DD 12 Weeks Sleep pattern gone weird!

[Becky77]

Wondered if anyone could offer advice... My LO sleep pattern has gone odd the last 3 days... I usually try and get her to have an afternoon nap between 4 and 5 but she hasn't taken one. She gets so wired that by 5pm she goes down but then wakes an hour later screaming because she's still tired... This means she has to go straight into her bedtime routine but wont take the boob so she goes into her moses basket and zonks out. Then I have to dreamfeed her at around 8pm... Whereas normally she gets a feed at 6.30pm straight to bed then sleeps through until 2 or 3.

Any ideas on how to break this cycle?

No... they set their own routines at that stage and she'll snap out of it She's the right age to be going through a growth spurt and they mess up their feeding patterns and that has a knock on effect on their sleep.

I do sympathise though.. I remember how hard the first few sleep deprived months can be.

Actually, I don't agree that you have to adjust to her new demands - babies can be in routines at 12 wks - However, they do have blips for a few days. I would keep an eye on her very closely throughout the day to spot tired signs and get her down as soon as you can, starting from first thing in the morning, That way, you hopefully won't end up with an overtired baby in the evening. If you don't have any other children to worry about and she won't settle for naps but you know she is overtired, go out for a walk. In a few days, she will probably be back to the way she was.

It's so hard in the first few months. My DS was constantly changing. I drove myself nuts trying to establish routines but in the end it was easier just to let him take the lead in the early days. He's ten months now and we have a pretty good sleep routine but only for the last month or so!!

@ pudding25 - thanks! She does do her morning nap very easily and like clockwork... The lunchtime nap starts well but she usually only manages about 45mins to an hour... I think that may be where we are falling down but don't know how to encourage her to stay down for longer... Then the afternoon nap is a struggle... So by the end of the day she may have only have an hour and a half - 2 hours sleep

@ everyone else - I do think it's probably a mixture of the two... She is a very textbook baby normally. She's happily gone to bed at 7pm since she was born so this sudden overtired screaming and refusing the boob stands out.

could you go in and resettle her before she really wakes up during the lunchtime nap?

And go for a walk so she can nap in the afternoon? sometimes just a few days of aimless pavement pounding gets them back into the sleep thing as they become used to sleeping at that time so settle quickly at home.

Good idea re. the afternoon walk... Not sure about the resettling at lunchtime but will start giving it more effort on Monday. Thanks

If she stirs after 45 mins then be on hand next to her at 40 minutes and as she seems to be stirring then shhh, pat, stroke to encourage her to stay sleeping

Waking after 45 mins is really common. Most people I know who's baby's do a long lunch nap havent got them to do it until a bit older (DD did her first ever 2hr lunch nap yesterday! Not expecting it again today though!).

At lunchtime, if she will not resettle after she wakes at 45 mins (try the shush patting Matnanpus is talking about) , get her up. When she starts looking tired again (prob after about 30 mins or so), bung her in the pram and go for a walk. She will probably fall asleep and do another 45 mins. Later on in the afternoon (1.5-2hrs after she has last woken) bung her in the pram again (good exercise!) and do another walk. That way, she will get her naps and avoid being overtired at bedtime. You may find you have to do this for a while and then try the cot again.

a nifty trick is once you notice after a few days of nap walking that she is falling asleep in the pram very quickly then pop her into the pram as you have been doing but instead of going out leave her as if you were going to the bathroom, i found by accident that the baby would fall asleep most days in her pram waiting for me, so after 4 days in house napping in pram i put her down in cot instead and she fell asleep

oh thanks for the tips... I'll give them a try

OK update

She's now sleeping in her moses basket for naps during the day and she goes down really well... But still only manages 45 minutes... I've tried patting and shhhing and putting her dummy back in but she just laughs at me

Anyway so now because she can't stay awake for more than 2 hours she gets to 5pm and wants to go back to sleep... And if I wake her after 45 minutes I get the screaming tired etc thing again... Should I just leave her to sleep through from 5pm and keep trying to elongate her lunchtime nap in the hope that that solves it or should I try and stretch out her awake time?