Author Topic: Should I be waking DS from naps at 6 weeks?  (Read 17298 times)

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Offline mommykay410

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Should I be waking DS from naps at 6 weeks?
« on: July 03, 2017, 18:43:09 pm »
My DS is 6 weeks old and has been on 3 hr EASY pretty much since day 1.  For the most part he falls asleep on his own for naps, and can make it through the 45 minute/1 hour transition mark some of the time, sometimes I have to quickly shh-pat and can leave, other times I end up having to rock him back to sleep for the rest of the nap, but that is more rare now.  Up to this point I have been waking up him from naps at the 3 hour mark to feed him, but he hasn't been eating as well after his second nap, and seems to have a shorter A time then.  Should I just let him sleep til he wakes up from his naps, or should I still continue waking him at this point?  He is in the 84th percentile for weight, and 91st for height, so routine is the only reason I have been waking him to eat.

Here is yesterday:
WU 7:35
E 7:40
nap 8:30-10:25 (woke on his own)
E 10:35
nap 11:45-1:20 (woke on his own)
E 1:30
nap 2:30-4:30 (I woke him up)
E 4:35
catnap in sling 5:45-6:10
E 6:45
S 7:30-11:50
E 11:55
S 12:30-5:05
E 5:10
S 5:45-7:30 (shhpat at 6:40)
« Last Edit: July 03, 2017, 18:46:58 pm by mommykay410 »

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Re: Should I be waking DS from naps at 6 weeks?
« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2017, 12:05:11 pm »
What a lovely routine you have :)

There is no need to wake him if you'd like to let him wake naturally from naps. I would only warn that with a later finish to the nap it will make the rest of the day different.  If it is usually that third nap he likes ot sleep longer you could let him sleep and then feed on waking, your options for the rest of the day would be either very early BT (so no CN) but this could be too early for him and result in an earlier WU next morning which you may not be happy with. Or a later CN which could be around 6.15 - 6.45 with a later BT of 8pm.  The possible advantage of the later CN and later BT is that you might not need to shush/pat at 6.40am as the whole night sleep would be a touch later.  Hope that makes sense.

It is personal choice really.  Certainly you can try it, and it could work out lovely for you with less disturbance in the early hours after the night feed.
The only thing I'd say is perhaps not to let LO sleep longer than 3hrs for a nap, this would be 4hr from last E.  Longer than this can disturb night sleep.

hope that helps.


Offline mommykay410

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Re: Should I be waking DS from naps at 6 weeks?
« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2017, 14:39:48 pm »
Thanks for your reply  :)  His routine that day was glorious...yesterday not so much haha.  And today we aren't off to too great of a start, waking at an hour into nap and had to rock him for 30 mins to fall back to sleep.  It's a time like this that I consider letting him sleep til he wakes because he only fell back to sleep 15 minutes before I'd have to wake him back up to eat.  I would love to not have the catnap, but I definitely don't want him waking any earlier in the morning so his schedule doesn't interfere with DD's.  Same with the evening..I start her BT routine at 7:30 so she can be in bed by 8:15, so I can't really push his any later than feeding at 7 so he can be in bed by 7:30.  He has issues with his stomach at bedtime too, screaming and refusing to eat as soon as I lay him down to nurse him because his belly is just gurgling.  So because of that it takes him a little longer right now to finish nursing and lay down to bed.  I guess I could try just letting him go a little longer into a nap if it was one that he was somewhat unsettled for and see how that plays out.

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Re: Should I be waking DS from naps at 6 weeks?
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2017, 08:24:51 am »
When there is no routine or it is totally off track, that's when I think it is more likely needed to really stick to the times, that's how Tracy got LOs onto routine. But when the routine is basically going okay it's fine to make allowances and if mine had been unsettled and only dropped off 15 min before the end of a nap time I would also have let him sleep.
It does sound like something is bothering him - a gurgling tummy doesn't sound pleasant.


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Re: Should I be waking DS from naps at 6 weeks?
« Reply #4 on: July 05, 2017, 13:14:58 pm »
Yea, yesterday was a mess with naps.  I let him sleep til 10:45 instead of waking him at 10:30, but the rest of the day was horrible then.  His next nap at 11:45 I had to quick shhpat to settle him to go down, then he was up at 1:05 and I couldn't get him back to sleep with shhpat or rocking, and it was right when DD needed to go down for nap and she was screaming so that was not fun.  Then he went down at 2:30, again needing to be shhpat to sleep, woke at 3 and I had to rock him til 3:50 when he finally fell back into deep sleep and I could lay him down and he was awake then at 4:25.  Took his catnap in the sling from 5:50-6:15 and was good for bedtime.  But this morning he was up at 6:50 with his arms almost out of the swaddle so I knew there was no getting him shhed back to sleep for another half hour to start our day on time.  I'm thinking for the sake of potentially interfering with DD's times I will still wake him for the earlier naps and if necessary let him go a little longer for the third.  I'm impatiently waiting for the days when he sleeps through the transitions consistently. 

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Re: Should I be waking DS from naps at 6 weeks?
« Reply #5 on: July 05, 2017, 13:59:20 pm »
If one of the reasons of altering the routine a bit is because he is not so hungry after one of his naps it would be okay to let him have a bit of A time before eating, mine didn't really like to eat when he'd just woken up.
Yes, I would do whatever needed to fit in with your DD's routine wherever possible. I think that's needed when there is more than one LO :)


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Re: Should I be waking DS from naps at 6 weeks?
« Reply #6 on: July 06, 2017, 01:36:19 am »
He is usually good about eating as soon as he wakes up, but he will occasionally still fall asleep while nursing if I wake him from his nap, especially if it's a short one that I have to help extend.  Although the other day when I couldn't get him to fall back to sleep after the 45 minute mark, he refused to eat no matter what I did because he was just so tired. 

He was actually pretty good today considering his 2nd nap started in the car and I transferred him to the crib.  I had to rock him after an hour for his 3rd, but he catnapped for almost an hour in the sling then.  Some days I think I am blessed with an angel baby, other days I question haha. 

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Re: Should I be waking DS from naps at 6 weeks?
« Reply #7 on: July 06, 2017, 08:43:23 am »
Ah, it's still early days isn't it. It really does sound like you are doing brilliantly even if there are times when it takes a lot of effort to get him off to sleep.


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Re: Should I be waking DS from naps at 6 weeks?
« Reply #8 on: July 08, 2017, 14:23:09 pm »
Thank you, I have been trying quite hard!  The past two days he has cried and settled himself at the 45 minute mark, but then at the hour mark can't settle himself and I have had to rock him back to sleep, which takes forever and I am usually not able to lay him back down because he never seems to get back into a deep sleep.  Around what age do they typically stop crying at the transition mark and just sleep through on their own?  I know I will end up going through this all again at the 4 month regression, which I already feel like I am in, but am hoping for a break before then!  He will be 7 weeks tomorrow.  Also, can you refresh my memory on what age to pay more attention to A times rather than watching sleepy cues?  Right now he is at about 1-1.25 hr A time, sometimes an hour 20 mins. 

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Re: Should I be waking DS from naps at 6 weeks?
« Reply #9 on: July 08, 2017, 17:48:30 pm »
Around what age do they typically stop crying at the transition mark and just sleep through on their own? 
I think this probably depends a lot on the individual, how long they've been having help to learn to self settle (ie how long you've been sleep training) and their individual character.  Mine was self settling and transitioning alone around 8wks but I started day one with trying to put him down for sleeps and from 4-5 wks on EASY, I put in a lot of time and I didn't have another child to care for, even so I think this is often seen as quite early in the scheme of things.  Our 4 month regression came at 3.5 months so my period of having a bit of an easier time of it didn't last very long!  Different for everyone I think.

Have you tried a W2S at 45 mins?
Does he ever transition alone and then stay asleep or he always wakes 15 min after getting himself back off?

I think his A time is fine. It's just a touch longer than the guidance times but you are obviously reading the cues well and following his need. I would say the only time it is wiser to focus more on A times is when the routine is not appropriate and needs a substantial change to get things on track or during nap drops and routine changes.  If for example A times are very low for age and LO is only sleeping a 40 min nap which is clearly UT that is the time to ignore sleepy cues and go for the A times.  This doesn't seem to be the case with your LO at all.


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Re: Should I be waking DS from naps at 6 weeks?
« Reply #10 on: July 09, 2017, 01:00:52 am »
I have been putting him down to sleep since the beginning pretty much, and he is great about falling asleep on his own, it's just the transition that he struggles with recently again.  I try to wait as long as I can to see if he settles himself, but I think sometimes that makes it worse for me in the end because he gets too worked up by the time I go in that I'm not able to just shhpat.  Sometimes he cries at the 30 min mark, then 45, then an hour, which he did today for his third nap and then I ended up having to rock him, which was unsuccessful and I ended up just getting him up since we had company then.  Although he did the same for his second nap today also and settled himself each time.  I was going to ask if W2S would be helpful at this point, but I would have to do it at the 35 min mark I think because it's hard to judge when he actually falls asleep, so I wouldn't want to risk going in when he is about to wake at 40 sometimes.  How many days would I do that for if I did it?  There are some naps when he just sleeps right through the transitions with just a rustle around in the crib, or he only cries out at one point and then settles back for the rest.  I'm hoping it's just these few days and then he gets back on track.  Maybe I should try putting him down a tad earlier.  I've definitely been watching his cues, but I try to push him a little sometimes, especially if he woke earlier than I'd like him to either in the morning or from a nap, so that I can get his times back on track. 

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Re: Should I be waking DS from naps at 6 weeks?
« Reply #11 on: July 09, 2017, 09:49:27 am »
The W2S link is here:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=223809.0
You would do 3 days on 1 day off to see how he goes, then if he still wakes you'd do another round. That's the usual way. If you feel he'd do better with it every day for a while that's fine too, I did this with my DS during a tricky nap drop and just kept going daily until I saw he was through it.  Also, it's fine to go in at a slightly different time to what the FAQ says,as you know LO best so you judge when is the best time to begin. You can either start the shush/pat before he wakes triggering a new cycle and helping him through or you can be there and just hover with your hand almost touching him ready for him to wake and then begin. Equally, the FAQ says to go on for 20 mins into deep sleep you can judge if he needs this full 20 mins or if less works okay for you.  My DS was much much older when I used this a lot but I literally just needed to do 2 mins in the room to see him through OT waking, I had to go in every 20 min due to the OT (so in at 19 min out at 21 min) effecting his sleep but it worked wonderfully.  You can experiment a little and use the method in a way that works for you and your LO.

Putting him down a touch earlier may help, the waking 15 mins after a transition where he has been able to settle himself initially could be a bit of OT.  Again you might need to experiment a bit. Times are useful but they are not everything, level of stimulation, temperature of the room, external noises or smells, there are so many things that can disturb sleep that we need to keep in mind it is not *just* down to getting the timing right.

It's wonderful he is already falling to sleep on his own - you clearly know what you're doing and have helped him to learn this by giving him great confidence in you :)


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Re: Should I be waking DS from naps at 6 weeks?
« Reply #12 on: July 09, 2017, 13:03:52 pm »
Thank you for the compliment and bout of confidence  :)  Even when I think I know what I'm doing, the reassurance from you ladies on here helps me tremendously!  I think I will see how the next couple days go and if he is still following this same pattern I may try W2S.  I used method 2 briefly with my DD at one point, probably during the 4 month regression if I remember correctly, although I don't think I started correcting that until around 5 months, since that is when I discovered BW and pu/pd.  That is probably the method I would use with him too, just because I don't really have the 20 minutes to spend in there doing shhpat with DD around.  So I would most likely go in around 35 mins if he didn't already wake at 30 and get him to stir.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he is in a good sleeping routine by the end of this week since we are going to the beach next week, and I would love to be able to enjoy it rather than spending my days rocking in the bedroom haha. 

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Re: Should I be waking DS from naps at 6 weeks?
« Reply #13 on: July 09, 2017, 17:43:56 pm »
Enjoy your holiday  :D


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Re: Should I be waking DS from naps at 6 weeks?
« Reply #14 on: July 10, 2017, 15:03:43 pm »
Thank you!

Ok so not sure what's going on with him today and a bit yesterday.  He woke up this morning at 7:15, E at 7:25, down for nap at 8:30 and asleep by 8:35/40.  He cried at 9:15, 9:20, 9:25, 9:30 and settled himself each of those times, then cried again at 9:40 and I patted him for a couple minutes at 9:45.  He cried and settled himself at 9:55 and 10:10, then I got him up when he cried at 10:15.  He did a similar thing yesterday for his 8:30 and 2:30 naps.  He is obviously not getting restful sleep if he is crying out so often, and then he starts to dose off when I am feeding him and is grumpy during his A time then.  The only thing I can think is maybe growth spurt?  He did have an extra feed at 5:50 this morning in addition to the one at 2:00.  I think I'm going to try to do the W2S for this next nap and see if it makes a difference at all.