Waking early from naps, at 10 1/2 weeks. Help.

[Maple Leaf]

Hi there,

My LO is 10 1/2wks old and up till this last week he'd been on 3 hr EASY no problem. It looked like this:-

7am wake & E BF
7.30 - 8.30 = A
8.30-10.00 = S
10.00 = E BF
10.30-11.30/12 = A
11.30/12 - 1pm = S (although sometimes he wouldn't always go full 1 1/2 hrs, but I would always feed at 1pm)
1pm = E BF
1.30-2.30/3pm = A
2.30/3pm - 4pm = S (same as above, not always for full time, but he would not feed until 4pm)
4pm = E BF
4-5pm = A
5-6pm = cat nap sometimes
6pm - E BF
7pm - begin bedtime routine
8pm = E BF
11pm = DF
3/4am = E BF

Now he has started waking early, and not waking tired but bright eyed and bushy tailed!!! No way that PU/PD OR shh/pat will work, he's raring to go!!!!  I manage to pacify him till the next feed time, but now he's started getting grizzly & I wonder if it's due to hunger and he's having a growth spurt a bit early? 

I make sure I offer both breasts at each feeding, but he'll generally be done in around 10-15mins and then just has the odd glup or two, not properly feed, so I figure he's getting enough to see him through to the next feed time. 

Take today - he woke at 7am, fed, and then was dropping off to sleep at 8am, so by 8.20 I put him down.  9.10 he wakes and is wide awake so I get him up and he's fine till 9.50am, so I feed him at 10am, but after the feed he's already been awake for 1 hour, so for him now to go till 11.30am (when he would normally nap)would be 2 1/2 hrs awake, which I don't think he'll do.

I'm not sure if anyone is following my thoughts above!!  It's so annoying though as before I knew where I was with his sleeps, but now he could well wake up anytime and want to play!!  Then he'll end up falling asleep so quick after a feed, as he's already been up for 1 hr beforehand, and the whole routine goes out of the window.

Yesterday I took him for a walk in his pram as that normally always gets him to sleep for ages, but he only slept for about 1 hour again, not the 1 1/2hrs which was annoying as he hadn't slept well in the morning again & I figured he'd be tired.  He got very fussy again though and wouldn't sleep.

Thanks for reading this for & helping if you can.

[Mamoushka]

My 12 week old was on the same schedule as yours, except he is bottle fed. He always got up at 4am to start his day and slept till 7am and then did the 3 hour EASY till 7pm where he doesn't want to cluster feed or dream feed. He'll sleep 7 hours till 4am the the whole thing starts all over again. For the past 3-4 days, he'll nap for a total of about an hour and a half from 7am to 7pm. Needless to say he is quite cranky at 7pm, but I can't get him to sleep more during the day. He also is not hungry cause he is eating 6oz per feed which is alot for a 12 week old. He already weighs 15 pounds! He fall asleep right after his feed and there's nothing I can do to wake him. He is up about 15 minutes later, ready for A time, and will be bright eyed and ready to go until his next feed...so basically I am kinda doing ESA with 15 minutes of Y. I feel your pain...

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

Hello,

this often happens (a good sleeper suddenly starts taking short naps or is hard to get to sleep) after a small growth spurt, where the lo is slightly bigger, so can therefore handle a little more A time, even if it's just 5-10 minutes. They're not quite tired enough when they go to sleep, so don't sleep for as long as they need, so get grumpy quicker after they've woken up. To stretch the A time, I would usually start by making your wind-down longer.

HTH

[Maple Leaf]

Thanks for your advice Charlie's mummy.  I'll try it, but I still find he seems very tired at nap times, so not sure if I can stretch his A time beforehand.  As you suggested, making the wind-down time longer maybe better.

Today though he woke at 7am, ate & had activity until 8.30am & I figured he'd be tired (after 1 yawn & rubbing eyes) which was bang on normal time, so I put him down.  He was awake but did get himself to sleep & then woke again at 9.40!!!

What do you normally do as wind down???  I normally dim the lights, close blind, undress him a little & swaddle him, rock him gently for a few minutes till he's closing his eyes & then put him down sleepy. 

thanks for you help.

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

Have you tried Tracy's 4 S's (easy to say, but hard to type ) for your wind-down?

Here's a link that explains it:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64277.0

[Mamoushka]

Yeah...I feed then because of his reflux, I hold him vertically for 30 minutes after he is done eating (usually 30 minutes). So he wakes, we change diaper while his bottle is heating. About 5 minutes later, He is eating. Thirty minutes later, He is vertical for another 30 minutes (Either on my lap, or is his chair, or in his swing).
He is a spirited/touchy baby and so his cues are hard to read. However, as soon as I see the face rubbing, pouchy eyes or a yawn, we go upstairs. This can vary between right after he is done feeding to not at all. When we do go upstairs, I tell him it's time to go to sleep and start whispering when I talk to him. I close the blinds, put on the white noise, and sit him on my lap. By this time, he knows what is coming and is starting to whimper. After a minute or so, I swaddle. Sometimes he is crying at this point, sometimes not. Then I put him in his crib. I lay my hand on his chest and do the shusshing. Now he is frantic. I tried pickup/putdown, but he doesn't calm down. The only thing that calms him is when we actually leave the room. So I re-enter to do the putdown part, but as soon as I enter the room, he cries. My husband and I have not done the CIO so I don't understand why he is so traumatized. However, as soon as we are out of the room, he is all smiles! As for nights, he is usually in bed and sleeping between 7-8pm. He will not cluster.  I try but he squirms and spits out the milk. So his last feed is anywheres between 6-8pm and then he is down til 3-4am. He will take a full 6oz then fall right back to sleep and is sleeping until 7:30-8am. Where we start all over again. So he is doing a 7-8 hour night, then a 3.5 - 4 hour stretch before we start the day. So I don't think food is the issue. Could it be that he is sleeping too much at night?