Any March & April 05 mums/moms want to chat?

[lindsaysmom]

Bianca, Thank you so much for the information on dreamfeed!  Lindsay's current night time waking pattern is very similar to Sienna's before the dream feed, so that gives me confidence that DF will help.  My question is if for the first few days, she wakes up at 2am again, do I feed her or just try to get her back to sleep?  I noticed quite a few postings saying this may happen and DF takes a week to fully work.

[becca24]

I tried the dreamfeed the last two nights. First night she still woke at 2am so I settled her back to sleep and she woke at 3.00, I settled her again and she woke at 4.45. I fed her then and put her back to bed until she woke again at 7.00. Last night she woke 1.45,3.00,5.00 and 6.00!!!   :roll:  :roll:  :roll: I fed her at the 3.00 waking because of what happened the first night but it made no difference. I know I have gone backwards and forwards on the dreamfeed thing and just need to be consistent but with that many wakings I think I will just stick to the old way :? My dh thinks I am crazy because I keep changing my mind but he is not the one getting up :x

[JudeBaby]

My sweet pea turned 3 months old yesterday.  I can't get over how much babies change in this short amount of time.  Even though I feel like I have no clue what I'm doing at times, this is the most "funnest" thing ever!
Do you all have some favorite moments?

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Hi to all the newbies! 

Well I'm not too sure what's going on with our nights, but Danielle's woken at 2.30am the last few nights, I feed and then she goes through till 7.15-7.30 anyway or when I wake her. :?   I'm wondering if that's a sign that we need to stretch out the daytime feeds?  Those considering or who have done the 3-4hr transition, did you just go cold turkey or gradual?  I'm not sure how to fit a 3.5hr schedule into our 7-7pm day?  When I looked back at my diary of Nathan's day, when he was doing 3.5hrs his last feed was at 5.30pm and then bed at 7pm.  Just hesitant to make the switch when we've still got a night waking - anyone have any thoughts on that?

Wow, so many questions!!

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Hi Becca, yes sorry I did see your other reply.  I have the new book, what pages discusses it?  It it in the 4/4 piece, I just found it a little vague?  I guess the key is getting them to sleep right up to their next 4hrly feed time - I have trouble with that, so it fits in with our 3hr schedule ok, so not too sure how to go about it since I don't really have time to do pu/pd with Nathan in the house.

Thanks

[BiancaB]

Hello girls 
Nikki, there is a section in the chapter on PU/PD about the 4hr routine.
I was looking through it today, pages 228-231.
I am waiting to change Sienna from 3hr to 4 a little longer as she is still struggling with a 2hr awake time..Basically this routine seems to work when you are able to do 2 naps per day plus a short nap late afternoon instead of the 3 naps a day I am on currently, so I will probably try this when she is closer to 4 months, although I am afraid of getting stuck in the short nap game!! :shock:

LindsaysMum,
How's it going?
I do think you need to stick with the Df for at least a week if you can, as it has to become a new habit for your bubs, as for the wakings I used to go by this rule for my ds#1..If it was 2hrs between feeds I would feed him, if he didn't take a full feed I would then know it was just from habit and the next night try to extend the time with paci etc...If he did take a full feed and slept through to a decent morning time I just went with the flow because I felt he just needed that feed, some babes are hungrier then others. If you can do cluster feeding this also helps plus the DF to really tank them up.
Now if your baby is waking more than once at night and taking a full feed each time it may be a growth spurt(usually lasts only a couple of days) which means fill them up more in the day. The key to knowing if its hunger is how long they are feeding for and hard are they sucking.

 I remember with my ds I had to do the 2-3am feed for quite a while even with the 11pm Df it was just his pattern(touchy/spirited), when he got old enough I dropped it and made a rule to only feed him after 4am, we had a couple of nights of tears, PU/PD  and then he never woke at that time again. He didn't sleep from 7 until7 until he was 9 months :shock: 

At this age sleepless nights for parents is just a part of raising babies and if you can just pop them on for a feed once a night and they go peacefully back down to sleep again your happy   Make sure your day routine is going well, especially naps as this also really impacts on night wakings...overtired babies will wake up and be more unsettled at night.

Take care everyone 
Bianca

[Erin M]

Hi ladies - I've got poison ivy all over my body - it's the craziest thing, I've never reacted to it before in my life and now I've got it everywhere - boobs included, making BF a little interesting - and all I was doing was pulling weeds in the garden.  Dr. finally had to put me on prednisone yesterday when my eyes started swelling - so now we're watching Katie to make sure she isn't affected by it.  Always an adventure, right?

Judy - in my opinion (for what it's worth, being rather new at this whole mom thing) 9 weeks seems early to me to be on a four hour routine - I feel like the girls might be hungrier at night if they're on a four hour schedule during the day.  I give you a ton of credit with four little ones - one and two cats are about enough for me right now.  My little one never slept that long though (catnapper all the way) though so I don't have much experience in terms of sleeping through feeds. 

Katie seems to suddenly be putting herself on a 4-hour routine, although it's too early to tell.  Two days in a row now she's been up, awake for nearly two hours, slept for two and woke up for a feed, and then done it again.  I'm amazed.  I'm sure it won't last lol!  She'll be four months a week from today.  What an amazing age!  I love every minute of it (except for my current itchy state of affairs and my fear I'm scarring her for life by taking prednisone to clear up the poison ivy). 

Hope everyone is well!

[Jayri]

I haven't read all of the posts, but I have an 11wk old dd, she is really easy going and an absolute pleasure.
I'm trying to implement a 3hr EASY, she seemed fine today, but then I got muddled at night time. I have a 2yr old ds as well, she will only feed lightly at night, could there be a chance that I just change her and put her back to bed? Could doing that make her feed longer during the day? I'm a little lost at all of this as my ds wouldn't bf at all, and I hadn't heard of bw till I was pg with my dd.

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Thanks for that Bianca and Becca.  I've had a quick read today (in between dealing with a clingy vomiting Nathan and entertaining Danielle).

I also think I will need to wait for at least another few weeks because she goes 1.5-1.75hrs activity but I don't really want to drop a nap yet. 

Well last night I decided not to do the DF because we had some weird things going on.  Her night feed had been consistently around 3.30-4.30am (and as long as 5.30am) but had then crept back to 2.30am the last few nights but then slept right through till morning.  So last night she was in bed at 7pm, woke at 12.30am and then slept until 7.30 when I woke her -it's like she's reversed the "big sleep".  Unfortunately I sleep best at the start of my sleep and only sleep lightly after I wake up to feed her.  So we dropped a night feed only it was the wrong one!  Never mind, I'm sure we'll get it sorted, I may leave doing the DF a few days and then put it back in and see what happens.

Well I was intending on letting Danielle lead me today on how long she wanted to go between feeds, but it still ended up at 3hrs since she only sleeps 45mins for a couple of the earlier naps which makes it difficult to time things (I'm really not into the whole pu/pd thing).

[BiancaB]

Hello again everyone

HAD TO WRITE about this interesting 4hr routine business!!
I decided to have a rethink about waiting to start it, when reading through the info again I noticed that short naps ie 45mins etc can be a good sign your routine needs some tweaking. I have been dealing with the short nap thing this last week or so with Sienna and I have been extending them with PU/PD..IT HAS BEEN DRIVING ME CRAZY..(I too have a 2yrold and this does not make PU/PD any easier :wink:)

So I decided to try 4 hr between feeds with only 2 naps and a catnap :shock:

Sienna has managed to stay awake for 2hrs before without getting overtired so I thought I'd try keeping her up for about that long give or take.

CAN YOU BELIEVE she took to this routine like a duck to water!!

(She is approx 14wks old now.)
I fed her at 700am, managed to put her down for her first nap at 9am , managed to keep her asleep for 2 hrs in between driving to my Mum's etc and then fed her at 1100am, again kept her up until approx 1pm. I started settling her down around 12:45 and she was slightly overtired(being at Grandma's hadn't helped) so had a bit of a cry but nothing major..
She then slept soundly for 2hrs with no wakeup and I actually had to wake her for a 3pm feed!
By the way every feed was over 10mins long and some serious eating draining both sides, which is really good for her.
Okay the afternoon was my major concern but she surprised me, I kept her up making sure she wasn't getting too weary and put her down for a nap at around 5pm, she settled well and again I had to wake her at 6:15pm so I could fit in a feed and bath and bed at 7:30pm.

I'm just so thrilled      as this is a better routine for me and seemed to really suit little Si...So I will try again tmrw...I know I may have to adjust it and go back to 3-1/2 hrs or even 3 at times but as she is a good sleeper I'm hoping that all will go well.
Sienna is in general a very placid baby(angel) so I don't know if staying awake for 2hrs would suit all babes at this age. But I do feel that Tracys info on "a window opening up to move to this 4/4 routine" has applied in my case.
Thanks for listening to all this....

Just a quick one for Jason and Rileys Mum, When you said "she feeds only lightly at night" are you talking about before bed or during the night?
Posting you current routine may also help us give you any pointers 
I will continue to let all know my progress with the 4/4 !
Take care Bianca
P.S So sorry to hear about the poison ivy Erin, hope your feeling better now.

[Jayri]

Well last night was really interesting, my dh didn't think pat/shh would work until he saw me do it, he thought it was amazing.
Last night after ahving a BIG puke, she went to sleep on her own, half in daddy's arms, half in her crib. she woke up at 9pm, ate for about 10 mins, played for a few more, and then dhh had his snuggle and she passed out, but got unsettled as she needed more room to spread out in her bed :shock: .
She slept until 2:30am, had a 25min feed. she never does that, it is usually around 5 mins of feeding and then she falls asleep.
She woke up a couple of times, me being half asleep, I was going to feed her but I told dh I wanted to see if she would go back down on her own first, and she did.
Riley next had a nibble at about 7am, and after finishing off her sleep, woke up at 8:30am but would only have a nibble as well.
I am going to try her on a three hr EASY routine today, she seemed to respond fairly well to it yesterday.
We are going away to  the children's godparents for the weekend as it is Canada day here on July 1st, I am going to try to keep the rythm going but I'm not sure if it will work. I'm definitly keeeping her on the routine though, it is just finding the right pace to go at.

[Erin M]

Bianca- I too feel like we are at the window for the 4/4 routine as Katie has been managing it well the past few days on her own after me trying to get her there for weeks.  Isn't it funny how you try and try to get them to do things and then they do it on their own? 

Jayson and Riley's mum - I too am amazed at how they can settle down if you don't go running to them at every noise during the night.  Do you think an earlier bedtime would help?  I put Katie to bed between 7:30 and 8 (we start around 7 with bath, feeding, etc) - I know that this is not only recommended in the BW book but also by Elizabeth Pantley who is mentioned elsewhere on the site.  You can check out her website http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth/ where she talks about finding the right bedtime for your baby - not all her ideas go along with BW but I think you have to find what works best.  Now that the craziness of the first few months has settled down, you can hopefully get your LO on more of a solid routine. 

Happy 4th to all you in the US!

[JudeBaby]

I'm jealous.  I've read that at the 3 month mark, things are supposed to get more predictable, calmer, but I'm having the exact opposite!  My ds has been on the 4 hour EASY for quite some time because he refues to eat before 4 hours have passed.  It was a dream come true.  My days at home were productive because he would nap for 2-2.5 hours and I could get things done, take naps...I knew when things were going to happen.  After i found her book, about 3-4 weeks into his life, being a mom was a piece of cake.
Now, I've had three weeks of total confusion.  Out of the blue, he started taking 20-30-45 minute naps.  He would throw a fit during wind down.  I'd lay him in his cradle and he'd get so unhappy.  (gets is more appropriate)  He was sleeping 5-6 hour stretches at night, and now he gets up every 4 hours to eat.  Wake time was always 8:00, or I'd leave him in there and he'd be fine until I got him.  NOW, he's up at 7:00, and if I'm not there within 5 minutes, he starts fussing.
He used to eat so regularly, too.  5-6 ounces, and now he'll eat 3-4 and be done.  Yesterday, he only ate 3 each time...which leads into night wakings. 
I can't do anything around the house because he stirrs at the slightest sounds.  There's no napping because he's up reguardless of how many minutes I stay in there with him.  Right now my husband is rocking him..very bad, I know.
Is it possible for a textbook baby to morph into a touchy baby overnight?  Is anyone else dealing with this?

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Bianca, that sounds great!  So how did the night go?  Was there any change with night feeds?

JudeBaby, maybe something else is going on like developmental stuff, is he doing new things like grabbing things, rolling, sucking fingers etc that could be throwing things out a little?  How about post your schedule and we'll see if there's anything that can be tweaked.  Does he normally go to sleep independently on his own?  What time is bedtime and does he have a bedtime routine etc?

Well I had the strangest night with Danielle.  I decided to drop the DF for the 2nd night in a row and was amazed!  She went to bed at 7pm after a feed and didn't wake until 5.15am (and probably because I snuck into her room to check on her).  Wow, don't know how that happened after struggling to maintain 5hrs after the DF.  Will see what happens tonight, could have been a once off I guess...?

[JudeBaby]

Nik..thanks for your projected help.

Schedule is the 4 hour EASY.  He's been doing that since about 6 weeks.
Here was Monday's schedule:
 
7:00 Awake/Eat
7:15-9:00 Play/Wind Dow
9-9:50 Sleep
9:50--9:57  Rock to Sleep...I know v.bad
9:57-10:06 Sleep
10:07-10:08 Reswaddle
10:08-10:12 Sleep
10:12-10:14 Rock to sleep
10:14-10:28 Sleep
10:50 Eat
11-12:30 Play
12:30-1:30 Sleep
1:30-2:00 wake/sleep
2-3:00 Sleep
3:00 Eat
3:14-4:25 Play
4:24-6:00 Sleep
6-7 Play
7:00 Eat
7:30 Bath
8:15 Bed
12:00 Eat   fell asleep but would have DF
4:00 Eat
6:00 Restless and put in bed with us...sleep till 7:00


Phew...I can't believe i wrote all the down in one day.  Anyhow, i did because things were changing and i wanted to see on paper what was going on. 

Generally, he'll sleep about 35-50 minutes that first time I lay him down.  Anyhow, for the past three nights I tried putting him to bed at 7:30, but he kept waking, and we'd have to go back there, until about 8:30 when he'd fall asleep.  It worked the first night, but not the second two.  When we df, he's usually up 4.5 hours after that to eat again.  Only last night he ate 2 oz.

I'm thinking that he's getting overtired.  I've noticed that he doesn't yawn anymore...not anymore, but that used to be my cue for his nap time, at which he'd sleep for 2.5 hours.  Plus, i was guilty of putting him in the swing, and I'm not doing that anymore.  i stopped about 2 weeks ago.

I am guilty of rocking him to sleep...or doing squats.  That's always drifted him off to sleep.  Now, the rocking isn't working, and the squats work, but I can't do them for 10 minutes.  Our soothing rituals aren't working anymore, and it's happened overnight. 

Yes, he is doing all those developmental things.  His disposition isn't crabby.  When he was in the womb, he was very gentle, laid back, and his birth was quite the same.  Up until 3 weeks ago, he was a total dream.

I know I need to stop the rocking because he can't fall asleep independently, except at night, minus the past two.  When we put him down for a nap, after he starts fussing a bit, we swaddle him, and he starts crying... almost like he knows it's nap time.  Then, he just cries, fights it, arches his back..he'll settle, start to drift off, then his eyes pop back open, and it starts over until he falls asleep.

Do you have any clue what's going on?  I am desperate.