[Stephanie Kusterer]

Hi Emma,

Just an update

Not sure if it’s a fluke or my LO is getting sick but last night we had only 1 wake up at 2 am. He still ate only 90 mL and went back down.

He woke a bit before 7 am but still ate only 60 mL. He’s hungry and ask for it but just doesn’t eat much at all…

What was different last evening is the catnap needing to be super short (20 min?) and me having to wait the full 1:30 hr WW to put him down.

Could the duration of the catnap and last wake window influence so much the night?

[Stephanie Kusterer]

Hi Emma,

Thanks for your answer.

as our LO decided to go on a high protest mode for each bedtime, I didn’t take a decision on how to proceed with the pacifier until today…

Pacifier update:

Today we just ditched it cold turkey. I tried yesterday to just take it out before he would go to bed but it made him more mad and confused… And then he tries to suck in thin air, it’s heartbreaking…

Anyway, for the first nap without a pacifier, he was not so happy about it but it hasn’t been too bad either. He did scream for 10 min and was more calm after that until he could fall asleep in 20 min. The pyramid doesn’t seem now to help him a lot, and I avoid to take him in my arms since he tend to scream even more after that …

The second nap was about the same. He screamed for about 10 min (even when I was trying to help) then was more calm until he fell asleep.

Hopefully bedtime will go more smoothly…

I guess I cannot expect the naps to miraculously extend but each time he woke up, I’ve tried both naps to leave him until he wasn’t happy before I got in (took him about 10 min to start protesting after stirring in bed). I tried both times to settle him back with the pyramid for another 10 min but it didn’t work so I got him up in the end… (Today my husband is home so I can experiment a little bit more). I wonder though if it’s of any use me trying to help him or if it would just be better to just pick him up as soon as he starts to protest?

Consistency question:

For the 3rd nap and because I wouldn’t want him to scream next door for the nap of my toddler (toddler has a bit of Fomo and he is not sleeping great for his nap…) I did put my LO in the baby carrier. It will probably be like this until he stops screaming to go down. Nevertheless a few naps in the day will end up in the carrier since we also need to be out and about. Will that affect the naps and not encourage him to extend them when he knows that at one point in the day he’ll get in the carrier? There he sleeps as long as he can… (I usually wake him up after 2 hrs…). Can’t really do the pram since my toddler doesn’t always wants to walk and I’d rather carry 5 kg than 12 kg…

35 min Naps and WW:

I’m not sure if suddenly we’ve reached a new phase or whatever. Each time we go in the bedroom and get the sleep sack on, our LO starts to cry really loud, screams… I’ve tried to top him off before, to be sure he is not hungry or so, didn’t work, so now I do that only when he seems to be hungry. Also, I don’t think he is sick or that anything is wrong with him but here we are. Before that he was pretty chill and would not protest so much or at least not until being in bed by himself… Could it be overtiredness?

I’ve been trying to up the WW like you’ve suggested to get more than 30 min naps. I’m trying to put him to bed within 1:30 to 1:40 of being awake (trying to follow his cues or when I can get the time to tend to him). But those WW have not worked yet. That’s already a couple of days or more, (but the one day I had to do only 65 min WW he didn’t sleep longer either).

He seems like he doesn’t show more tired signs. He’s just yawning once maybe quite “early in his WW” like around the 1 hr mark. After that I can’t really pick up tired signs unless he yawns some more… however if I go to him and make him smile and interact with me, he is most of the time gladly do so, so I guess that would mean he is not yet tired? And was just bored? But I know if I’d put him in the carrier he would have fallen asleep quite fast and stay asleep long… So I’m not sure either.

Likewise today after 2 short nap (30 min) he was a big mess so after only 1 hr of being awake I did put him in the baby carrier and he fell asleep really fast. Could it really be that for a 11 week old we get sometimes a 40 min WW when only napping 30 min and a 1:30 to 2:00 WW when napping ok? Or would it more be within 30 min or something ?

Some people suggest not to change the WW when the baby did have a shorter nap to help extend them, but you say in your video more something like we could have a shorter WW and then to do so… So what is the best?

Thanks a lot in advance!

[Stephanie Kusterer]

Thanks a lot!

One last question but in the end if they take one more or one less nap, that would mean as well they take one more or less feed during the day, is that correct?

[Stephanie Kusterer]

Thanks Emma,

Sounds all good. I have to “choose” or try between the different options. Hopefully he will be a quick learner. But he’s already doing quite well for his age so I can’t complain too much.