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Hi Emma,
Thanks for your detailed reply. Here are my answers to your questions:
You mentioned your husband is more successful at transferring your little one to bed after overnight feeds. Have you noticed anything different in his approach or the techniques he uses?
There are a few differences for example in the way he holds her – I tend to hold her more upright to really ensure to get all her burps out and also because at one point the more sideways she was the more she would try suckle my breast or get distracted by my breast. Other than that I think he may just be a bit calmer and slightly more patient in waiting to transfer her than I am. The other thing is I often call him to come do the transfer after I have been trying for about 2 hrs so it may just be that by that point she’s actually eventually tired enough to fall asleep properly. Last 2 nights he came in sooner to help transfer her and he also struggled a lot to get her down.
Regarding your bedtime routine (feed, nappy change, book, sleep sack, rocking, and lullabies), does he rock her to sleep after the lullaby? How do you usually help her fall asleep during the day and at bedtime?
Yes – he rocks her in his arms to sleep. Daytime is nap routine is nappy change, sleep sack, rocking + lullabies at the same time til she’s asleep in our arms but my husband does try the settling pyramid for the first morning nap usually successfully.
Does she use a pacifier?
No unfortunately we could never get her to accept a pacifier.
How many naps does she take during the day?
At the moment it’s about 3 or 4 depending on how long the naps have been.
Does she wake up at a consistent time each morning?
Yes, we try to ensure this. It’s usually around 7.30. At some point it was getting closer to 8.30 but lately it’s seems back to 7ish/7.30.
Do you follow a wake, feed, play, sleep routine during the day?
Yes, although now that her wake windows can be longer the feeding time doesn’t always coincide with the waking time.
Is she breastfed or formula-fed? If breastfeeding, does she accept breastmilk from a bottle?
She is breastfed. My husband feeds her one bottle of expressed breast milk a day – usually the first morning feed.
What’s her general daily schedule like, including wake-up, nap times, and bedtime?
She usually wakes up around 7.30. I then try keep her stimulated and active with play mat and various activities til her wake window ends and or she’s showing tired signs – often her tired signs go straight to being moany and agitated. For a while her wake window seemed to be about 1.5 hrs although lately closer to 2 hrs. Then she has a nap. Fairly often the first nap is about 2 hrs long. After this I continue the wake, feed, play, nap routine as described earlier. I try to go outside at least once a day for a walk which luckily is much easier lately now that the weather is better and some post partum issues have healed up. The rest of the naps during the day are usually only about half an hour long and often will be in the carrier or pram but I do try to get at least one more nap in the crib. We struggle quite a bit with the last nap of the day so often the last wake window is a lot longer than we really try aim for – sometimes I can be up to 4 hours long. To avoid this I sometimes just resort to a contact nap where she is permanently latched on my boob.
Thanks again. Let me know if you have further questions.