I'm New Here

[M and N's Mom]

Hi!  I'm new here.  My DS is 3 1/2 months old.  He started out as a pretty good sleeper (ever 3 hours at birth, gradually extended it longer, and we even had a couple of weeks of 8-10 hours at about 2 1/2 months) but he has since been getting worse and worse.  He was going through a phase of waking every night at 3:30 which was when I got Tracy's book.  He is getting up more and more frequently (every 2 1/2 hours last night).

Although I didn't know it was called EASY, I have had him on a routine since birth.  A typical day looks like this:

7:30 - Wake feed (breastfeed)
8:00 - 9:00 - Activity  (Dress, Mobile, Swing)
9:00 -10:30/11:00 - Nap
11:00 - Feed
11:30-12:30 - Activity
12:30 - 2:00 - Nap
2:00 - Feed
2:30-4:00 - Activity
4:00-4:45 - Nap (sometimes in the car/stroller if I'm doing errands)
5:00 - Feed
5:30-7:10 - Activity
7:10 - Get ready for bed Feed - in bed by 7:30

I wasn't doing a dream feed until a few nights ago.  I have been doing it around 9:00 (which I know is earlier than the book says) because I am too tired to stay up longer. 

He has been swaddled since birth and freaks out if he gets his arms out (which is happening more and more as he gets stronger/older).  He does have a pacifier.  Often if he wakes I can reswaddle him, give him the pacifier, and he'll go back to sleep, but this is happening more and more often. 

Last night I experimented with feeding him to see if it was a growth spurt, but although he wants to eat, he's not really hungry so I don't want to fall into that trap.

Anyway, I would love any advice that would help us get more sleep!

Thanks!

[xfionax]

I'm new to the site too, so I don't know how much help I'll be but I have been following BW since Lucy was 9 weeks. She is now 15 weeks. I started on 3 hour easy and moved to 4 hour when naps got shorter and night wakings got more frequent. Naps got better and are now two 2hour naps and a catnap. The night waking continued until two nights ago when I stopped the dreamfeed, as I read on other mum's postings that DFs can disturb some babies.
Perhaps you could try the same. Your routine looks good to me but if you try to stretch out activity times to 2 hours for the 4hour routine it might help and/or drop the DF if night wakings continue.
Hope this helps.
Take care,
Fiona x

[M and N's Mom]

Thanks for your reply.  I was wondreing if the DF could make it worse as the last few nights have been even worse than before.

Also, he seems to be really awake when he's up in the middle of the night.  Could he be getting too much sleep during the day?  He is really tired at nap time but should I be only allowing him to sleep 1 1/2 hours at a time or will that not help?

[xfionax]

You shouldn't let LO sleep for more than 2 hours at a time according to what i have read, so 1 1/2 is fine. Less than 1 1/2 hours might be too little and should be extended in whatever way you can (Pick up/ put down, pacifier, shh/ pat, covering eyes if it is too light).
I do naps 9-11am, 1-3pm and 5-5.45pm (roughly, depending on the day). Sometimes the middle nap is shorter because i need to go out and disturb my LO, so i put her down early for the last nap and let her have a bit longer then.
If you haven't already, read the threads entitled DREAMFEED? and Giving up on dreamfeed. These are what convinced me to stop.
I hope this helps and that whatever you try works out well,
big kisses and hugs from me and lucy 

[Colin Macs Mom]

Hi ladies, and welcome to the site!

M & N, I was also thinking that your lo is probably ready to move to a 4-hour EASY. There are threads in the EASY forum of example routines for each age range, you might check that out.

And yes, a dreamfeed can make things worse for some los. It can interrupt their sleep cycles and cause more wakings. It did for us - I could never do a DF. Nothing wrong with that at all if that's the case for you ladies as well. I clusterfed in the evening instead and that helped a lot, you might consider that.