Four 1/2 Month Old Problems...

[Christaldeboer]

Hello Everyone!
This is my first post and I'm thrilled to have some other moms to compare notes with.  My little girl was born November 21, 2006 and is now four and half months old.  She has been a great napper and sleeper, but in the last week or so we've been having some problems with scheduling.
Here is our sample schedule:
6am-Morning Feed & Back to sleep
7:30am-Up for the day
8:30am-First Nap
10am-Feed & Up
11-11:30am-Back down for nap
1pm-Feed & Up
2-2:30pm-Nap
4pm-Feed & UP
7pm-Feed & Bedtime
10pm-Dreamfeed

Here's the problems that are arising...
1.Her morning nap is winding to be only an hour since she needs to eat so quickly and isn't eating when she first wakes up for the day. (Not hungry because she ate at 6am)
2.The evening is all off kilter because I don't have enough time to put her down for a nap before bed, but she's too cranky to stay up that whole time. So I try to get a catnap in there...
3.I breastfeed and am not sure...shoud I keep the dreamfeed and try to get her to stretch until 7am and start the day there?  Is the dreamfeed making her wake up earlier?
Help would be much appreciated!
Thank you so much.

3.At bedtime-she isn't going to sleep well at all-sometimes crying on and off for an hour or so.

[mommy2two]

For question #3, I would say she is over tired from being awake 3 hrs before bed. I would put her to bed at 6 or 6:15pm rather then wait until 7pm. Also, at her age you might think about moving to a 4 hr routine. It might help with your problem of not enough time to nap her before bed.

[*Mona*]

hi

at 4,5 months she should rather be on 4hrs easy, which she is not on.

have you seen this [transition to 4hrs easy]:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63161.0

now, if you want her to eat at 7 or 7:30am, quit 6am feeding. that's the only way, isn't it.
I'd keep on offering DF as it looks like it's helping your LO sleep through, right? and believe me, 6am wake up is not that early, especially if you don't feed your baby at night

as for evening- I agree with pp- your Lo is probably overtired therefore not going down easily. 3hrs of A time is rather too much at her age.

hth
Monika

[Christaldeboer]

Thank you both SO much! I sure appreciate it.  i'm starting to get a nap in the evening before she goes to bed and it has been helping a lot! I'm going to read the article on transitioning to a four hour schedule and see how we do. Thanks for your help and time!

[*Mona*]

you're welcome.
let us know, how you're doing with that transition

Monika

[Christaldeboer]

Well...we've transitioned to the four hour time slot with no problem. She wasn't even phased by it...but now she is staying up for long amounts of time during the day. When I put her down for her nap during the "sleep" part of easy she just rolls around in her crib for upwards of an hour. She doesn't cry or anything, just isn't sleeping! Then she's so tired that she falls asleep right after the next section of feeding.  The past two days she's done the following:
6-7am Wake and Feed
8-9:30 or 10am Nap
10 am Feed
Stays up until
2pm Feed
Falls asleep for an hour or two
Feeds around 6pm and then falls asleep for the whole night! (Dream feed at 10pm)
Then her nights have been crazy because she wakes up around 4 or so and cried on and off for almost two hours then finally fell asleep until 7am.
don't know what to do! I keep putting her down for her naps, make sure I'm not missing her cues, but then she just talks and babbles in her crib during a whole nap time!  She is now five months old though..maybe she only needs a morning and afternoon nap? How do you make that work with the EASY schedule?
Thanks a bunch.  This is my first baby and I live far away from my mom.
Thanks!
Christal

[*Mona*]

hi Christal

at 5 months she's probably not ready for 2 naps a day yet. but you can of course lenghten her A time from 2 hrs to 2,5 or even 3hrs. that's what she's doing anyway so just follow her.
as for rolling in her crib and not falling asleep- has she just learned how to roll? sometimes milestones such as rolling, sitting, standing etc. can have HUGE impact on how babies nap and sleep at night.

have you tried PU/PD yet for night wakings? it does work!

I'd try to make sure she has around 3 hours of a time before putting her down for her nap, limit the catnap to 30 minutes most and if she refuses, put her to bed early [6pm is ok].
keep on doing the DF and try PU/PD at night. are you sure she's not hungry when she wakes at night? it might be a growth spurt too.

hth and keep us posted
Monika

[Wink's Marmy]

Hi! Our DD's are the same age! Same B-day too! Mine was born 4:10 am 11/21/06. I'm betting we are a few hours older!

Since DD is same age as yours we are in very similar situations. We actually have a birth club for Nov. '06 babies. Its very helpful & I have gotten to know other Mom's of babies the same age. Its great bc. we go through similar stuff together... Here is the link:

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=85231.780;topicseen

My opinion would be that the night wakings are because your daughter is going down too early for bed. If she's up 2 hours, try putting her to bed 2 hours later. I agree with most BW things, except for the DF. That DF caused night wakings with us. I have read numerous sleep books, some good, some bad, but they all seem to agree on waking to feed not being such a good thing. I think it works well when baby is TINY, but not now. The day I stopped the DF, DD slept all night (8-6). Yes, 6. Our days start then too. Sometimes she "sleeps in" till 7, but its usually 6. And thats common for this age too. Again, this is all just my opinon. BW is the best, don't get me wrong. The DF just didn't seem to work after the initial early months for us...

[*Mona*]

Jennifer, for DF you DO NOT wake the baby, you do it in their sleep...
I agree it can cause NWs but usually if it's given too late or if the baby is being woken for it...

[Wink's Marmy]

Yeah, I know its not a real full waking, but DD would often wake anyway. It was just weird that she actually slept through the night the same night we stopped DF. Like I said though, it was great for the earlier months. I guess every baby is SO different.

[*Mona*]

that's SO true
I quit DF aith dd at 7,5 months because she started waking waiting for it. so yep, every baby is differnt