Cat Naps and routines

[lonzo82]

Hi there, I would be grateful for a bit of advice from anyone who's experienced similar with their LO's. Wasn't sure if should post in feeding or sleep topic lists.
I'm a first time mum and DD is 14 weeks old. I'm keen to establish a day time routine of sorts as the night time one we have just now seems to work (bath/bottle/bed around 6-7pm)and she does well with routine. She shows sleepy cues between every 1.5-2 hours throughout the day but only ever sleeps for 30 mins maximum. I've tried 'catching' her before fully awake and shushing but she's alert very quickly! Her feeding is really sporadic, I'm thinking it's been due to her cows milk allergy/reflux issues which are now sorted however she'll snack throughout the day taking around 3 ounces at a time then maybe 2 ounces an hour later. She has 5/6 ounces after bath then goes down for the night. Another 5 ounces first thing but night feed is snacky too. If she's a cat napper then that's fine but I'm just feeling the feeding/napping is all at random times all over the place throughout the day and as such I'm finding it really difficult to structure my day plus she gets really overtired. I've had a bit of anxiety since having her (I'm anxiety prone anyway) so haven't really taken her out much other than local walks in pram due to her being quite unsettled and prone to rage fits! Just wondering what anyone's advice/thoughts are or if anyone's experienced similar? I've ordered baby whisperer and no cry sleep books but would value tried and tested advice from anyone as I'm keen to try and do positive things to help both DD and myself. Thank you!

Catnaps are usual for this age, the awake time between one nap and the next that you mention us very long. I would expect 30-45 min naps followed by 45-75 mins awake. I very to limit awake time to avoid over tiredness.

I like to structure my day with baby in a repeatable pattern. This gives predictability to your day, but in a baby lead way. You basically just follow the same repeated cyckes from waking to bedtime. An example would be:

• Wake - note time and aim to have baby back to sleep in around 60m time
• Full Feed
• Awake/Happy time - watch clock for approaching naptime
• Topup feed to finish bottle, if needed
• Getting to sleep
• Sleep (expect 30-45m)
• Awake.... and so back to the start and the whole cycle repeats.

Thanks for the reply, I do think that makes sense as she generally will have her bottle over the course of an hour or so...perhaps she's just a snacker and car napper and I should try and build a routine round that rather than aiming for 5 ounces every 3 hours which never happens! The advice I've been given is try for bigger spaced out feeds but she's not a fan. And maybe by the time she looks quiet and does her first yawn I've missed the sleepy window. I'll need to try and keep a closer eye on that