really messed up mornings! help! 4 week old

[gracie3]

This is my third baby, dd #2.  Since day one I've had her on EASY (firm believer in start as you mean to go on).  DD was 4 weeks yesterday, and up until last week, on a loose 3 hour routine (give or take a half hour).  Last sat. she started having trouble going down for naps, I've been working on it, but I can not do ptt, shh for 20 minutes at a time each naps because of other kids.  Well, our days actually are not too bad from about noon on, but our mornings are a mess!  Here is her routine, can anyone suggest anything to help?

E: 4:30 a.m. - our first major prob- will not go back to sleep
A: 5:00 - me trying to put her back down
S: none- crying and fighting nap

E: 6:00
A: 6:30 - diaper change, sleep routine, put her in crib
S: Very little- overtired, so she fights it, and will give me maybe a 20 minute nap

E: 8:00 Not overly hungry since she ate at 6!
A: 8:30- diaper change, etc.
S: 8:45- again, overtired, so fights it, short little naps and I have to go in over and over

E: 10:30
A: 11:05- very short- she's wiped at this point from no/little naps
S: 11:15- in her crib with routine, fussed about 2 minutes and out.

E: 1:30
A: 2:00
S: 2;20- usually goes down for her nap here on fairly easily and will sleep 1.5- 2 hours

E: 4:30
A: 5:00
S: 5:15

E: 7:30
A: 8:00
S: 8:15 p.m. This is "bedtime"

E: 11:30 (she wakes up for this) after this feed she sleeps in the bassinet in the living by our room> her room is on the other side of the house- i'm afraid I won't hear her in the night, even with the monitor.
S
E: 2:30 or 3:00 (she wakes up for this)
S

WAKES UP AT 4:30!
This has been her routine for about 5 days now.  Last night at 4:30 I gave her her pacifier, she fell back asleep (yay!) then woke at five.  I figured it had been 2.5 hours, so i fed her, then we start the mornings from he**.  She also had been falling asleep at the 7:30 p.m. feed with no awake time, so I thought maybe her night had shifted backward a few hours, so I made sure to give her awake time after that.  Didn't help last night, but do you think that is a good idea?
Any suggestions to:
1.  get her to sleep in longer (I've tried ignoring her stirrings, but she is a fast screamer.  Also, it is still dark at 4:30, but gets light around 5:15)
2.  get our mornings straightened out?  I could actually handle early mornings if they weren't soooooooo stressful!
3.  Stretch out her nights between feeds?  (not totally necessary, but would be nice!) I don't do a dream feed as she wakes up at 11:30 to eat. 
Any suggestions would be great . . .

[LŠuren]

Gracie3

Do you know if she is taking a lot from you at the 0430 feed? It sounds like she is still hungry and therfore can't settle to sleep. 

Have you done the get to know your baby quiz? if your LO is spirited, toughy, etc and you miss the sleep window you will have probles putting her down. Can you start to do a 10 - 15min 4S's wind down with her?

2 or more night feedings is perfectly normal for this age.

Lauren

[gracie3]

Thanks for you quick reply!  When I feed at 2 or 3 a.m., she gulps each breast for about 12 min each- and is really slurping, so I do think she's getting enough- she also doesn't eat that enthusiastically at the 4:30 or 5 feeding.  But I think by the 10 a.m. one she has just been snacking for 6 hours, so its hard to get her to take a full feed.  So maybe, since she's not that hungry at 4:30, she doesn't eat much, gets hungry quicker, and starts the cycle.  If I could get her to sleep through the 4:30 wakeup until 6 or so, then maybe our mornings wouldn't be so scary.  Any tips for that?
And I def. think she is sprited/textbook, which is just like my ds. (dd #1 is angel- lucky me) that is why we have a short awake time, and we do a windown every nap/bed.  However, with the two older kids around (they wake up at 6!) I do the first 3 s's, but don't do much pat/shhh.  It more of a pat/shh, replace pacifier if she wants it, then run see what the other kids are doing, come back if she's fussy again, repeat.  Twice this week i couldn't get to her quickly (about a full minute each time) and she fell asleep after crying for 1 minute. The other time I couldn't get to her quickly enough, it escalated into full meltdown with no soothing accepted. Yikes.  Thanks for your suggestions.  Anyone else???

[HeatherC]

Have you tried covering her windows with a heavy drape or aluminum foil?  My dd has to have a dark room to sleep, even to this day. 
What if we tried tweaking your evening to see if it helps with the morning.  Could you feed her at 7pm, have her in bed by 7:30, and then do a df at 10?  If you do the df at 10, do you think she'll still wake at 11:30?  I wouldn't think so, but only you would know.  Actually, I would almost suggest you do a feed at 6:30 and have her in bed by 7 b/c she has been up for so long as it is and she's getting into a cycle of overtiredness.  You basically want to aim for a bedtime 12 hours from morning wake time.  Like Lauren said, nightwakings are normal at her age.  I just think if she is able to get started on her bedtime sleep a bit sooner, it might help her settle better throughout the night and perhaps sleep better between night feeds (2 am and 4:30 am).

[gracie3]

Yes, in the evening her late afternoon nap goes until 7:30 or 8, depending on her routine for the day.  Last night, however, she wouldn't sleep in the late evening, so we did 2 cluster feeds (5 and 7) and then into bed.  She then woke at 10:30 p.m. ate and back to bed, then 2:15 a.m., ate and bed, then 4:00, and then 5:45, and I held her off eating until almost 6, then treated that as the start of the day. (e, a, s) So her nap was better this morning, but still hard to get her settled, and she hasn't been going more than 2.5 hours between feeds today.  I'm getting concerned that maybe my supply is not sufficient?  I had a supply prob. with dd #1, and I'm paranoid!  We go for her checkup on Wed, so I'll check her weight then.
Thanks for the other suggestions- I was actually going to try a dreamfeed last night, but she woke up at 10:30 before I had tried it.  I think I'll try to cluster again tonight, and shorten that last nap.  (that was what you were suggesting, stacy, right?) I keep telling myself that she's only 4.5 weeks, and this will change, I'm just not sure how much longer I can start my day at 4:00!

[gracie3]

well, last night/yesterday afternoon was awful.  She kept waking after short naps, and wouldn't go two hours between eating- she ate at 1:30, 3:30, 5:30 and 7:30!  However, she then slept until 11:30 (I too was sleeping, so didn't try the dreamfeed) and then woke at 3 a.m. to eat, then slept until 5:45!  Doesn't sound like much, but for her to sleep after her 3 feed and NOT wake at 4:30 was great!  I treated the 5:45 as start of our day, and today, so far, has been better.  Stacy, I think your suggestion to shorten that last nap was right on, since she did it herself by not sleeping at all for it last night!  And cluster feeding might help- hopefully not starting at 2 p.m. everyday.
Thanks for all the suggestions . . . send "continue to sleep through early morning" vibes our way!  I hope it wasn't a fluke, but the beginning of a pattern!