Author Topic: 4 month old schedule & paci  (Read 2065 times)

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Offline Fisher001

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4 month old schedule & paci
« on: May 01, 2017, 13:50:22 pm »
Hello again.

My LO is now 4 months and is doing pretty well with her night sleep but daytime seems to be a sometimes hit and mostly miss. Her naps are still 30 to 45 mins and she gradually gets grumpier throughout the day. She now takes a pacifier but feels like I've created more work for myself as I have to spend about 30 mins putting it back in and when it falls out, she wakes up so it's become more disruptive to her sleep, I think.

We've  been working on extending time between feeds - was every hour, now it's every two hours. She is exclusive bf.

So...now it's time to work on extending her daytime naps and trying to get a fixed awake time.  I need advice on which nap to start extending first? And how do I get her to wake up at the same time in the morning? Plus - our example routine below but sometimes she wakes at 6am or 6.30am and then the schedule shortens by one cycle and she's in bed by 6pm.

Thanks

Routine

A 530
E 530 & 600
S 700

A 745
E 830 & 915
S 925

A 1010
E 1100
S 1150

A 1235
E 1300 & 1400
S 1430

A 1500
E 1600
S 1645

A 1715
E 1715
Bath 1800
E 1815
S 1830

DF 2200 or 2300 plus another feed at 2am or 4am (depends on the day)


Offline Buntybear

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Re: 4 month old schedule & paci
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2017, 16:44:25 pm »
Hello, sorry you have not got a reply yet, I shall bump this for you now x

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Re: 4 month old schedule & paci
« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2017, 07:48:53 am »
Hi there
I just noticed you didn't have any replies yet - I am super short on time right now but I thought I'd let you know that your thread had been seen (again) and I'll come back later on to have a proper read.


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Re: 4 month old schedule & paci
« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2017, 18:23:24 pm »
I'm sure I posted to this - it looks like it totally vanished!
Sorry!

The average A time for 4 months is 1hr 45 to 2hrs
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=84884.0
Although your days may vary a bit I would try to make sure that no A time goes shorter than 1hr 45 and unless you know that your LO does better on very long A times then I would make sure that no A time goes over the 2hr mark.  I see some of her A times are 2hr 20 mins which may be too long at this age.

You can set the morning WU time if you prefer and keep her in her room until 6.30am daily if this suits you, then start counting the A time from 6.30 even though in reality she will have had longer if she wakes early.  The later nap time should help to encourage a  slightly later WU time so that you don't end up in a kind of cycle where she wakes earlier which eventually leads to an earlier BT that day which then leads to an earlier WU the next morning and so on.

I would keep extend the E times. At 4 months I would really expect her to be fine with 3hr E times, many babies (although not all) move to 4hrly E at 4 months.

For the nap extensions, personally I always prefer to start with the first nap of the day but you can choose. Babies tend to make habits quite quickly and *per nap* so whichever you choose I suggest you do the same nap each day rather than one day trying to extend nap 1 then another day switching to nap 3 etc.  You can of course work on all naps at once if you have the energy for it.

Here is a link for W2S which can be helpful in extending naps as you begin to resettle with shush/pat before LO fully wakes up (so she is not fully awake and full on crying, but still sleepy). Have a look at naps option 1.
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=223809.0

Again - sorry for the delayed response. I hope this posts and you find it helpful.


Offline Fisher001

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Re: 4 month old schedule & paci
« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2017, 14:36:23 pm »
Thanks for getting back to me and for the helpful links. In general my LO is now on a 1.45 min awake time, this includes eating and wind down for naps. I hope that's correct.

It seems over the past few days she has been trying to drop her late afternoon nap, skips it and goes about 3 hours before bedtime. I've tried to help her nap but I think she's looking to reduce the number of daytime naps. She has also started extending her mid afternoon nap to one hour. Do you think she is automatically gearing up to change her nap schedule?

I've tried extending her feeding but really struggling as she is sole bf. Is 3 or 4 hours  a long time to go on just breastmilk?


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Re: 4 month old schedule & paci
« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2017, 14:46:40 pm »
Is 3 or 4 hours  a long time to go on just breastmilk?

Hi - Olly was EBF and we went to 4 hours at 4 months old. I believe they become much more efficient feeders at this time. Having said that he also went through a massive growth spurt at that age and so had a lot of night feeds too  ::)

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Re: 4 month old schedule & paci
« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2017, 17:54:17 pm »
In general my LO is now on a 1.45 min awake time, this includes eating and wind down for naps. I hope that's correct.
Yes that's right

It seems over the past few days she has been trying to drop her late afternoon nap, skips it and goes about 3 hours before bedtime.
If this is going on for a few days or more I would extend all her A times rather than let the last A time end up being 3hrs. 3hrs is too long really, much better to shift the other A times to more like 2hrs so the awake time is spread more evenly across the day.

I've tried extending her feeding but really struggling as she is sole bf. Is 3 or 4 hours  a long time to go on just breastmilk?
3hrs is not too long unless there is some health issue.  As said, most move to 4hr E at 4 months although some do stay on 3hrs until closer to 6 months and when solids are introduced.


Offline Fisher001

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Re: 4 month old schedule & paci
« Reply #7 on: May 10, 2017, 20:52:15 pm »
Thanks, so if I have an A time of 1.45 and E every 3 hours but still have a 45 min nap time, that's quite a tricky schedule to keep up.

What do you think I should focus on first, extending naps or feeding  times?

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Re: 4 month old schedule & paci
« Reply #8 on: May 11, 2017, 10:14:41 am »
Thanks, so if I have an A time of 1.45 and E every 3 hours but still have a 45 min nap time, that's quite a tricky schedule to keep up.
Sorry I'm not sure what you mean.
Yes 45 mins naps are harder for parents, sleep training is tiring and a routine which is off track is additionally tiring. I don't think there is an issue with the times though is there?
The A time might be held at 1hr 45 but I did also mention moving to 2hrs so that the last A of the day doesn't end up 3hrs. With a 2hr A time and 45 min nap there is only 15 min difference before the E time.  As naps lengthen the E time naturally becomes a little longer.


Offline Fisher001

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Re: 4 month old schedule & paci
« Reply #9 on: May 14, 2017, 13:09:05 pm »
I've been working to extend feeding and have managed to get to 2.5 hrs, sometimes 2.45 before she gets upset. Same with extending the awake time, although I am certain she  isn't ready for a longer awake time yet as we have a meltdown after 1.45hrs almost every time.

Have tried to shift her WU to 7am but no matter what time she goes to bed, she always wakes for a feed at 4.30am and then is up at 5.45.




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Re: 4 month old schedule & paci
« Reply #10 on: May 15, 2017, 17:46:57 pm »
The point of extending A times isn't always about whether she is happy to do so but rather that it is required either to get good naps or because otherwise the last A time of the day ends up extremely long.
A very long A time before BT can result in a shorter than desired night due to OT and LO waking earlier than you hope or expect.
5,45am sounds early but it does very much depend on her entire routine and not just what time she goes to bed. Also if she's going to bed quite early she might have just finished sleeping by then.  Not all LOs can sleep 12hrs overnight.

hope this helps