - WU
9 - nap
10:30 - WU, eat
12:30 - nap
2 - WU, eat
4 - nap
5:30 - WU, eat
7 - asleep in bed for the night

The A time increase usually by 45min to 1hr by 6 months, so increasing A time by 15min every 2 -3 weeks is reasonable.

Those wakings could be developmental. They could be because she needs another A increase, particularly for the first A time. Could she be cold? Is the sun waking her?

ypu suggested to move bedtime a bit earlier but i/'m afraid she's just wake for the day at 5 AM.

Its a possibility, but its far more likely she'd sleep longer.

[jigsaw30]

yesterday was a good day with 1,5-2 h naps. she still woke 5 times during the nights but it is an improvement. i moved the bedtime a bit earlier, she fell asleep at 19:15. i will continue with this schedule. thx a lot.

[becj86]

Glad you saw an improvement

[jigsaw30]

i noticed that after a good nap (2h), the next nap she wakes after 30 min or less, sometimes 10-15 min, and it's hard to make her fall asleep again. could this mean she is UT? should i change the A time from 2h to 2:10 min after a long nap and no sleep cues?

[becj86]

Yes, absolutely - if you're not getting any cues at 2hr, could be she's ready for a bit more A time. Keep in mind A time increases by almost an hour between 4 and 6 months, so there is a substantial jump every couple of weeks, yk?