I am having a difficult time with my 11 week old dd. You would think I could fix it on my own, since she is LO #3, but I can't figure it out. Please help with any suggestions.
OUr problems at the Moment are
1. 45 minute naps- actually one hour from when I lay her down until she cries- i figure she is using 15 min. or so to fall asleep, then jolting at the 45 minute mark.
2. When she wakes from short naps, can't get her to go back to sleep (maybe one out of 10 she'll go back to sleep with paci.)
3. Since she has short naps, will not go 3 hours between eating- only at 2 hours, 2.5 max.
4. Her awake time is only 1 hour-, then short nap, repeat vicious cycle.
5. goes to bed at 7 p.m., wakes around 1 a.m. to eat, then again at 5ish, 6ish, and maybe back to sleep until 7:30.
I know short naps are common, and i've tried wake to sleep, replacing binky when she wakes, stretching her awake time, and nothing works. I also know that this is short term, but I'm about to loose it- I'm tired, cranky, my older kids are not getting the best of me, and poor dh doesn't get any of me! I could handle some short naps, or some off days, but since I've had her on easy since day one, you'd think i could avoid the every day is a short naps day!! When she's had four naps by 2 p.m., we know its a bad day.
This weekend my dh is home for sat and sun, then he is taking the older kids on a trip for three days, so i will essentially have 5 days to work on this. I'm thinking that all these issues are tied into one problem, and i think its a routine/EASY problem (which is why I put it here instead of naps board) I just can't put my finger on it. any advice would be helpful. here is our routine:
(and I write it down every day so I know!)
1 a.m. BF
5 a.m. BF
6:a.m. awake, I ignore, she cries, i feed a little, she goes to sleep sometimes until 7:30. On good days, she'll skip the 5 a.m., so the 6 a.m. is a true feed. I treat anythiing before 7 as a night wake.
7:30 a.m. BF
8:30 sleep
9:30 awake, try to get her back to sleep by replacing pacifier, or get her up and try to stretch her awake time to at least 2.5 hours
10:00 BF
11:00 sleep, repeat above
12:30 BF
1:30 sleep, repeat short nap, can sometimes stretch this nap longer (other 2 kids are asleep, i can keep going in)
3:30 BF
4:30 sleep
5:30 awake, BF
6:30 bedtime routine, bf
7 p.m. BED
I tried the DF for more than two weeks, and it seems she woke up more than w/o it- my other two never liked it either.
Positives: she goes down for nap and bed with no problem; quiet room, swaddle, song, lay down, binky then asleep. maybe 1 out of 10 times i'll have to go back in after a few minutes and give her the binky. i don't think she is addicted to it yet, because she spits it out before she goes to sleep.
Thank you if you make it this far, and if you have any suggestions. Oh- she is exclusively bf, and is textbook/spirited, and weighed 13 lbs at her 2 month checkup, so she is getting PLENTY to eat. Also, we've never done pat-shh b/c of the other two kids (who has the time??) but we've never needed it to go to sleep.
thanks- gracie
