Nap tweaking

[SarahE]

Hi there,

For the last 2 months my Lo has been sleeping 11-12 overnight ands eemy to have transitioned from 3 naps to two naps.

I'm currently a little confused by her wake times at 5 month we implemented set naps times of 9, 1 and 4.30 - the 4.30 was a battle and usually on me until she dropped it. This was fully dropped when we pushed her naps to 9.20 and 1.20. We generally get a morning nap of 1 hour 15 but occasionally a 2 hr nap, then an arvo nap of 1.5-2 hrs. This nap was resulting in a wake up of 3.30pm so too late for the third nap so bedtime was brought forward as required.

Naps decreased in length and we had a few 30 mins, so,e 40 mins. Having had a previous catnappers I was on to it quickly and increased awake time. Two weeks ago we were on 9.45/10am and 1.45/2pm for naps...both were 1.5 hrs, occasionally the arvo one stretched to 2 hrs.

This last week we have been trying to prepare for daylight savings, bringing routine 15 mins earlier each day three days in advance of the clocks changing. Well it was working okay until thus am...which I'm really confused about...we all slept past the alarm so wake up was 7.30 rather than 7 (so 6.30 if clocks hadn't changed) she then fell asleep for her nap at 9.30 for 1 hr 35. Now after being up for 1 hr 45 she is showing tiredness cues....just wondering if this is to be expected with a change in clocks? Her wake times this last week have pretty much been 3 hrs which is appropriate for her age (7 months on Tuesday). S

Should I just go with it today and see what tomorrow brings,,,or stick to previous nap times give or take 15 mins?

[Scottishmummy]

Hi there!

Sorry you didn't get any replies yesterday, how did the rest of the day go?

I am impressed how organised you are preparing for clock change. I always mean to but then forget until about 2 days before so just have to do it all at once.
With adjusting to the clock change, I think it's normal to have a bit of OT or UT depending on which way the clocks have gone & I usually just push on through to as close to new times as possible for naps and feeds.

Hope rest of the adjustment goes well

Xxx

[SarahE]

Hi Scottishmummy!

The rest of the day was interesting. It was like this:

A - 7.30
E - 7.45 BF and 8.00 solids
E - 9.15 - BF top up
S - 9.30
A - 11.05
E - 12 - solids and 12.30 BF
E - 1.45 BF top up
S - 2.30 - assisted settling
A - 3.45
E - 5.15 BF and expressed bottle 80 ml
E - 6.30 top up BF
S - 7.05

Usually she STTN however a couple of weeks ago she had a cold and woke once for a snot clear  . Then had a few nights STTN then has had some random wake ups which we put down to messing with her milk in take when trying to add a solids dinner. She seemed to start waking for a full feed in the night. So we introduced brekkie instead yesterday. She woke approx 3am. Initially she was chatting but then it turned into very loud crying. We had a visit to the Drs on Friday due to change in behaviour - very upset and fussy, less wet nappies, etc and dr confirmed looked teething - her first tooth and a top one. Last night when she woke she was running her fist across her gums and grabbing at my fingers to rub across her gums. After 30 mins trying to resettle I gave Pamol and assisted resettle. I was pretty confident she wasn't hungry and after 10-15 mins she was asleep.

I'm really trying my best not to add any new sleep habits by feeding in the night.

Do you think she's getting enough day sleep or maybe having too much and that is affecting the night. Or does it just sound like typical teething?

So far today we look like this

7.05pm sleep
3am ish NW attempted resettle for 30 mins - patting and back rub, quick cuddle when crying hard.
3.45am - sleep
7.05 - wake
7.20 - BF - big spill after
8.15 - solids - fish and veggies
9.15 - top up BF
9.40 - sleep

I was aiming for 9.30 to have a few days of consistency so she was in bed by 9.30 but was chatting, then a little whimper/soft cry and was asleep by 9.40.

I've noticed the last three or four nights too that she seems quite restless at night. She used to stay pretty much in the same position for about 4-5 hrs then through the remainder of the night change positions...however these last few nights every hour or so she moves position, occasionally giving a little cry but then goes back to sleep to repeat in another 30-60 mins. Is this normal?

I should mention she started army crawling about 10 days ago and is as of yesterday making some real attempts to crawl I.e. Knees under bum...mainly on the change table  but also when on the floor playing. So maybe it's a combo of all affecting her night sleep?

[SarahE]

Here is how our day went

7.05pm sleep
3am ish NW attempted resettle for 30 mins - patting and back rub, quick cuddle when crying hard.
3.45am - sleep
7.05 - wake
7.20 - BF - big spill after
8.15 - solids - fish and veggies
9.15 - top up BF
9.40 - sleep
12 - wake
12.15 - solids - chicken and veggies
12.30 - BF
2.30 BF
2.45 - sleep
3.15 - wake
4.30 - BF
6.20- 120ml expressed bottle
6.45 - BF top up
7.05 - sleep

[Scottishmummy]

It does sound like she's got a lot going on which might affect her sleep, including her teeth. How old is she now?

Her naps looks pretty good to me..around 3hrs total day sleep is pretty typical for a 2 nap schedule so it looks like she is either doing that as one v long and 1 short nap or 2 medium length naps (1.5hrs each)

Just a quick question about her eating & milk.  How much of her solid food is she taking? If it's a reasonable amount she might not still need the top up BFs before her naps (unless she's hungry and looking for them?) That might mean you get bigger less frequent milk feeds in the day and therefore not looking for milk at night. I'd be the same as you about not wanting to start NFs if she's been doing without.

[SarahE]

She's 7 months today and about 7 kg now so just doubled her birth weight.

She was initially having near half a cup at lunch and we only just introduced dinner. Now I'd say she's reduced to about 1/4 cup maybe not even that.

She seems to take a lot of milk at her pre nap milk feeds and a lot in the evenings. It was when she was eating more solids nearly half a cup that we tried dropping a milk feed and got the night waking for a feed...she definitely seems as hungry pre naps as she is in the morning which is why I'm offering milk after her solids lunch rather than before hoping she will ween that one and eat more lunch...

We got a fell 12 hrs last night..I heard her cry at 3 am and 5.45 but by time I'd got up and checked the monitor she was asleep again!

She's been doing without a night feed since about 4 months-4.5 months...very lucky I know!

She also started babbling more yesterday and today...babbling vowels, and stringing sounds together...it's all pretty amazing her development in the last couple of weeks!