Author Topic: am I doing something wrong???  (Read 1031 times)

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Offline PaolaG

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am I doing something wrong???
« on: April 03, 2006, 11:56:43 am »
Last night my 8 month old woke at around 3am, then at 5, then at 6.  Sometimes she only wakes up once at around 3 or 5 am.  The moment I think that she has got into a habit, the time she wakes up changes.  Anyway, she isen't hungary and seems to just want to get back to sleep, but finds it really difficult.  She sucks her thumb, and this is her main way of self soothing.

But last night when she woke at 3am, it took 45 minutes to get her back to sleep.  All I did was to stay with her, with my hand on her back, humming (humming works for us, if I talk she seems to wake up).  When she moved to sit up, I would put her back down.  I lifted her out of the bed a few times, but would put her back down quickly, and certainly if she started to fight me.  If I left her - took my hand away - she would start to cry and fuss and move round more.  So she seemed to need me there.  But I am trying really hard not to do anything that would be a prop... but I am not sure if I am doing the right thing at all.  Of course she then woke again at 5am, but went back to sleep quite easily, and when she woke at 6, I left her to play in her cot until about 6.45, then I changed her and fed her (she then fell back asleep from 7.30 to 9)

SHe goes to bed at 7pm, has a last feed around 11pm, and then has her morning feed at around 7am.  She is a spirited baby, very mobile - she can crawl and pull herself up and sit up by herself.  In the past week it has become much harder to get her to take her naps.  But I am not sure if this is affecting her night sleep as she goes to sleep by herself and doesn't wake up until 11pm at the  earliest for her late night feed.

any help would be much appreciated,

Paola

Offline Kimberly®

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Re: am I doing something wrong???
« Reply #1 on: April 03, 2006, 13:07:22 pm »
would you be able to send your full routine? That may have some clues.
Kimberly

Offline PaolaG

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Re: am I doing something wrong???
« Reply #2 on: April 03, 2006, 14:02:41 pm »
We have never made it onto EASY properly, mainly because she rarely napped for more than an hour.  I never knew quite what to do because she seemed happy and awake a lot of the time after a 30 minute nap, so after trying to extend her naps with PU/PD a few times, I stopped doing that.  Then randomly she would take 2 or 2.5 hour naps.  And on top of that, in the past month or so, she has changed, so her routine is in flux.    About three  weeks ago she started to nap for longer more consistently, sometimes even 2 hours twice a day.  I put it down to her eating more solids.  And then about 5 days ago, she seemed to change again, and as she has become more mobile, it has been harder to get her to take naps, and we have had to stop doing PU/PD, and do the PD version.

Her routine is roughly:

between 7 and 8am breastfeed
around 9am - breakfast
between 11 and 12 breastfeed
between 1 and 2 - lunch
between 3 and 4 - breastfeed
5.30 - supper
6.30 - bath
7 - breastfeed and bed

We would normally put her down for a nap when she has been awake for about 2.5 hours, sometimes she is awake for 3 hours.She would normally need a nap 2.5 hours after waking if she is at home and crawling about.  She can go longer if she is in the pram or sling and not moving around. 

She wakes up at very different times in the morning.  Some days she will wake at 8am, another day at 6 or 6.30am.  So its a bit difficult to be schedule the naps.  Sometimes if she wakes early, such as 6am, she will sleep between 7 and 9 (today she slept 7.30 to 9).  Other days she doesn't fall asleep again until after her solid breakfast.

Sorry, this isn't very clear.  The most routine part of the day is the afternoon, where the mornings are far more dependent on when she wakes .

She is a spirited baby, and has a strong will, though she is also has some angel qualities.   I would prefer her routine to be a bit more routine (as it were) but it is incredibly difficult when she has such random waking times in the morning. Hence we try to pin the days down with the meals and with her afternoon/bedtime routine (play, supper, bath, breastfeed, bed).  I have tried to make her waking time a bit more regular by making her first breastfeed at a set time but this doesn't seem to have made much difference.  I have only recently stopped feeding her during the night, as this was interfering with her first breastfeed, so now she will normally wake 11to12pm, and I feed her then (and I am hoping to drip this feed certainly by the time she is 10 months).

Another small piece of information - she doesn't eat a lot of solids.  So even though she has three meals a day, this is partly to give her a routine and partly to give her the opportunity to eat.  She only eats home cooked food, but in terms of jars of baby food, she probably eats one jar in over about 4 days.

Paola