confused on 4 hour easy and eating

[lovingabby]

My DD is 5 months old last week and wants to wake up every four hours at night and eats well when she does so I thought I should switch to the four hour easy during the day. I reread and it seems that then they woudl take in more calories with each feeding duirng the day so not be as hungry at night.

We are now at 3 1/2 hours in between during the day. I am going to try 3 hours and 40 minutes today. Last night I cluster fed her at 7:00, 9:00, and the dream fed at 11:00. However she did not eat very much at the 11:00.   She then woke up but took the paci instead of me feeding her at 12:30 and 1:45. Then at 4:00 when she woke up I went ahead and fed her. Then this morning at 8:00 she hardly ate anything.

SHould I not feed her at 9:00 so she will take more calories at the 11:00 dream feed? Should I not feed her at 4:00?  How do I know that she is really not starving?  Also I read some posts where ladies were saying that in order to get them to sleep more during the night, they still did the 3 hour easy during the day to give more calories.  Is this a better way?

Here is our routine. I will say thought that my LO only takes 30 - 1 hour naps and for the most part wakes up happy. Therefore she is more of a sleep, activity, sleep, eat baby. Therefore, the nap times and the activity times vary, but we try to keep the eating time the same.

8:00 - 9:15 E and then A
9:15 - 10:00 S
10:00 - 10:45 - A
10:45 - 11:30 S
11:30 - 12:45 E and A
12:45 - 1:30 - S
1:30 - 2:15 - A
2:15 - 3:00 - S
3:00 - 4:45 - E and A
4:45 - 5:30 - S
5:30 - 7:00 -A
7:00 - 7:30 - E and bath and then bed
 
Thanks and sorry so many questions.

Suzanne

[GraceKellysmom]

Each baby is so different as to how they respond to a 3 or 4 hr feeding. Some babies tank up during the day by eating more often and sleep better. Some babies get more full by taking bigger feeds less often. So you may just need to trial/error until you find out what produces the best results. My ds fed every 3 hrs until about 8 months old, I know the 4 hr schedule works for some and doesn't for others.

I personally would try skipping the dreamfeed for about a week and see what happens. It takes about that long to see the true effects. It obviously isn't helping, if she is waking so often. Around 5 months, you can expect more developmental night wakings than hunger night wakings, especially if she is eating fine during the day. It really sucks, especially if they have slept through before now, but it is a stage and it DOES pass.

Your nightwakings may have something to do with the 45 min naps. Does she ever sleep longer than that? Is she able to put herself back to sleep if she wakes up? Does she take a paci or suck her thumb?

[lovingabby]

I put her to sleep awake ( a little sleepy after wind down) and she falls asleep on her own. At night she has gone 6 hours before several times (otherwise 5 hours before - but now to 4 hours). Therefore, at night I think she puts her self back to sleep. Sometimes though she will be wide awake at 4:30 in the morning and want to play. I think she gets a lot of energy just from short bursts of sleep or just a few hours at night and then tires quickly.

She takes the paci and that I do think is becoming part of the problem...a prop where she needs it to go back to sleep sometimes.  I don't know what to replace it with...I tried getting her to suck on other things but she won't. For a while she seemed interested in thumb and for a while seemed interested in sucking on sheet wrapped around hand as part of her swaddle. However, I have not had the courage to really stick to it where I would take away the paci cold turkey and let her figure out how to self-soothe. I possible thought to stick it out until she could stick paci back in her mouth but that probably is not a good idea.

She has always been a short napper. I really have not worked on having her take longer naps because she usually is in a good mood. However, I noticed the last couple of days she has not been so I guess I need to start working on that.  PU/PD does not work for her... she just cries and cries no matter what when I have tried to extend naps or take away paci at night in past. I guess I just need to let her cry in crib with me there beside her.  So hard for me to do though because her cries last forever and she chokes a lot.

[GraceKellysmom]

I am definately not an advocate for CIO, especially with a baby so young. If she wakes from her naps happy, than that is what she needs at this stage. If she wakes grumpy, you could try letting her fuss a bit before going to her to see if she will fall back asleep. You could try popping that paci back in quickly leaving the room. Or she may need a little more intervention. Max never liked pu/pd, he was more of a pat my back kind of baby.

The AAP just came out with a new recommendation that all babies get pacis for the first year of life to battle SIDS. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I've had one paci baby and one thumb baby. They are both nice, any baby that will soothe in any way other than screaming their brains out (my day care baby) is a baby I'd take any day.  :wink:

You may find that she is just ready to transition to a little longer awake time and a longer sleep time. When she is done transitioning, she will likely be more predictable at night.

My friend has a 4.5 month old who is waking 3-4 times per night. I can feel your exhaustion!  :cry:

[lovingabby]

I was kind of confused in BW because she did not advocate leaving the baby to cry in the crib and leaving the room. However, if I understood it right, she said that if PU/PD did not work then to leave them in the crib and stand there beside it reassuring them. I tried that a couple of times with pat/shush and she just kept getting worse. I also don't really liek any form of CIO. What do you think?

What other intervention could I do if popping the paci back in doesn't work?

I have tried letting her stay up more and more between when she can handle it (in the past) but she still takes short naps.

Thanks for your help.
Suzanne

[GraceKellysmom]

I would listen to your mommy instinct, you will probably realize when she is ready to transition. They usually just seem out of sorts, like the current schedule isn't working for them.

One thing you might try with the naps is sneaking in her room right before she normally wakes up. Gently place your hands over her and when she stirs put your hands on her to reassure her. Be very soft about it so she doesn't totally wake up and see you and want you. That sometimes worked with Max. The other thing that worked for him was I let him fuss. When he woke up crying, he almost always had a burp, or was in the wrong stage of sleep, like he wasn't really awake. At 5 months, some babies are going through sep anxiety, so you may be having some crying over that too.

As she gets older, she may transition to a longer nap for you.