question about wake to sleep

[newmomdi]

Hi there!  I have been reading the posts regarding wake to sleep and was wondering how long I will need to be doing this.  I know it will not work after trying it for the first nap, but will I have to do it forever or will she eventually go thru the sleep cycle on her own and put herself back?  Currently she is 10 1/2weeks old and has been waking at 40-45 min for the past 2 weeks with a few exceptions.  Sometimes, though rare, she will put herself back, but usually I have to go in put the paci in and after about 10 min she falls back to sleep.  I don't mind doing the wake to sleep, but I don't know how long it should take before she gets the hang of it, and I just want to know what to expect.  I know every LO is different, but a round about figure would be good to know!  Thanks!
Also, she is on a 4 hour feeding schedule and usually sleeps, with the 45 min monster interruption, 2- 2 1/4 hours twice a day and a 45 min cat nap in the evening, is this too much day time sleep?  She goes to bed at 8 and is usually completely asleep around 8:45, dream feed at 11, wakes around 4-4:30 small feed then I get her up at 7 if she isn't awake already.  Just want to make sure I am letting her nap correctly!  Thanks!
Di
Sorry!  One more thing!  Maybe I should post this question on another thread, but here it is.  when you are counting their hours of sleep at night am I counting from after the dream feed or from 8:45pm when she goes to sleep until she wakes in the middle of the night for her small feed?  She always sleeps thru her dream feed which is great, she usually takes at least 5-6 oz during the feed.

[newmomdi]

Thank you so much for responding!!  Right now she seems to be taking a long nap in the morning, about 2-2 1/2 hours with the 45 minute monster coming in, but usually I can get her to go back during the am nap.  In fact this am she put herself back to sleep.  The afternoon lately is 45 min and she doesn't put herself back and I can't either.  She is happy when she wakes, never cranky.  The evening nap around 4 or 4:45 is usually anywhere from 20-35 minutes.  Again, she wakes up happy.  Tonight I put her down at 7:50pm.  She falls asleep both with naps and for the night very quickly, I only have to put the paci in, rub her back for about 2 minutes, when her eyes start to close I turn her on her tummy.  Both our GI pedi and our regular pedi told us to put her on her tummy related to her reflux.  She stopped breathing at about 1 month of age from choking, so ever since then we have done it and she sleeps so much better.  When I put her down tonight it was 7:52 and she was asleep by 7:56.  However, she will wake sometime within the next hour and I will have to go in and assist her in resettling.  She doesn't cry, but gets very frustrated on her tummy since she is still not strong enough to move too much.  She picks her head up no problem and wiggles all over the place, but still gets frustrated and needs help to settle.  I don't want her to rely on me to resettle herself all the time, I usually pat her on the back, give her the paci back and then walk out, I try to let her do some self settling too.
Lauren's activity times are anywhere from 30-45 minutes after eating.  I am trying to watch a bit more closely for cues that she is tired, I used to be waiting until she got a bit fussy, but now I am trying to put her down before that, or at least start the wind down. 
Do you think her falling asleep so quickly is a problem?  Does she "crash" into her sleep?  Thank you so much for all your help!!!  Also, how do I know when her 4 am feed is becoming a habit more so than hunger?
Di

[newmomdi]

Hello again! I will try shortening the am nap, although it is when I get to nap too, so I will miss the extra time for me to sleep!
Right now her time of waking at the 4 am hour is anywhere between 4:15 and 4:45am, she does only take about 2-3 oz when a normal feed for her is about 6 now.  I do a dream feed every night since birth at about 10:45-11:00pm. 
Lately our other problem has been that she will fall right to sleep after she takes her middle of the night 2-3 oz, but then wakes at 5:40-6 and has a hard time putting herself back to sleep.  We want her to be waking at 7.  This morning I did not go in when I heard her at 6, she put herself back to sleep for 20 minute periods of time until my alarm went off at 7 and I woke her.  I don't know why she does this.  Is it because she is not taking enough at 4?  She doesn't cry, she never wakes crying, never has since birth.  She definitely lets us know she is awake though and she would like some attention.  We try not to run right in to make sure she is not passing thru a sleep cycle, but we also don't want her WIDE awake at 4 am either.  My hubby does that feed and says she falls back to sleep after those few oz and he doesn't want to force it, she ends up choking because she has fallen asleep and that isn't good for any of us.  This site is such a great help!!!!!  Thank you!!!!
di
Just to add, she is strictly formula fed, has been since birth. she is on Alimentum by similac, she did not tolerate milk based formula.

[newmomdi]

Depending on her cues, her A times are anywhere from 20-45 minutes.  I never have a problem getting her to go down, as I said before, she is usually asleep within 5 minutes.  I put her down last night for bed at 7:45pm, she woke around 8:20pm and resettled herself and then pretty much slept until almost 6 am.  She woke at 1:40am because she had spit up and was choking (reflux) but it only took me 5 minutes to settle her and she was back to sleep.  Maybe because I had moved the bedtime up she slept longer?  We ended up having to feed her at 6:45 this am, and then she went down for a nap at 8am because she was tired from being up since 6am.  Am I supposed to keep her up longer in the morning even though she is showing sleepy cues?  I was exhausted from the 1:40am episode so I did not shorten her nap this am.  I did the W2s 20 minutes after she was asleep, she woke at 45 minutes and then put herself back, so that was good, but now for her afternoon nap she is up after 35 minutes, the w2s didn't work this time.  I am currently going back and forth from typing this to her crib.  right now she is just laying there not making any noise, so I am letting her be.  I promise I will try shortening the nap tomorrow, my hubby is off, so it will be easier!
By the way the A times I am speaking of arre after the feeding is completed.  A feed lately is taking me about a 1/2 hour maybe a bit more so she is up for a total of 1 1/2 hours usually sometimes a small bit longer.  Thank you again!!!!!!!
Di

[newmomdi]

Stacy thank you so much for your help, I greatly appretiate it!! I am going to try to shorten today's nap to 1 hr 45min and see how we go.  If she is happy when she is waking from the naps, I'm happy.  I think if she wasn't getting enough rest she would be much fussier and grumpier, maybe I just need to watch her cues more when she wakes.  I will try to keep her down in the afternoon, but yesterday I got her up after I finished writing to you and put her in her swing.  She played for about a 1/2 hour and then dozed in the swing for about 20 min.  Then woke again and played until she ate.  I think that's ok as long as it doesn't become a habit.  Thank you again!
Di