I searched the archives and couldn't find anything similar to this, so I'm hoping someone has some advice! My son is 4.5 weeks old, weighed 8.8 at birth. We used BW methods on our first son with GREAT success (he's now the best napper in town, I think), so we're trying to start from the beginning with this one.
Lander is on 2.5-to-3 hour EASY, and doing pretty well. He has mild (?) reflux, I think - he's pretty fussy and spitty for up to an hour after he eats. I can barely put him down while he's awake, and I really think it's because of the pain.
Still, I am usually able to get him down for a 1-to-2 hour nap during every cycle in the day. I have him napping in the guestroom (he'll share a room with his 2-year-old brother when he's sleeping through the night), and though he needs to be held/rocked/patted/shhh'd for awhile when I put him down, he usually settles pretty quickly and I can put him down either lightly asleep or even a little awake at times. We're still working on it! Most importantly, when he opens his eyes he seems comfortable with his surroundings in that room.
Until recently, he was sleeping in or next to our bed at night, but it's so hard for me to sleep that way, and I want to do things right from the start. Since he's done so well in the guest room, we recently started putting him there at night, as well (this was about 5 nights ago). The problem is, he has been awake for 3 hours in the middle of the night for the past few nights, and my husband and I are not sure what we should try next.
This was last night's schedule (he is breastfed):
3:00, 5:00, 7:00 PM - cluster feeds with some catnaps in between.
8:30 PM - last feed, then bath
9:30 PM - put him down to sleep with holding, patting, shh-ing, and pacifier.
1:30 PM - woke for feed. DH changed his diaper and I nursed him in bed. He did not fall asleep while nursing, so I held him for about 45 minutes as he spit up and went through his tummy pains. When that was over, I tried to get him down to sleep and he just lost it, crying for over an hour as I held him, rocked him, patted him, shhh'd him, gave him a paci, left him alone. Finally I broke down and nursed him at 3:30 AM, which calmed him (he barely swallowed anything), and then started the bedtime routine again, this time in my bed. We were able to put him down (we took him to the guestroom), around 4:30 AM.
4:30 AM - 8:30 AM - slept like a baby.
Any ideas for preventing or dealing with this middle-of-the night wide awake time?
Also, Lander will not settle with my husband, only with me, and this is driving both of us crazy.
Pam
DS Perrin 10/16/03
DS Lander 9/24/05