Still can't get it right?

[croft]

I have been trying to get my almost 6 month silent reflux baby onto 4 hour feeds, but he is still so erratic. He is medicated and comfortable thanks to Zoey we have managed to get Daniel out of my arms and into his cot and napping fairly well independently with shh/rub anywhere from 45mins - 2hours, but never consistent. One day his first nap will be 1 1/2 hours, the second 45min, the third 2hours. If I try to extend his naps (sometimes I can) other times he gets so upset and tired, I find it best to get him up feed him and get him back to sleep again.
Its been 4 weeks now and we don't seem to be progressing into a steady flow and he is now waking earlier, 4.45am  and I have tried later/earlier bed times and he wont go back to sleep even after a top up.

He also takes a while to feed as he has developed a bad association with feeding so we have to entertain him and take our time, so it is often hard to get him fed and back to bed within the hour and of course there is the medicine and keeping him upright for 20 minutes.

I have noticed he is a tired, (starts to rub his eyes after 45mins up from a 1 1/2hr nap). He is an alert baby so we do the wind down early (30 mins before he is due to sleep), he usually babbles a while and falls asleep between the 1.45 hour and 2 hour mark most times. Sometimes he babbles and plays with his toes, scratches/sucks the sheet and giggles so much that he becomes over tired and I find if I don't go in and shh him on his side he will start to get so tired it takes me forever to get him to sleep. If I try to extend this time he becomes so much harder to put to sleep and sometimes I can't get him to sleep, so I am so careful to stick to these times. It seems once he is too upset he gets so frustrated and at this point I roll him onto his side and shhh him to help him along and the more I have to do this the less he is falling asleep on his own.

He sleeps between 10-11 hours at night, though I here him wake several times, but goes back to sleep without much fuss, he gets more restless from 3am onwards, waking maybe every 1hr or so.

Most times however he falls asleep on his own, but still grizzles.

I have posted his routine to show how much it differs, even when I put him to sleep the same time, same tired signs etc. We started off well....trying the to move to the 4hr routine, but it went worse...

Just wondering if anyone can see a problem here or is he just finding his way slowly?

Thanks Sharron

Sunday
woke 6am
E  6.10 140ml
A  In the cot 1hr30 took 15 mins to fall asleep 1hr45 mark
S  7.45 slept 2hr10. Fell asleep on own.

E  10.00 160ml
    11.00 pear & rice cereal
A  In the cot 2hr10 took 10 mins to fall asleep 2hr20 mark
S 12.12 slept 2hr. Fell asleep on own.

E  2.10 180ml
A  pram ride
S  tried to nap but wouldn't

A  1.15 bath
E  6.15 110ml
S  Bed 6.30 fell asleep on own at 6.45

E 10pm 80ml

Total sleep 11 1/2 night, 4h10 day (15h40)

Monday
woke 5am
E  5.45 180ml
A  In the cot 1hr30 took 10 mins to fall asleep 1hr40 mark
S  6.40 slept 1hr30. Fell asleep on own.

E  8.45 120ml
    9.00  pear & rice cereal
A  In the cot 1hr20 took 10 mins to fall asleep 1hr40 mark
S  10.00 slept 1hr30. Fell asleep on own.

E  11.45 190ml
A  In the cot 1hr15 took 15 mins to fall asleep 1hr30 mark
S  1.15 slept 2hr15. Fell asleep on own.

E  3.30 120ml

A  5.10 bath
E  6.15 140ml
S  Bed 6.30 fell asleep on own at 7.15

E 10pm 160ml

Total sleep 10 1/2 night, 5h1/4 day (15h1/4)

Tuesday
woke 5.15am
E  5.45 160ml
A In the cot 1hr30 took 1hr to fall asleep 2hr30 mark
S 7.45 slept 45min. Fell asleep on own.

E  8.45 90ml
    missed the pears/ran out of time.
A  In the cot 1hr15 took 15 mins to fall asleep 1hr30 mark
S  10.00 slept 45min. Rolled him onto his side and shhh to help him along

E  11.30 150ml
A  In the cot 1hr30 took 30 mins to fall asleep 2hr mark
S  1.15 slept 40min. Fell asleep on own.

E  2.30 150ml
A  In the cot 1hr15 took 45 mins to fall asleep 2hr mark
S  3.45. PUPD, rolled him onto his side and shhh to help him along

A  5.00 bath
E  6.00 170ml
S  6.15 & asleep

E 10pm 100ml

Total sleep 10 night, 2h40 day (12h40)

[rinajack]

From what I can see the worst nap day you had was the last one.  And on that day you feed 3hrly not 4hrly.

If you think you lo is not ready for 4 hr EASY, you could try 3.5 hr EASY.  4 hr EASY works best if your lo can consistantly handle 2 hr A times.

If 4 hr feeding is no problem, then stick with that and continue working on the naps.  It will mean you sometimes have EASA or EASAS (I think in your case mostly EASA).  There is no harm in that, as long as you do not feed to sleep it will still work fine.

I also noticed that for the most part the times your lo is having the most trouble with falling asleep are the times that you put him in the cot after the shortest A times.  Perhaps you should observe a little more closely a couple of days - my lo often yawns before she is tired, because she is actually bored.  Bored and tired signs are almost identical, so at that first sign, see if your lo is bored by trying a change of scenery and/or activity.  If tired signs still there, then yes tired, if not, then it was boredom.

HTH

[yaya]

u got some great advice from rina but wanted to send u some hugs and support and add that with a refluxer its very very hard to get them on a routine. Sometimes it works, othertimes it doesnt and routine change constantly! I do think however, that if your LO is still so fussy then maybe his meds need to be upped, when on meds refluxers should be reasonably comfortable.
To me, your routine looks good considering the reflux