Friday, February 22

HELP!

Please tell me what I'm doing wrong.  Annelise is 5 weeks old today and she seems to have regressed in her sleeping habits.  For a while, she was sleeping 4-5 hours at a time during the night.  Last night (the worst yet), she slept a total of 3 hours - and they weren't consecutive.  I ended up sleeping in the guest room with the monitor, so Matt didn't have to wake continually to her crying.  Am I doing something wrong?

One solution I've thought of is to put her to bed after her 8pm feeding.  We typically let her stay up until her 11pm feeding, because she's wide awake.  Do any of you have any insight?  I go back to work in one week (and counting) and I'd like to get some sort of schedule in order.

On a positive note, she's eating like a champ and has established a great feeding schedule. Here's a picture of her first smile (captured on camera).  Yes, she looks a little cross-eyed because of a toy I was holding above her head.  

8 comments:

Lee and Candace said...

Yea, we used to put Isabel down after her waketime after her evening feeding (maybe 30 min. at the most for how little she is), then we would get her back up for the late night feeding (11/11:30), but then just put her right back to bed (no waketime). Not sure if this will help, it's just what we did.

Paulina said...

That is great advice, I would try putting her down even if she seems wide awake (after her waketime of course). I would also say - just remember she is still so little, she could be going through some growth spurt, maybe not feeling well -- sometimes babies just don't do the same thing every day! Plus she was probably overtired last night and just couldn't settle herself. I'm sure you are doing a marvelous job parenting!!! Give yourself, and Annelise extra grace :)

Liz K said...

5 weeks...ummm sounds like maybe she is hitting her 6 week growth spurt a bit early...try nursing a bit more. We put Forrest to bed around 7 and really always have. He then wakes up around 8:30 or 9:00 most nights for another feeding and then he is down and out (most nights...last night was NOT one of them!) until sometime around 6 am. Now, he is almost 11 months old, but yah, try putting her down earlier for bed. Sometimes kids get over stimulated and then can't put figure out they need to sleep, so they go into over drive. So try the earlier to bed and maybe more feedings.

Rachael Neal said...

ok, sounds like my motherly instincts were pointing me in the right direction. i guess tonight will be our first trial to put her down early. she's a stinker about going to bed - so its probably best to try it on a night we don't have to get too much sleep. thanks for the advice ladies!

PAULS FAMILY: said...

Your not doing anything wrong. Like the other ones said, she is probably going through a growth spurt. Keep you nightly pattern the same, the more you change it every night the less likely she will stay on a good sleeping schedule. Keep putting her to bed around 8 and then feed her around 11-12. If she gets up through the night just remember don't turn all the lights on, and don't play with her. She will then think it is wake time and not night time. She will go back to her normal sleep pattern just give her a week or so.

The Talberts said...

Infant sleep is such a guessing game. I think my best advice would be to just sort of go with it and try not to stress out. Just enjoy the time with her even if it's the middle of the night. Some of my most precious times with Libby were while we nursed in the middle of the night. And some of my best times of connection with God, too! I eventually decided with Libby that instead of being frustrated while nursing at two a.m. (and four a.m. and six a.m. etc.), I'd use that time to pray. It was an awesome [but sleepless] time for me!

I read The No Cry Sleep Solution when Libby was small and it pretty much said that your first move in correcting sleep "issues" should be establishing an earlier bed time (earlier than you would think they need, even). I can't remember what Babywise says, but I'm assuming you're using that?

You're doing great, Rachael! Hang in there. Eventually you either start getting more sleep or you adjust. Either way, it gets better!

Kelly Glupker said...

If it was just one night, I wouldn't worry about it. Just hope it doesn't continue. I didn't start putting Owen to bed early until after Christmas (so he was just over 4 months old). I followed Babywise and had great success with it.

Janelle S said...

Having had 2 babies, you'd think I'd have some great answer but I don't. The only thing I would add to the other comments is to keep her daytime schedule consistent as possible (including her first feeding).

Regarding the video on our blog...that's all Brad. I have NO idea how to do it. I don't think it was horribly long to upload, but he probably minimized it before he put in on the blog.