Sleep question

[Kaiden's Mommy]

Hi there,

I am new to this sight and was hoping that I could get a little help.  I am a new mom.  My son is 10 weeks old and he is able to sleep at night a 6 hours at one time. The problem is that he sleeps from 6pm to 12am then remains awake playing until 3-4am, before going back to sleep.  What can I do??   He has two naps during the day and sleeps about 1 1/2 - 2 hours per nap. I tired to keep him awake until 9-10pm but he is exhaused and cranky by 6:30 - 7pm.  Any ideas??

Dana

[LindseysMom]

When Lindsey was that age she went to bed with me at a later time so her long stretch would be at night.  Try a catnap around 6:30 or 7pm for about an hour and see if he will wake up after that for a while and then try a later bedtime to get the long stretch later into the night.    Also, when he wakes at midnight are you keeping the room dark with little stimulation.  As in change him, feed him, reswaddle and try to put him back to sleep.  As with any change it may take a bit for him to adjust.  Hope this helps.

[kendallnangie]

I agree I would opt for a catnap at 6pm and just wake your lo up about an hour later....At this age it will only take an hour for him to get tired again, so you would be moving your bedtime from 6:30 to 8:30  give or take...sidenote:  When my babies were that age we chose to keep them up a bit longer because it is easier for us to stay up later than to get up several  times at night anyhow for us we started with a bedtime of 10pm and worked backwards as they got older to 8:30.
HTH, Angie

[Kaiden's Mommy]

we tried last night with putting him to bed at 7:30pm, DF at 11pm and let him sleep.  To our surprize and excitement he woke for a 3 1/2 feed at 3:30am but was back into bed by 3:45am  :lol:  I am going to try him on the 3 hour EASY begining his day at 7:30.  Generally what stage will he drop the 3am feed if ever??

thanks so much for your replies, it's nice to have people to talk with.

Dana

[LindseysMom]

All babies are different.  I remember when Lindsey finally slept through and dropped her nightime feed I thought she had woken and I just did not hear her.  :oops:   He will sleep through when he is ready, so hang in there.  It takes some babies til 6 months or more and some sleep through at 6 weeks.  However, with the early bedtime at his age he may not sleep through until 6 or 7 am for a while because at his age "sleeping through" is considered a 6-8 hour stretch without waking.  So, technically he is sleeping through now.  So, if it were me I would try and go to bed when you put him to bed so you too can get your long stretch in.  Glad last night went better for you guys.

[Kaiden's Mommy]

I have started the 3 hr EASY and so far it is working well. It looks like this

E:7:30 wake and eat
A:8:00
S:9:00

E:10:30
A:11:00
S:noon

E:1:30pm
A:2:00
S:3:00

E:4:30pm
S: 5 or 6pm (cat nap - 40min to 1 hr)

A: 6:30 or 7:00pm - Bath
E: Eat
S:8:00pm

DF: 11:00pm

my question is: He is unable to fall asleep for his naps until 25 min. past the hour. (i.e 9:25am or a little later) So when I want to feed him at 10:30am. Should I wake him to begin his next feed and activity. I do not want him to sleep all day because I will get him backinto the routine of playing in the middle of the night.
I was told to never wake a sleeping baby, but is his case he will sleep past his eating time if it takes him a bit longer to fall asleep. What should I do?

Thanks
Dana

[LindseysMom]

It really depends on how strict you want to be with easy.   I took what I read from Tracy to mean that easy is a routine not a strict schedule.  So basically just try to follow the order of easy, not put your baby on a strict schedule.  So, with that said I would personally let him sleep for at least an hour and a half to 2 hours and feed him when he wakes and restart your easy routine then.  I was always a believer that if your lo is hungry he will wake up to eat.  But I also can see where you do not want him to sleep too long during the day as he does need to eat the most during the day so hopefully he will not need to wake up as much at night.  Maybe a 3.5 hour easy will do better for you?