So much crying :(

[ChoccieBiccies]

My DD is 23 weeks. In the last week her sleep patterns have suddenly changed dramatically. Up until last Thursday I knew her awake time was around 1hour 45. I would start to wind her down, then gently sway her in her dark bedroom with white noise. She would gradually get drowsy then fall asleep peacefully and I could put her down. She only sleeps for 30 to 40 mins at a time, so we were on 4 naps a day.

Last Friday morning I tried unsuccessfully for 90 minutes to get her down for the first nap of the day. She was having none of it, just wasn't getting drowsy. So I gave up after an awful lot of crying, and she finally fell asleep in the car after being awake for 4 hours!

On Saturday and Sunday we couldn't get her to nap in the afternoon, just a lot of crying and no drowsiness, so she was awake both days from 1pm until 6pm bedtime!

So she's been having about 90 minutes total daytime sleep all week.

So it occurred to me she is dropping a nap (or two?!) So this week I have tried to learn her 'new' awake time and it's just all over the place. Every nap, with the exception of her falling asleep on the boob, has resulted in her crying her little heart out. I can't work out if I'm going in too early, too late, or whether she just doesn't want to sleep. None of my old methods of swaying or singing are working at all. As soon as I take her up to her room it's like she's cottoned on to what I'm about to do and she starts crying. I've tried anywhere from 1 hour 45 awake time up to 3 hours, and nothing seems to be the right time. She is not comforted at all by me holding her :( I've tried putting her in her cot incase that's what she wants, but still cries the same. She has shown sleepy signals after being awake for around 2hours, but at other times she has fallen asleep on the boob after only being awake for 1hour.

We had the 4 month sleep regression which we seemed to come out of, with her going back to waking twice a night. Coincidentally, since last Friday her night sleep had improved with her only waking once a night and sleeping later, but last night we were up 4 times and she was inconsolable at one stage.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? Is this just nap dropping? As I can't seem to help her get to sleep any more I don't know what to do!

[Babybaby1982]

May be wonder week 26? Im not sure if I believe the wonder weeks but a lot of people swear by them..

[ChoccieBiccies]

Thanks BabyBaby, just googled it and a lot does sound familiar... Just ride it out I suppose. Oh joy, the prospect of another 3 weeks without sleep... :)

[Babybaby1982]

My LO is similar age and has just started waking more at night, hoping it's 'the leap' and things will settle down again soon!

[mewkins]

Hi, my ds is only a week older than yours. He has had a week of having a cold and being miserable. Any sign of illness there?My ds needs a morning nap about 1:45 after waking but can then llast2.5 hours before his lunch nap. He sleeps for two hours and then just has 20mins two hours later. Is that any help?

I think around now they start to rapidly extend their wake times and simultaneously lose their sleepy cues which is very helpful! Although lots don't like gina ford, her timings are really helpful as my little one gives me hardly any clues as to when he needs sleep!

[ChoccieBiccies]

Thanks mewkins, that's something to go on. We're really not sure wether DD is teething so we were giving her calpol yesterday which seemed to help a little, so maybe that IS what's wrong.

V envious you get a 2 hour nap!! Occasionally I can get an hour out of DD if she sleeps on me, but much more likely to only get 30 mins :( I have always thought DD had a fairly short awake time as 30 min sleep is not enough to be restorative.

Agree about the rapidly extended awake times - couldn't work out how DD lasted 5 hours at the weekend without going into meltdown, but she did! I keep saying to DH, how can her awake time have changed so much in a couple of days?! I would love to know the science behind it.

[mrshope]

I could actually have written your post! DS is 23 weeks on tues. Only ever sleeps for half an HR unless on someone!
Awake time seems to have gone all bizarre!
Ride it out?!
At least we aren't alone!

[ChoccieBiccies]

mrshope that makes me feel better! Just when you think you've got it all figured out, everything changes again! We've been out in the car today and DD has just conked out after about 2 hours being awake, so I'm thinking it's just she's stopped showing sleepy signals, and that's why I'm missing it. So going to try at around the 2 hour mark tomorrow and see if that's any better. Good luck!

[mrshope]

Let me know how you get on choccie!
DS has never slept more than 20mins in car... And that is normally after a lot of crying!! Hoping he is better at Christmas!

[Babybaby1982]

I've just started being able to put my 22 week old down for naps, used to have to hold him for entire nap. He seems to only do 30 mins once put down though and is still tired when he wakes!