Hi Mama’s!
Thank you for taking the time to read my post, and for your suggestions!
I’m hoping to get some help with my 4 month old daughter. She’s a spirited one who likes to keep me on my toes. We had a pretty rough start with colic, reflux, and breastfeeding problems from day one. We did EAT-ACTIVITY-SLEEP from the get-go, although there were of course days here and there that we “broke the rules”. At 2 months of age, at the peak of some feeding issues (related to latching; refused bottle, etc., etc.) , I realized that her wake times weren’t right for her age and we decided to damage control and hold her for naps (also when colic peaked). We were just surviving, but actually was able to keep a decent 3-hour schedule and kept to the EAT-ACTIVITY-SLEEP. She has always been a spirited day sleeper, but did great at night.
Thankfully, things got better a little bit each day and eventually the breastfeeding was mastered and the colic & reflux disappeared! Unfortunately, around the same time, more and more we began to experience the 45-minute intruder. Slowly, but surely, it reeked havoc on our schedule, until eventually we didn’t really have one. We did still at least stick to EAT-ACTIVITY-SLEEP. Almost a month ago, she started sleeping through the night with a dreamfeed. She wakes up once or twice during the night and always puts herself back to sleep (actually has for over a month). Previously, I put her in the crib asleep at night. About 2 weeks ago, we did P.U.P.D. for naps and nighttime. She got the nighttime thing down in about 3 nights. Days, it took a few, and most of the time she has no problem.
Now, the issue is EVERY NAP is 40-45minutes. P.U.P.D. didn’t work to lengthen the naps (she only passed out from exhaustion with initial implementation of training). She wakes up crying, is clearly tired, but will NOT go back to sleep. We’ve tried shhh & pat, a pacifier, putting a hand on her at 30minutes to guide through the cycles. I’ve also tried 20 minutes of “quiet awake” time then trying to get her back to sleep but no luck.
I could handle the 45-minute nap, except that by the end of the day she is exhausted and often ends up skipping a nap (meaning awake 2.5+hrs, and just crying instead.
Does anyone have any insight or ideas?
I don’t think its over-tired or under-tired. She is very distinct on sleepy cues and I am very vigilant of her “sleep window”. Almost an hour to the minute after waking she yawns, I pick her up, and we slowly and gently make our way up to her room. It’s a darkened room, with white noise. We sing a little lullaby, I hold her for 5-6 minutes (usually all it takes), she sucks her hands and babbles while doing “the stare,” at which I put her in the crib. The first few naps she goes to sleep right on her own. Sometimes some fussing involved. As the day progresses, there is more and more crying while going down, then by the end it's a skipped nap.
I was feeding her after waking, but even that isn’t working because she isn't hungry (no surprise really; a 45-minute nap meant feeding every 2hours). I’ve tried Feed- activity-45 nap-activity-45min nap- Feed, but sometimes she decides she’s hungry for Part2 of the nap.
I’m running in circles driving myself crazy trying to find a solution to the 45 minute naps, and even if there is no “fix”, how to maintain a routine & schedule (even a flexible one!).
Thank you all SO SO much for your input!
