Author Topic: 4.5 month old, small issues here and there  (Read 2340 times)

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Offline runningmama

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4.5 month old, small issues here and there
« on: February 28, 2019, 11:37:39 am »
It has been a long time (6 years!) since I last needed this board, so bear with me as I am not so hip to the abbreviations, etc anymore!

My LO is about 4.5 months old. She is a dramatically better sleeper than my DS was, but I was pretty diligent about getting her on EASY early on for fear of having another terrible sleeper. We successfully transitioned her from the 3hr to 4 hr EASY between 3-4 months, without too much drama. We just this week started leaving one are out of the swaddle, as she was rolling onto her face in bed. She sucks her hands but hasn't gotten them consistently in bed yet.

 I have a few issues and questions that I would love some feedback on. First off, 95% of the time she wakes at 40-45min into the nap. It is just about without fail for every single nap. I don't think she is ready to be awake though, as when we soothe her back to sleep she will usually end up going a total of 1h45-2h naptime. We try to let her self soothe, but for the most part she escalates until we go in. A lot of times she will go back to sleep in 5-10 with a hand on her chest and help with her paci. There are days though where she really fights it for 30min and it is a lot of paci popping.

Nights are okay, but I feel like she should be going longer stretches, which she did do more regularly when she was a bit younger. She tends to wake earlier that I would expect for a feed (so prob on me to push her longer even though I am tired), and then lately has been waking very early and needing similar help as with naps, but will eventually go back to sleep with paci help.

I am struggling with the pros and cons of weaning the paci, as she is still quite young, and she will sleep at night when it pops out, she just has more trouble with that in the second half of naps and in the early morning. In 6.5 wks I am traveling internationally solo with my two kids, about 15hrs of flying, so I am VERY hesitant to lose the paci before that. She most closely resembles a textbook baby, she is very predictable and not very temperamental. But, she likes to suck and the paci has been clutch for all of the travel we have done thus far.

So, I am getting wordy here, but any tips on why the 40-45min nap has consistently been an issue, what to do about the very early waking, and any paci input? Is it possible to wean the paci from naps but keep it elsewhere? Or do I just commit to keeping it because of life circumstances and deal with what comes with that?

She is very much on the typical 4hr EASY and EBF

EW- 5:30ish (soothe back to sleep with paci)
E 7:15
A
S 9-11 (usually wake at 40min, soothed back to sleep with paci, naturally wakes at 11)
E 11
A
S 1-3 (again, usually wakes at 40min, tends to be a bit harder to soothe back but she eventually always sleeps more)
E 3
A
S 5-5:30 (give or take 15min)
A Hardest part of day for her, usually I need to babywear to keep her calm
E 7
S 7:30
DF 10:45-11

She has been waking most frequently around 2-2:30am, but I would think she should be able to go longer? Any earlier than 2 I won't feed her, but maybe she needs to be pushed even longer? She does seem to take a pretty full feed at that time.

« Last Edit: March 02, 2019, 12:44:12 pm by runningmama »

Offline Katet

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Re: 4.5 month old, small issues here and there
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2019, 09:24:00 am »
A lot of babies do struggle with joining sleep cycles and the fact she can be got back to sleep is a positive.

Is she BF? As it’s quite normal to still need a night feed (as well as a DF), and if she’s taking a full feed I’d keep offering and also hard as it is to deal with the EW some babies can just naturally go not lighter sleep cycles close to dawn and do have problems with being in deep enough sleep at that time, I had that problem with my eldest and really didn’t find a solution although busier mornings with more stimulation outside the house did help a bit, but 10.5 hour nights were as good as I ever got.
dc1 July 03, dc2 May 05

Offline runningmama

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Re: 4.5 month old, small issues here and there
« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2019, 12:45:44 pm »
Thanks for the response. Yes, exclusively breast feeding. That was my thought too, that if she is taking a full feed she must need it. I am just thrown off that she normally wakes 4hrs in for it, even after some cluster feeding in the evening.

Offline Katet

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Re: 4.5 month old, small issues here and there
« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2019, 22:04:10 pm »
Did she have a big growth spurt around 3months. Sometimes if the consistency of milk can doesn't change as much as if they have a big growth spurt. As BF babies don't drink more as they get older rather the fat content changes.
Anyway while textbook babies can have dropped night feeds  that doesn't mean all have and it's less likely in BF babies.
Hard as it is with night wakings I can categorically tell you babies that wake lots do grow into healthy happy capable teenagers... It's not their sleep that defines their lives but the love and connection they have to their families.
« Last Edit: March 02, 2019, 22:08:53 pm by Katet »
dc1 July 03, dc2 May 05