How to go to 4 hr. schedule if he's taking short naps???

[Tru's Mommy]

Rowan is 4 mo. (3/29/05) and is a big boy.  He was 13 lbs., 4 oz at 2 mo. and so I can only imagine how big he is now (drs. appt next week).  I've noticed that he is not all that interested in nursing at the 3 hr mark.  Or, he will nurse from one side only and just doesn't seem very hungry.  I think he could go to a 4 hr. schedule now, but the 30 and 45 min. naps have kicked in, and I'm not sure how to manage those with a 4 hr. schedule.  Here is what we are doing now...

 :arrow: 7:45/8:00 a.m. Wake and nurse (isn't wolfing it down maybe because he was up a lot at night?)
 :arrow: 9:00 a.m. Rice cereal
 :arrow: 9:30 a.m. Nap (lately it's been 30 or 45 minutes)
 :arrow: 11 a.m. Nurse
 :arrow: 12 or 12:30 p.m. Nap (again, a short one)
 :arrow: 2:00 p.m. Nurse
 :arrow: 3 or 3:30 Nap (OCCASIONALLY get a nap over an hour)
 :arrow: 5:00 p.m. Nurse
 :arrow: Catnap
 :arrow: 6:00 p.m. Rice cereal
 :arrow: 7:00 p.m. bath/bedtime routine
 :arrow: 7:30 Nurse and into bed
 :arrow: 10:30 p.m. Dreamfeed (only takes one side--will not nurse the other)
 :arrow: 1:00 a.m. Nurse
 :arrow: 4:00 a.m. Nurse
 :arrow: 7:45/8:00 a.m. up for the day

My thoughts...dreamfeed implemented a week ago is not helping.  I think he's not getting or wanting enough to fill up him, so he's up 2 or 3 hours later.  I did the dreamfeed with ds#1 and it made no impact on his sleeping.  But he was a much better nightsleeper, so I canned it right away.

The feed when he wants the most is the 1 or 2 a.m. feed.  He takes both sides.  I'm hoping to get him to just nursing at bedtime, waking at 2 a.m. and then back down until morning.  That is, he'd go 6 hrs. on either side of the nightfeed.

Back to my original question--is Rowan ready for 4 hrs during the day?  I have been sticking to the 3 hr. feedings because it gives him a second wind if he's getting tired.  The feeds fall in the middle of the 3 hr. cycle. Due to his short naps, he is having a hard time making it much longer than 1.5 hours of awake time.  Then, if he stays up too long, he's overtired and takes a another short nap.

UGH!  Help!
   Tru's (and Rowan's) Mommy

[alligirl]

I was wondering if this was the same Tru's Mommy from a while ago!  And lo and behold it is!!  WElcome back and congrats on your newest bundle!  I had no idea....

WEll, I'm thinking you may need to implement pat/shh to extend those naps.  They are probably not enough.  Does he take a paci?  Have you tried anything to extend his naps.  It seems as though once you've got the nap thing figured out, everything else might fall in to place.   I think he is probably ready for a 4 hour schedule.  Do you have the third BW book?  It goes into detail as to how to implement that.

Welcome back!

[Tru's Mommy]

Yes, it's me!  Thanks for the welcome!   :lol:   Once Tru hit a year or so, he was napping well and nights were good, so I was not a frequent poster anymore.  Life just got very busy with a toddler and my computer time got less and less.

I have not read the third book, but it looks like I need to as my Angel/Textbook Baby is starting to throw me curve balls. 

I posted on the General Sleep Board with a question about how to sleep train when you have less time to committ (a two year-old stuck to your heels) to being in the nursery.  I'd love to be able to work on extending naps, but I'm trying to focus what time I have at the wind-down and pat/shushing at the beginning of his naps.  If I can pre-occupy Tru at the 45 min. mark, then I'll get upstairs and work on extending.  Even with giving Tru my undivided attention when he was a baby, I could not extend naps.  Things just got better once he hit 6 or 7 mo.

Rowan sucks his thumb and likes to hold on to a lovey blanket, so the paci has been gone for about 3 weeks.  I know he will be able to self-soothe into sleep before too long.  It's just trying to be consitent with not as much time to devote to it.

Something is going on with Rowan in the past 2 weeks or so.  Just need to get it figured out!  I'm hoping I can ease him into a 4 hr. schedule and he'll get more satisfying feeds (and maybe longer naps, too).

Thanks!
Tru & Rowan's Mommy