Author Topic: Too many naps at 9 weeks?? PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND  (Read 4575 times)

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Offline baby jack's mama

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Too many naps at 9 weeks?? PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND
« on: August 13, 2005, 21:57:10 pm »
My baby is 9 weeks old and I'm still putting him down for naps after every feed (followed by activity of course).  I'm wondering when I need to start cutting out a nap or two?  And which one should it be?  Do I follow baby's cues or make the executive decision myself??

Baby's schedule is something like this.....look at all those S's!!!   :shock: Are there too many naps at this early age?  When is best to start taking those naps away and extending the wake time??  HELP PRETTY PLEASE!!

5am-5:30 E
5:30-8:00S (he falls asleep right after that morning feed)[/b]
8:00-8:15 E
8:15-9:30 A
9:30-10:45S
10:45-11:00 E
11:00-12:00 A
12:00-1:30 S
1:30-1:45 E
1:45-2:30 A
 2:30-4:00S[/i]
4:00-4:15 E
4:15-5:30 A
 5:30-7:00S[/i]
7:00-7:15 E
7:15-8:30 A
 8:30-10:30 S[/i]
10:30 DF
10:45-5:00 Sleep at night

Offline Deb_in_oz

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Too many naps at 9 weeks?? PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2005, 00:20:27 am »
it looks pretty perfect to me - he shoudl be having a sleep in every cycle the only changes that happen are as the awake time lenghtens there are naturally less naps in the day (ie - if at 4-5 months he is ona 4 hour EASY he wil naturally have 2-3 naps in a day, you don't actually ELIMINATE any naps, they just drop away over time.  the big decisions come as you consolidate to get rid of the catnap and have only 2 naps a day (depends on how your lo does with late afternoon and usually an issue closer to 5-6 months +) and when to go to 1 nap.

for now at 9 weeks that 5-5:30 feed is ok to call a night feed (it will eventaully move out to 6-7am hopefully) and go rigjt back to sleep.  you can either let him sleep to 8 if that works for you or choose to wake him top start the day earlier so your evening starts earlier (many moms choose 7 or 7:30 so that bedtime is 12 hours later)

if he is going down easily for naps i say you are very lucky that at 9 weeks he is happy with all that A time (most people battle to extend that time and at that age is common to only be happy for 45 - 1hr at  a time)

he is treally only having 4 naps which is nbormal - the others are really his night sleep (ie - from 8pm right through to 8 am with DF and 5 am feed)  he is doing really fantastic you shoudl be happpy with this little guy!

if you start earlier in the morning (7-7:30) you would be eliminating that 5:30-7 pm "nap" because you woudl be aiming for bedtime around 7/7:30pm and this would happen naturally if he takes 4 naps leading up to bedtime lookng like this (based on the exact times you gave):

5am-5:30 E
5:30-7:00S (he falls asleep right after that morning feed)
7:00-7:15 E
7:15-8:30 A
8:30-9:45S
9:45-10:00 E
10:00-11:00 A
11:00-12:30 S
12:30-12:45 E
12:45-1:30 A
1:30-3:00S
3:00-3:15 E
3:15-4:30 A
4:30-5:15 or 5:30 S - THIS WOULD BE HIS NEW CATNAP
5:30:- 6:30 A
6:30 bath followed by E
7/7:15 in bed
10:30 DF
10:45-5:00 Sleep at night

BTW - if your lo does this routine he is sleeping through the night.  he has no 1-4am feed which would be the "night" feeds
Debra - a New Yorker living in Australia married to a Brit

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Offline deb

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Too many naps at 9 weeks?? PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND
« Reply #2 on: August 14, 2005, 00:45:09 am »
WOW....my first thought looking over the schedule was how long the Activity times are. Natalie's 3 months in a couple days and still has trouble staying awake longer than an hour, INCLUDING her Eat time.

Basically, you're starting your "real" day at 8AM. What we still have here is 3 good long naps, usually 90 minutes or two hours, and then another one which varies in length depending on how she napped the rest of the day (older DD sometimes wakes younger DD :roll:). I try to keep the last one short so we can hold off on the feed till bedtime, when she normally gets a bottle (so either DH or I can do it).

Also, for the dreamfeed, ideally, your baby isn't actually waking. (I'm a fine one to talk - mine hardly ever sleeps through it! LOL) Ideally, you're picking up your baby and feeding him in his sleep; he just latches on to bottle or breast, sucks and swallows reflexively, and then you put him back down, so technically you could eliminate that "waking" and count his 8:30 bedtime as "Sleep At Night." Doesn't look so strange when you don't count the sleep after the early AM feed, which is really a resumption of night sleep, or the waking at the dream feed, which shouldn't really BE a waking (again, ideally - it's just another night waking if he DOES waken).

Not to worry, it'll even itself out too as your baby matures and stays awake longer (and sleeps through the 5AM feed LOL). Otherwise, I'd say it ain't broke, so don't try to fix it!!!! :D

Offline heather10

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Too many naps at 9 weeks?? PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND
« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2005, 01:49:39 am »
My son is the same age, and the first thing I noticed was WOW he is sleeping from 11-5am straight!  I am envious!  We still wake at about 3am to feed and there is always an earlier waking for a reswaddle or paci or what have you....

My son can only stay up 45-60 mins at this age.  What is weird for us is that he seems to have lost his yawn cue and goes straight to getting fussy in no time flat without warning.  Not sure what that is about..

It seems he is taking nice long naps, right up until the time of his next feed so if it is working this way, I'd say keep up with it. No need to adjust if he seems happy.  My son wouldn't last 90 mins awake, but if yours does, and he's happy, that is all that matters.

We have a feed at 4, and a catnap at 5:00-6:00 which creates a natural cluster feed at his 6pm wake.  This is enough to get him through bath and jammies and then we go right back to bed for the night at 7:00.  The dreamfeed happens at 10:30 but he will sleep from 7 until his middle of the night wake at about 2 and 3.  I pump for a bottle for the DF so that I don't have to wake him to eat since BF was making him wake up with all the adjusting needed to get ready.
Baby boy - Adam Sean - born June 6, 2005

Offline shem2005

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Too many naps at 9 weeks?? PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2005, 23:24:43 pm »
i think your routine is really good. Mine is similar to yours but my daughter can not stay up as long, she usually lasts around 45 minutes and is nearly 11 weeks. I can't wait until she is awake more. Here is her schedule.

7am feed
7.45 sleep
10.30am feed (i let her go 3 1/2 hours for this first feed cause she always seems tired in the morning)
11.15am sleep
1.30pm feed
2.15pm sleep
4.30pm feed
5.15pm catnap
6.15pm bath
6.30pm feed
7pm bed
10pm dreamfeed

My daughter hasn't needed a feed during the night for about 4-5 weeks now. But lately she hasn't been that keen on food during the day either, not sure what that is about.

Offline baby jack's mama

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Too many naps at 9 weeks?? PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND
« Reply #5 on: August 15, 2005, 03:48:28 am »
Thank you all so much for responding.  It does seem like everything is in fairly good order.  I guess I'm just going thru this major anxiety that when he naps for longer than 2 hours and the frequency of his naps (maybe they just seem frequent), that he is going to wake in the night and I wont know what to do when he does.

So those 4 naps will eventually drop to 3, then 2, then 1?  when does this happen generally?  Do I still have a while to go?  He still fusses a bit once in awhile when going down for a nap and I'm wondering if I'll be able to tell one day that if he fusses and fusses that maybe he doesn't need one of those naps after all??

My lo has lost his yawn cue too.  He yawns when he gets up, he yawns right after he eats in the middle of the day, he yawns in between feeding when I'm trying to get a burp.  So the yawns don't mean much to me anymore.

Anyhoo - I can't tell you how much I appreciate everyone's input.  Let's hope Jack stays on this good routine wave for a good long while.  :)