[Annie Mayne]

Hi Emma,

Thank you so much for the helpful reply, and I have to apologise for taking so long to come back to you! We’ve been working on implementing your suggestions, some have worked out well, otherwise we could do with some more guidance 🙂

Regarding the early morning wake ups
We’ve struggled to track when we he is ‘truly’ waking up for the day vs a night wake. For example, yesterday he woke up at 4:40, after a feed and a some shush/patting in his crib he was asleep again by 5:20. He then woke up at 6:30 where I got him up, but he seemed very lethargic, low energy and did not seem interested in playing for the first wake window. So this morning, when he woke ay 3:55, back to sleep by 4:25, awake again at 6:13 I fed him and got him back to sleep (by co-sleeping), where he slept until 8:00. Both nights he had a bedtime of 19:30.

My question is how can I tell whether or not the wakes between 6-6:30 are him starting his day, or another night wake where I should be trying to get him back to sleep?

Regarding the settling pyramid during the day

This has been a challenge to implement, he has really started fighting naps, even when he is showing very clear sleepy cues (yawning, rubbing eyes, loosing interest in playing). As a reminder, our sleep routine is swaddle on, white noise on, curtains closed, pick him up to sing a lullaby and then down in the crib. As soon as I start to put his swaddle on he is crying, so I’m always starting at the top of the pyramid and I’m having to rock/sing/shush to get him calm, once he starts to settle and drift off I start to come back down the pyramid and he immediately starts to cry again. After 20 mins of trying we are always still at the top of the pyramid (i.e. he is still crying and not sleeping with full rocking, singing etc) so I don’t feel like I’m making much progress at all. I’d really appreciate your thoughts on this to see what else I can try?

Overnight feeds

I have stopped rocking him for 15mins after each feed as you suggested, for the first wake I can put him down in his crib and he remains asleep, which is great! For subsequent feeds in the night, he often wakes when I put him down, and have needed to pick him up to rock him, however I have recently had success in shushing him back to sleep in his crib without needing to pick him up which has been great.

Thanks so much again for your help so far, and looking forward to hearing if you have any other suggestions.

Thanks,

Annie

[Annie Mayne]

Hi Emma,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. Very happy to answer your questions (see below). I can provide more detail if helpful.

Regarding wake times & schedules

• His wake windows are typically longer than an hour, on average around 90-120 mins. His last window of the day can often only be 1hr though if he is showing lots of sleepy cues.
• We have been aiming for a consistent wake-up time of around 7am, but have been struggling with him waking before then and not going back to sleep.
• I recognise your feedback that he might just be an early riser – so we are happy to push wake-up to earlier (around 6-7am).
• There have been a couple of times where he has woken up before his wake-up time, but not late enough to go back to sleep. For example, if we are aiming for a wake-up time of 6-7am, and he wakes up at 05:00. By the time he has been fed and we’ve managed to get him back to sleep, it is already around 6am or later. What should we do in this case? Let him sleep longer or just start the day?
• We do a wake-feed-play-feed-sleep cycle (an extra feed before his nap). We maintain separation between feeding and sleep to try to limit association (feed in a separate room and don’t let him fall asleep while nursing).
• For sleep, we follow your routine of singing, swaddle, turn off lights/draw curtains, turn on white noise and sing/shush (follow the pyramid). This is successful so far for putting him to bed, a lot less successful during the day.
• Nap routine and bedtime routine are identical, though often naps end up being contact naps at the moment because he won’t settle in the crib during the day.

Regarding night wakings

• He stirs and smacks his lips a lot, he will do this for 5-10 mins and then start to get more agitated – this is when I get up and feed him.
• I feed him in a nursing chair in a separate room, and I do a nappy change if needed (once per night average). If I’m changing his nappy I do a split feed.
• During the night I nurse him back to sleep, then rock him for 15 mins after he has fallen asleep. I then carry him (asleep) carefully back to his crib and place him down gently to avoid waking him.
• His sleep environment is cool, dark and quiet (apart from my husband’s snoring!)

Thanks very much in advance,

Annie