Transitioning 3-4 hr , now with night wakings

[waffler]

Not really sure to post on the EASY forum or this, will try this one first!

Been transitioning DD from 3-4 hour EASY over the last 2 wks. Currently our schedule looks like this :

E 0700
S 0900
E 1100
S 1300
E 1445
(no sleep nor catnap)
E1800 and put to sleep

We are moving the 3rd feed to 3pm soon, and we have to put her to bed earlier as she is definitely awake for too long. The first night we did this (we have done 2 nights of this routine so far) seemed to be okay, the first night she woke 2-4 am, and last night was awake 10-2 am (4hrs!!!). I tried to feed her at 10pm thinking dream feed, she was nibbling, not very hungry at all. I then realised this wasnt gonna work so my Husband took over... and he was with her for 3 hours until she finally slept at 2 am (poor husband). I am hoping that this is because we are still transitioning her. Is this normal to expect this until we get on track with all feed/sleep times?

Note - she doesnt nap more than 45 mins although one day she slept 90 mins!!!! We have to put her back to sleep.

Ta.

[nursekat]

How old is your LO?  Does she really go from 2:45 to 6pm without a nap?  I'm no expert, just snooping...we're going through some of the same issues.   

[waffler]

She is 4.5 months (corrected). Yea, she really does stay awake that long!!!! The thing about Mira is, she doesn't just nod off. She really needs a lot of help. So for naps, we have to swaddle, and really patshush etc to get her to sleep. She yells and yells for ages first...

(And I have to admit now that we are still AP as in for her night sleep i nurse her to sleep... we have done this from day 1 and i am going to nip it in the bud - promise - but wanted to sort this 4 hour transition first....)

[Colin Macs Mom]

You're right in that your DD is overtired. I think that it's important that you straighten out the routine ASAP and be consistent with it. Being awake 2:45 - 6 is far too long, and by bedtime she's just wasted - leading to NW. If you look in the EASY forum there are sample routines for each age range that can help you decide what will work best for both of you.

[nursekat]

Yup, I was going to say we've had some of the same issues when our LO is overtired.  Give her lots of sleep and she turns into an angel/textbook baby.  Take away her sleep and she's spirited!  Check out the naps forum, too, for help with extending those 45 min naps - it CAN be done!! 

[waffler]

Third night in a row , awake 2am-4am...

The prob I have is that I'm trying to transition her to the 4 hr easy. Today we add 15 mins to the routine, so it will be
E 0700,
E 1100
E 1500
E 1815

The tricky part is to get her to cat nap between 3pm and 6.15 pm. From experience if she sleeps within 2 hours of her bedtime then it takes forver to get her to sleep...

Think this is what I'll do with her sleep times today.

S 0900 - 1000 (only one hour)
S 1200 - 1400 (so she will have been awake max 2 hours and hopefully can sleep for most of this time.
S 1600 - 1645 (no more than 45 mins so she can sleep at bedtime).

Will tweak as I go on today. What do you think of this??

[Colin Macs Mom]

I think that sounds good - but if you find that it doesn't help, maybe a little backtracking might help since her age is corrected, KWIM?

[waffler]

Stacy, thanks. Where I am in the world its now 1.30 am, and my DD was in bed asleep at 7.30 pm (of course then i b/f and took forever to sleep), she woke 9.30, 10.30(down in bed 12.15) and just woke at 1.00. I have just put her back in her bed, didnt b/f, but held her and rocked a bit to get her to sleep. I've given up sleep myself, I'm expecting her to be up again in 45 mins or so. This is awful.

For the rest of the wakings and until my husband gets back from his trip I will not b/f her to sleep at night. It's going to be so hard, but I'll do it. Of course i dont want to do CIO, but from an exhausted mums perspective, sometimes the thought of just closing my eyes, going to sleep, and somehow, someone has waved a magic wand, and my baby will be able to sleep by herself is a dream...

So, the main points are :

1) no more b/f or rocking to sleep
- but the only way to calm her when she cries is the hairdryer and some jigging - does this HAVE to stop?
2) bring in cat nap - did that today, and she seemed better, but so far the night wakings are still there..
3) Wait a few days to see how this goes, and if by the w/e no improvement, then as a team, my husband and i will do pupd.

Ok? And, it is such a relief to have this support on this board.... i dont know what i'd do without it. I very nearly walked out of the house tonight in my pjs and didnt want to come home 

[Colin Macs Mom]

- but the only way to calm her when she cries is the hairdryer and some jigging - does this HAVE to stop?

If she likes the hairdryer, have you thought of putting a fan or other white noise machine in her room? That might make a HUGE difference.

And, it is such a relief to have this support on this board.... i dont know what i'd do without it. I very nearly walked out of the house tonight in my pjs and didnt want to come home 

   We've all been there, you're definitely not alone!

[waffler]

Thanks... guess what. Its now 2.30 am, and after i sent the last post... DD was awake!!!! So I tried to put down... but she woke. Sounded like she did a poo, so i had to put the dimmer on to change her nappy, and boy was she happy to see me! All beaming and babbling and playing with her feet. I actually had to giggle but made sure she didnt see me doing it. So she's now awake upstairs, no way is she going to sleep just yet. THought i'd leave her alone for a bit.

You know, the swaddling seems to be a problem I think. SHe always wakes when she pops an arm out. But when she's sleeping well, as in not waking regularly, this has never been a big prob. I think all these wakings tonight are due to her arm popping out. But she is SOOOOO jerky that it's so hard not to swaddle initially. When I soothe and place her back in her crib, and place a hand on her, you can feel all those jerks. So the swaddle is kinda needed then...

I'm definitely not getting any sleep tonight!!! But I'm prepard for it, so somehow, makes it the teeniest bit easier.

I may be back .... tonight!

[waffler]

stacy why are we not ready for pupd? DD still awake, 5 am .... cant soothe her 

[Colin Macs Mom]

I do agree with Stacy, many night wakings are hunger or prop related. I am suspecting that she has her days and nights mixed up, what do you think?

Have you tried the Aussie swaddle? That might help you out a lot.

[Zoey]

Just commeting about the white noise... we use a reg fan, on the floor, on high, facing the wall - very close.  It makes the greatest sound - its what I use to sleep too   Have a go!

Zoey

[waffler]

Last night, I was up from 10.30pm till 5.30 am. She woke at 6.20 am.

I know what she needs. She needs the sucking comfort. She doenst take the paci , and her fingers she sucks for fun but never comfort.

Re the jiggling, what I mean by that is, we hold her, and basically "dance" a bit but she gets jiggled up and down. Yes, I know, this is a prop and we have to stop it. But, if you could just see how my baby cant get soothed any other way, you'd know why we do it. When she's crying so hard, we have the h/dryer on FULL, we swaddle, we "dance" and only if its vigorous enough will she finally calm down. Then we slow down the dance till we're not moving. I try to sit at this stage, but she hates it. She knows when i do cos her feet rest on my lap and she hates it, so i have to stand again. And its kinda hard not to sway even the teeniest bit. I catch myself doing it and I stop.

Spoke to DH today, told him about all the wonderful support we're getting here. But he was very sceptical when i told him "no jiggling" as thats his fool proof way of getting her to calm down. *sigh* we'll try our best.

Re white noise- we do have a ceiling fan thats on all night. And we sometimes leave the h/dryer on medium, but she still wakes.

Will check out the aussie swaddle. I know i saw a link for it on this board so i'll go hunt it down. We just have to find the thing that will work for her for calming her down, besides picking her up and jiggling.

[waffler]

Oooh forgot i need to get some advice about something.

After the swaddling, patshushing etc, and we place her in her cot, she is normally about 90% asleep. ANyway. What we do is, we place a hand on her chest, just to help with the jolts. ANd we find that we have to keep it there normally bout 5 mins, but lately, longer, like 25 mins. Do u think we shld reduce this time? We keep it there till she's in a deep sleep. And we do it because of her frequent jolts. D'ya think we shld be taking our hand off sooner?