4 month baby struggles to stay awak

[Roisin n]

Hi there,

For the past two weeks I have been doing EASY (3 hr schedule)with my daughter who will be 4months next week. It's been going well and she's been napping well - usually 3-4 naps per day. However I can never keep her awake. She's usually very tired after 1.15 hours of activity.  I was hoping to move her onto the 3.5/4 hour schedule but I don't think she will be able to stay awake.

Sometimes she's not always hungry after waking from her nap or won't take much. Would you suggest waiting a little while to feed her?

She's usually in bed by 6:45/7pm but still wakes for a feed at 10pm, 1:30/2 and 4:30. I have tried the shush pat for the 1:30feeding but she wakes again after 20 or so mins so I think she is hungry. Is this normal for 4m old or should she be going longer?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated 😊

[creations]

Hello and welcome to BW forums

If your LO is taking good naps (1.5hr - 2hr) with the 1hr 15 activity time then it could just be that she does well on the lower A time - times are only for guidance and not used as a strict rule.
If however she is taking lots of short naps of 40/45 mins then I would suggest that her day time routine needs a change even if she looks and acts tired.

If she is not ready to eat as soon as she wakes and would feed better after 3hr 30min rather than directly on waking or on the 3hr mark, that's fine. Some LO just don't like to eat right away, they like to wake up a bit first, and some LOs are ready for their feed times to extend but not quite ready to be awake longer.  Just check the time through the day and jot down when the next feed and sleep are due and if you see a clash about to happen you can either feed a bit earlier than the 3hr 30min to be ready in time for the nap or, if the feed is due more towards the end of nap time then she'll likely be fine to wait a touch longer and go closer to 4hrs.  The routine doesn't always have to look like EASEAS but can also be EASAEAS.

I would agree with you about the night feeds. If she is resettled and then wakes again 20 min later it is likely hunger. Are you BF (breast feeding) or FF (formula feeding)?  FF babies seem to do a longer stretch over night a bit younger than BF but of course BF has all sorts of other benefits.  As she is not feeding more frequently than every 3hrs at night I wouldn't be concerned about any of those feeds - do always feed just before BT even if it hasn't been the full 3hrs since the previous E time, to get the longest stretch possible.

I hope this helps.  Let me know if you have more questions.

[Roisin n]

Thanks for your advice!

Naps vary but she's been getting better at napping for longer and now usually goes 1.15/1:30 hrs.

I'll try feeding her a little later if she's not feeding hungry. I am breastfeeding her, she usually takes some milk but keeps pulling off and then occasionally brings it back up so I'm guessing she wasn't Hungry. I'll give EASAES ago as that could work well with her.

thanks again 😊

[creations]

You're welcome.
Let us know how you get on - especially if you need more help with the feeding, it could well just be that she isn't hungry enough to eat but if it continues where she's pulling off and/or bringing milk up there might be reflux. See how it goes.