Author Topic: arg can you help me with my routine? (Read 6471 times)

micah'smom · « **on:** July 28, 2005, 21:22:40 pm »

hi everyone,

my 15 wk old has been on easy for about 6 weeks, and he's been doing great. he's on a 3-3.5hr routine.

he usually wakes up around 7-7:30, follows the 3hr easy schedule, and sleeps by 8:00, wakes at 4am to eat, and up by 7am again.

HOWEVER.... lately he's been waking up at 10pm, 2am, and 4am. then waking up for the day at 8! (well, so have i, so i can't wake him up at 7 lol)

i have several questions:
1. do his nightwakings and late wakeups mean i have to tweak his schedule? if so, how?
2. i want to gradually move to a 4hr easy by the time he's 4 months. he's already about 16 lbs. what are signs he can move to the 4hr? also, that means he'll only eat 4 times during the day and once at night. is that ok for his age? (he's EBF)
3. he currently has about 4 naps a day (we're fighting the 45 min naps, but he's getting better.) now that he's waking up at 8 he only gets 3 naps a day. does that mean he wants 3 naps a day? when do you know you can move to 3 naps?

thanks for your help, hope i made sense
selena

cambeladamom · « **Reply #1 on:** July 30, 2005, 18:16:00 pm »

selena,
i don't have any good answers for you because i am facing the same thing. i have a 13 week old who is changing to a 3.5 easy, but this eventually means that he will drop a feeding. i think this is okay. i guess the sign that it isn't would be that he doesn't gain weight, or he starts waking up hungry at night.
my lo wakes up sometimes at night too but is not hungry. we have found that it is often because he has broken out of his swaddle. i wonder too if some of it isn't just a developmental thing because he doesn't do it every night. ( i blame all the things i don't understand on a "developmental thing"

. i will be watching this post to see what answers you get. good luck! and remember you are not alone:)

me and bean · « **Reply #2 on:** August 01, 2005, 03:29:20 am »

hey selena

yep! it's time to move to a 4 hour easy. your lo is showing all the signs: suddenly waking several times at night, naps getting shorter and waking up early. bean did exactly what you lo did. he was all wonderful then it all changed. i put him on 4/4 and we are back to normal.

to answer your questions:
1. yes, you have to tweak his routine. put him on 4/4. tracy's new book shows you how.
2. signs above. it works for us and we ebf. his weight still continues to increase.
3. you gotta get him up at 7, it sucks i know, but it works. i don't know if they 'want' 3 naps, but it's just how it works out. keep up extending the naps with shushing and then pu/pd (i started this at 16wks), and eventually they'll sleep through one cycle... then another.

hope that helps. i had no idea what was going on, so i ordered the book and it was right there in black and white, and i've never looked back. well, sometimes an 8am wake up would be cool... :wink:

cambeladamom · « **Reply #3 on:** August 01, 2005, 14:11:38 pm »

susan,
i am keeping up with this thread, because i have the same question. my lo is 13 weeks and is moving to 4 hour easy. the problem i have is what time to get him up in the morning. he goes down aroun 8 or 8:30, but his wake up time is inconsistent. he is waking up a couple of times at night when he is not hungry, and then eating around 5 or 6...here is where we have problems. sometimes he will go back down and sometimes he won't. and since his early morning feed is inconsistent, some days he is on a 3 hour easy and some days 4-depending on when he woke up-so that we can get him to bed on time. he is taking 3 naps a day. what do i do? and do i have to have the book ?
thanks for your help

alligirl · « **Reply #4 on:** August 01, 2005, 18:21:40 pm »

Maria, I had the problem of inconsistent wake up times, too. I don't really know how I fixed it, I just stayed consistent in the things I wanted and he eventually got better and started waking at the same time more consistently. I'm sure once you got him to quit waking when he's not hungry that it'll get better.

I highly recommend getting the book. There is LOTS of info in there! Believe me, you won't be disappointed and I think it's worth it! :wink:

micah'smom · « **Reply #5 on:** August 01, 2005, 20:07:30 pm »

susan,

thanks for your help, i know you've helped me on another post!

well saturday we did great - micah took a 2hr morning nap and then 2 more 1hr naps. he did fine with being up for 2 hrs. but then we went to church on sunday and things got screwy again.

quick q - so some days he's still doing 45 min naps and i can't extend them. do i let him take an extra nap to make up for missed sleep, or do i try to keep him on schedule? last night he went to sleep super-early - 6:30- and woke up 3 or 4 times before midnight :shock:

but the 4/4 does help, seems like he takes more at each feeding and is content going longer.

maria - i do the same thing, blame everything on developmental stuff

these days ds shakes his tushy alot (he's a tummy sleeper). i hope he's rolling over soon b/c otherwise i have no idea what he's doing.

selena

alligirl · « **Reply #6 on:** August 02, 2005, 01:44:45 am »

Selena-personally, I would try to let him catch another nap sometime in the day. You already know what going to bed super early does, so try something else, if you have to. Trial and error. :wink:

me and bean · « **Reply #7 on:** August 03, 2005, 05:38:12 am »

hey maria

i can only tell ya what i did and how it worked out for me. my lo is so adaptable, that anything i throw at him he just takes in his stride.

you don't have to get the book, BUT, i totally agree with alli, you won't be disappointed. it is excellent and very detailed. i'm not much good at improvising, and to see it all written out, suites me to just follow. fortunately i have a lo who tags along for the ride.

until my lo was 16 wks, i was too scared to do anything much with him, because i was nervous of doing it wrong or overstimulating, or waking him up and not being able to get him back to sleep. and for those few weeks before he turned 4mths, we had night wakings where he would suck for a minute and fall asleep. so i knew he wasn't hungry either.

once that 4mth mark hit for me, i decided that i wouldn't feed in the night, that i would just shush or pu/pd back to sleep. and i would not get him out of bed before 6.30am. and that his first feed of the day is at 7am. and it just worked. the first night he cried, i took a bottle of water, tied my hair back, and prepared for the long haul. i shushed and he was asleep in seconds... i even did this at 5 or 6am.

also, any two nights he woke at the same time ie 5am, i did wake to sleep at 4am. and it stopped immediately. i have an alarm clock with dual alarms... i use one for wake to sleep occasions, and one for 6.50am.

again, i agree with alli, i think the more consistent you are, the easier it will be for lo's to anticipate what's happening next. hope this helps maria.

me and bean · « **Reply #8 on:** August 03, 2005, 05:57:49 am »

aw, shaking his tushy... too cute!

hey selena, there a days that sometimes just don't work. like today i was at the ped's office and he was vaccinated through his naptime (!), then cried through his catnap time... these days i just go with his flow, get him to bed in the evening when the yawning starts, and i start fresh at 7am the next morning.

if he wakes 30mins into a nap, i might spend the next 45 getting him to sleep again, and if i'm lucky, he'll go back to sleep for a while. sometimes he'll cry the whole time. but i stay with him and pu/pd, shush, you know, whatever. then he gets to get up and have a feed. i really try to be consistent with his napping. if he wakes cranky, and less than 1.5hrs, i try to get him back to sleep. if he's had around 1.5 and is happy i get him up.

if you can't do it, then by all means try another nap later. the better his naps during the day are, the better his nighttime sleep will be.

cambeladamom · « **Reply #9 on:** August 04, 2005, 13:40:27 pm »

susan-
i am getting the book today, and i can't wait! cambel won't give me consistent nights of full rest. but he can go 10 hours without a feeding. so we are on the right track. we bought a miracle blanket to help him stay asleep at night. but he breaks out of even that! can you believe it? he is on about a3.5 hour easy, but with inconsistent wake up times, we often have a hard time getting in our 6 feedings before he goes back to bed for the night ( we have tried just 5 feedings, but he can't do it). so hopefully the book will help.
about the wake to sleep thing. do you just wake him up and put him back down? that seems crazy, but i have heard it works. i am not sure it would work for us b/c cambel doesn't wake up at the same time each night.
i'll keep you posted about how we do with the book, and i will probably have some more questions for you.
thanks!

micah'smom · « **Reply #10 on:** August 04, 2005, 17:31:26 pm »

10 hrs without a feeding?! that's awesome! my lo only goes about 8 so far.

i've heard the wake to sleep really works. i've been too chicken to even try. but if you do some searches you'll find some good threads on it.

cambeladamom · « **Reply #11 on:** August 07, 2005, 21:57:33 pm »

i hope someone is still watching this thread that can help. i would start a new one, but i don't want to try to explain everything again.
i got the book and now i think i am even more confused on what to do...the book is great, but i can't figure out cambel:)
we have a couple of problems
we don't do dream feeds- i can't stay up late enough, and when we try it, it doesn't help. he can make it 10 hours without eating, so i am not sure we need it anyway. but i think cambel is ready for 4/4 because he keeps waking up at night even though he isn't hungry (and this is driving me crazy). the problem is that if we go to 4/4, we drop a feeding. which we be fine, except that we don't do a dreamfeed, so he would only have 4 feedings a day. and i don't think he can do that. the other problem is naps. since i can't put him on a 4 hour easy all day, he ends up having 2 long naps and 2 short naps. is that okay?
this is probably totally confusing. i am totally confused! (and tired). i guess i just need some advice on what to do. so here is a sample schedule of what i am trying to do now. maybe someone could tell me what you think and how to adjust it to help him sleep through the night.

5:30 am eat then back to sleep
7:00 eat
8:30 nap (trying to extend naps to 2 hours)
10:30 eat
12:30 sleep
2:30 eat
4:30 sleep
5:30 eat
catnap at some point
7:10 bath
7:30 eat (he is EBF)
8ish sleep...wakes up 2-3 times before 5:30 feeding

i should say that this is what i am trying to do, which means it rarely happens.
any advice would be helpful!
thanks

Lindsay79 · « **Reply #12 on:** August 10, 2005, 16:47:44 pm »

hiya
Just a thought ... you mentioned that your lo doesnt wake up the same time every night ... My dd did this for a while so each time she woke that night I fed her and the following day I added the ounces to her feeds ... it seemed to work as she slept the following night much better.

HTH

Lindsay - Mammy to Olivia Rose (Spirited/Touchy Baby)

cambeladamom · « **Reply #13 on:** August 10, 2005, 18:10:30 pm »

thanks for the thought. the problem is i am breastfeeding, and i don't know how much he is getting. i guess i could "time" it, but he is so touchy, that when he is done nursing, he is DONE and screams if i try to get him to suck longer. no "non-nutritive" sucking here:)
any other ideas?

me and bean · « **Reply #14 on:** August 12, 2005, 05:43:42 am »

hey maria! the inlaws were visiting...

the wake to sleep thing does work for me. still scares the crap out of me when i have to do it. tracy says to just go in and stroke their belly etc till they wake and leave the room. i usually slide my hands underneath him like i am going to pick him up - but don't actually. that way he pulls his legs up and arms too and has a good stretch and a grunt and a groan, and i quickly leave and close the door and freak out wondering if he'll just wake up.

maria, first, can i ask how the dreamfeed isn't working for ya? is it just that you don't want to stay up? cause, i went through this as well, and in the end i get more sleep by doing it.

just looking at what you are trying to achieve, i reckon that if you can df, you will beable to shush/pu-pd back to sleep at 5.30 instead of feeding. and if that 5.30 is a consistent thing, start wake to sleep at 4.30 for at least that one.

what you are doing is sooooo close to 4/4. right now the main thing is, is you lo happy and content when he is awake? if so, that's awesome.

let me know about the df.

cambeladamom · « **Reply #15 on:** August 12, 2005, 14:57:04 pm »

susan-thanks for replying
the df doesn't work b/c he won't suck without waking completely up and then it disturbs his sleep for the whole night.
we have tried it w/ a bottle too, but no success.
i have taken away his paci at night and naps ( a real nightmare at first, but getting better) b/c i think that might have something to do with the night wakings. he made it from 8-4:20 last night, so hopefully we will keep seeing improvement.

me and bean · « **Reply #16 on:** August 16, 2005, 20:46:50 pm »

hey maria
just reading lindsay's reply... i wondered too about how much extra to give bean too while ebf. i increased my supply. but he still carried on and whinged after i was empty. soooo, i opened the formula sample...

took about a week of offering after each feed. finally he took a couple extra ounces, just two days ago, of it after a bf, and what a different little guy!
he's pretty laid back anyway, but now, i don't have ANY wakings at night. he goes down around 7.30-8 and is quiet till 6.45 or so! AND, sooo much happier in the evening around catnap/bath/feed time.
i just make up 2oz if i think he hasn't had enough on the breast (by his behaviour), and he takes that.
so, i definitely think upping the intake during the day helps too. in my case ALOT. i haven't changed how long we bf for, just add to it.
don't know if that will help.

cambeladamom · « **Reply #17 on:** August 17, 2005, 00:54:54 am »

thanks for the thought on adding formula. i know it is early, but i think i might start giving him just a small amount of cereal mixed with breast milk. i think the biggest problem with his night wakings has been his pacifier. so we have been breaking him of it at night, and the past three nights he has gone from 8-5. so i am a much happier mom!

me and bean · « **Reply #18 on:** August 19, 2005, 21:37:02 pm »

that's great maria...

micah'smom · « **Reply #19 on:** September 03, 2005, 14:22:06 pm »

hi maria,

just a thought, try feeding cereal in the morning first to see how your lo reacts to it, since he's still young. my lo is now almost 5mo and he was constipated with the cereal at first. oatmeal is much better for him now.

oh and i thought cereal would help him sleep better but it hasn't. well, he wakes now b.c of rolling one way and can't get back. if it's not one thing it's another i guess!!

cambeladamom · « **Reply #20 on:** September 04, 2005, 21:55:01 pm »

hello again! i actually have started giving him a litle cereal in the morning. i don't think he is taking enough in yet to make much of a difference, but it is fun to watch him try to eat:) he is starting to learn how to swallow it. the pacifier weaning has really helped his sleep, but i think he is becoming more active now and waking himself up. like you said, if it is not one thing, its another:)

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Author Topic: arg can you help me with my routine? (Read 6471 times)