Advice on scheduling/adjusting

smnewby

To preface lo is 7 weeks old.

So I had been adhering to my pediatricians schedule of eat-play-sleep in 3 hour periods during the day and lo going down around 7:30-8:00 for bedtime. This had been working like a charm...until the past 2 nights.

I went through our typical nigjtly ritual and put lo in the crib all swaddled fed and diapered and dhe was yawning like a champ. And then...she just lays there. Kicking her feet and grunting, every once in a while crying out for her pacifier (which i can see fell out on the video monitor). She doesnt cry she just doesnt sleep. If this went on for a little while that would be fine but it has been 3 hrs (currently 10:45pm here)! Ive even refed her and reintiated the entire bedtime ritual and I still see her wide awake in the monitor. When feeding she fel asleep nursing but when I tried sneaking her off the boob she woke up. She fell asleep burping too but woke when I removed her from my shoulder.

I am at a loss. Any suggestions?

mamavbs

Kicking her feet and grunting sounds like some kind of tummy pain/wind to me? Maybe try and extend the winding part of the routine. Another option is she may just miss you and need some reassuring cuddles. It's hard to get a routine to stick this early, there will be glitches all the time, especially around growth spurts and developmental leaps. Maybe that's setting her off- a busy brain!

smnewby

@mamavbs thanks for the advice. I dont think its wind since we burp her and keep her upright for at least 15 minutes after every feed, but I do think you were spot on about the need for closeness/clinginess. After posting I moved her from the crib into our little cosleeping bassinet and she conked out and stayed asleep so long as we were touching. I was able to move her to the crib after our night time feed.

SJFTCA

We follow a similar schedule (LO is 6W4D). Just about every night, he kicks around (silently) for about 20-30 mins before he finally falls asleep. I can't even look at the monitor (just listen) bc I'm convinced every two seconds that he's about to start crying. We're working on dropping the middle of the night feeding. He made it until 4 AM two nights ago, and last night, he only made it until 1:45. I think you just need to stick w the schedule you've started, knowing that there will be hiccups every now and then. LO will eventually get it down pat (I'm hoping!).

angelinthepit23

@SJFTCA you were using Moms On Call right? Seems like it's working great! I ordered my book yesterday and I'm anxiously awaiting it to arrive!

SJFTCA

angelinthepit23 said:

@SJFTCA you were using Moms On Call right? Seems like it's working great! I ordered my book yesterday and I'm anxiously awaiting it to arrive!

Yes! It's working pretty well. The book has baby sleeping through the night by eight weeks, and I don't know that we will quite make that goal, but I'm hoping that we are working toward it. I was so excited about him making it to 4 AM (that was a seven hour stretch of sleep!), but last night, he woke up significantly earlier. But I figure that can happen sometimes. Hoping for a good night tonight...good luck to you, as well! I hope the book works for you and LO. And just to add...LO is not the best napper. He napped really well today, and I'm hoping that--assuming he doesn't nap too late in the evening (that's usually when we run into trouble)--he is able to sleep better tonight since he has been better rested during the day today. We'll see!

angelinthepit23

@SJFTCA that's awesome! My LO "was" a great napper and then once he hit 3 weeks that went out the window. He's been better since we got the RNP and white noise machine but I still get days where he doesn't want to nap. Like today he was up at 5am and didn't nap until like noon but he slept for almost 3 hrs. Then he ate and went back to sleep and is still napping now. So I'm guessing I'll be in for it tonight since he's napping late. Hoping a nice warm bath before bed will do the trick. Why can't they come pre-programmed!

chein1

angelinthepit23 said:

@SJFTCA that's awesome! My LO "was" a great napper and then once he hit 3 weeks that went out the window. He's been better since we got the RNP and white noise machine but I still get days where he doesn't want to nap. Like today he was up at 5am and didn't nap until like noon but he slept for almost 3 hrs. Then he ate and went back to sleep and is still napping now. So I'm guessing I'll be in for it tonight since he's napping late. Hoping a nice warm bath before bed will do the trick. Why can't they come pre-programmed!

My LO napped for 5 hours Sunday (2:45-7:45) and I thought for sure we'd be up all night but she took her bottle and we did our usual hour awake then started bedtime and she went back down for the night with no problem so hopefully your LO's nap won't mess up bedtime either!

angelinthepit23

Oddly last night was the best night he's had thus far! He slept for about 5 hrs, then after his bottle did another 3. I was shocked! He fought his morning nap today but I finally got him down at 9am. So let's see how today goes!