Author Topic: a bit long. EASY going wrong.  (Read 1037 times)

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Offline Eden's Mum

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a bit long. EASY going wrong.
« on: October 16, 2005, 18:16:23 pm »
Our routine slightly guided by ds and encouraged by me looks like this at the moment:

7am wake and eat
8.30 - 9.15am nap
10am eat
11am - 1.30pm nap
1.30pm eat
3pm - 3.45pm nap
4.30pm eat
5.15pm - pm nap
6.30pm eat
7.15pm bed
10.30pm dream feed
tends to wake 4am only or 2am and 5am for feeds


When he does all this he is a happy baby for his awake time, the key seemingly being  his 2.5 hour nap. the last nap was added in because i was trying to just ahve one nap there and bed at 6.30pm but he couldn't make it and was falling asleep on the breast then waking after 45mins and couldn't resettle himself without me going back in and feeding him again.

the problems i am noticing are that when he wakes at 7 or even 7.30, even if he has only woken once in the night he doesn't want to feed. Since his wake time is only 1.5. hours by the time he is hungry enough to feed he is too sleepy and can't feed properly. This then means that when it gets to his big sleep he can't do it. if he big sleep goes wrong then the rest of the day is horrid. he usually wants to feed for 20 mins or so, then is happy for 1/2 an hour and then starts to get a bit grizzley for the last bit of his awake time. Nothing major, just needs attention rather tahn just kicking happily on his own. however if his big sleep goes wrong as a result of the feeds being wrong he can't even stay awake happily for an hour. he gets up and then starts yawning immediatley.

He is a baby who settles himself to sleep completely independantly so if we go in and start to try and re settle him we make it worse and end up waking him up fully. we tend to leave him for 15 minutes to sort himslef out, after which time if he is actually crying continuously we go to him but if he is just shuffling and complaining we leave him to it.

i am not sure what to do to encourage happy wake times and sticking to the routine. I am not fussy about actual times that these things happen, more that this big sleep is as long as possible, and that the feeds are ample. I haven't had him wieghed for a fortnight but he has been gaining weight well and apart from one cold a few weeks back appears perfectly healthy. the only possible complaint might be that he doesn't seem to have daily dirty nappies whereas they used to be, now it seems to be alternate days. he is breast fed.

Any one any ideas?
Clare
Eden:

Noah:

Jude:

Offline Deb_in_oz

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a bit long. EASY going wrong.
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2005, 00:11:23 am »
firstly, you are doing great! i remember you not being able to get him to stay awake at all so you have come a long way and it looks good.

as far as not being hungry in the morning, i can tell you that Olivia is that way and at 8 months even with no night feeds breakfast is still a drama for me - i never know if she will take her bottle at 7 or 9am  :roll:  and want to cry about it often (especially that it now involves trying to get solids in as well)  not to hijak, just to illustrate that some babies are not morning eaters and it takes a lot of flexibility to go with their flow for breakfast.  we are weaning her off Df and hoping that will help once and for all. 

about you  :lol: :   In the meantime since your lo is not yet 3 mo and it could just be related to having 2 night feeds, i would suggest the opposite: have you tried doing DF at 11pm and seeing if that causes a consistent single night feed between 3-4 am feed? this might then lead to a wake up of 6-6:30 but you could still feed bkfst at 6:30-7 depending on how hungry he wakes up after 1 night feed.

also, on days when he is not hungry upon waking you can wait as long as necessary to feed and just make sure that he is awake when you put him down.

third option is at that 2nd nioght feed to limit his time on the breast so he gets only enough to sleep again but not enough to fill him up.


also - about that late afternoon nap - have you tried to extend awake time after the long nap.  i would think that if he normally does 1  1/2 hrs A time, after that big nap you coudl try to push him out to 2hrs (gradual change if necessary) and then the next nap woudl be later and see  if when he wakes up from that nap he can have the last feed and go to bed earlier.


also note that he is likely to have his 3 mo growth spurt soon if not already in it.

hope some of this is helpful.
Debra - a New Yorker living in Australia married to a Brit

dd1 - Textbook/Angel, born July 2003
dd2 - Spritied through & through, born Feb 2005

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Offline thitz

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a bit long. EASY going wrong.
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2005, 00:12:29 am »
Hmmmmm.  My only suggestion is to reduce the amount of time you breastfeed during your last early morning feed (ie. 2am or 4am).  Maybe then he will consistently be hungry for the 7am feed.

Tarri