Sleeping a long stretch, but not when I want it to happen!

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1sttimemom

Registered User
I am "playing around" with my 2.5 month old's sleep schedule and have made a few discoveries.

She sleeps her longest stretch - about 4 hours - when I put her to bed after her bath, at about 8 or 9pm. So, trying to extend the stretch later into the night, I wake her up for a dreamfeed at about 1130/midnight. She then wakes up at about 230 - 3am.

Trouble is..after I feed her at 230/3am, she goes back to sleep only to wake up almost exactly after 1.5 hours.

The last two nights, me being half asleep and all, I picked her up, calmed her down and then put her back in her crib. She wakes up immediately and doesn't sleep so I, in desperation, put her in our bed.

She falls asleep in less than 5 mins .. and for the next 1.5 - 2 hours she sleeps well. So she isn't hungry.

Any suggestions on how I can get her to stop waking up habitually!? And any ways I can try to shift her longest stretch to the night instead of evening?

Thanks for reading this long post!!!
 
Hi 1sttimemom. LLL_Sarah provided a very good explanation about sleep pattern on this thread: http://www.geobaby.com/forum/newpostinthread143381.html

our babies are around the same age. Mine started sleeping for longer stretch since last week. I try to put him to bed at around 10:00pm and he is sleeping till 5:00am. After that, he still wakes up every 1.5 to 2 hours.
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Also, on the Baby Whisperer, they don't recommed doing the dreamfeed after 11pm, but I don't remember why.
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Thank you for referring to me to LLL_Sarah's post. It's all making sense now! Trying to find more information about this on the website.

How long is your little one up for before you put him to bed at 10pm? What I'm curious about it.. the definition of "putting a baby to bed" because babies sleep all the time! She's been sleeping for 2.5 hours. If I wake her up for a feed at 11, will she then sleep her longer stretch afterwards?

Am trying to find more information on baby sleep patterns, any links are welcome!
 
Usually my baby would take a long nap (for 1.5 to 2 hours) in the afternoon. Then I would cluster feed him at 6 and 8. Give him a bath at 9, and then a last feed before putting him to bed. He usually falls asleep at around 10 or 10:30. I try not to let him take long naps after 6pm, unless he hasn't slept much during the day and is fussy and tired.
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I think that the definition of dreamfeed is to feed the baby when he/she is sleeping. If you wake you baby up, then it would not be a dreamfeed.
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I agree, the dreamfeed might be too late. We had the same problem you describe, with little one waking up out of habit and not being hungry. It might take a few sleepless nights but persist with settling her back down and putting her into her cot. I've read that you can try waking her before she would normally wake (Baby Whisperer), which apparently disrupts the habit but I never tried this. You might find that if you move the dreamfeed to an earlier time she'll start waking at a different time anyway.

http://typhoonsandtantrums.blogspot.com
 
I have a sort of a similar situation.
My baby is 13 weeks old. She sleeps for a stretch of 5 hours from 6pm to around 1130 pm (wanting milk). and then at 3:30 am
How do I push the 5 hours sleep back to 11 pm so that I can have good 5 hours sleep myself?
Please help!
 
AgnesForbes, I still haven't figured out how to shift her sleeping, so I can't help.
I've read about slowly moving her bedtime back, from 6pm (in your case) to 615pm, then 630pm, etc. Try that maybe?

My little one really resists naps and I just realized she really cannot fall asleep on her own so my focus now is to get her on a napping routine and teaching her how to fall asleep on her own. I have shifted the dreamfeed to 11pm though.

At first, I tried moving bedtime to 9pm, but because she's such a poor napper, she's exhausted by the time 530/6pm rolls around.

I think teaching her to fall asleep on her own will help her drop the night wakings (when she's ready). These 2 nights, she's been waking up at 230am, 330am ... then around 530 (there may have been a waking at 4-ish, but I don't remember) and I've been finding her struggling to get back to sleep, with her limbs going crazy. I try not to feed her but the one time that I do, I find she doesn't seem very hungry.

I don't swaddle her because she just wakes herself up when trying to get out of the swaddle.
 
1sttimemom said:
Thank you for referring to me to LLL_Sarah's post. It's all making sense now! Trying to find more information about this on the website.
Click to expand...

One book which explains about babies sleeping patterns is Nighttime Parenting by Dr. William Sears, http://www.shopinhk.com/nighttime-parenting-how-to-get-your-baby-and-child-to-sleep-la-pr-12460.html

This book is also available in the La Leche League Hong Kong library at http://www.lllhk.org/Library/Books/NighttimeParenting.html

Other books which might be helpful are:

The Family Bed by Tine Thevenin,

Good Nights by Dr. Jay Gordon, http://www.shopinhk.com/good-nights-the-happy-parents-guide-to-the-family-bed-and-a-pr-1818.html

The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley.

(All availbale from the LLL-HK library.)

Best wishes,
SARAH
 
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