[Julia Sledz]

Hi Emma,

Thanks for your reply and your detailed guidance helping us through our sleep challenges! We really appreciate it! Sorry for the late reply on my end, we left for Austria and with the travels, settling in a new environment with her, meeting family and friends and travelling some more (first Salzburg, now we are in Vienna for 9 days), it was a bit hard to find the time reply.

I’m happy to report that the plane ride went well and she slept almost the whole flight in her bassinet (with some wakes to feed) – despite not dimmed lights for half the time and general noises (me and my husband were too anxious to sleep). As you already told us, jetlag took about a week for her. Only now are we finding some sort of normal rhythm again.

My mom got us a bassinet for daynaps and we thought – what do we have to loose. We tried it and it worked! For the first time we were able to settle her in a bed for daytime naps for more than 30min (roughly an hour). We followed exactly your suggestions and it just worked. There was some complaining and we still had to hold her hands, but still, what a massive improvement.

We’ve been able to put her down for almost every daytime nap, only once did I have to bounce her and some other times, she slept in the stroller, because we were on the move. I still can’t believe it. Hope, we will be able to continue this when we get back home. Some naps are still 30min, but some are over 1h now.

Unfortunately, the construction will move back to our end of the street, so I’ll have to set up the kitchen somehow. But I’ll find a way. Now I’m much more confident.

We still have to hold her hands for most of the time. What I forgot to mention earlier is, that this started because she had eczema and rashes on her cheeks and would just start to scratch if we let go of them. The cheeks are almost good again now, so we will also try to slowly let go of that.

As you called it, she’s turning 7 months tomorrow and a couple of days ago she just started to roll back and forth on our big family bed. We are super excited and I have settled her on her belly as well now. My only worry is that it’s super hot here and in Austria there are no ACs really. So the room temperature is around 26.5 degrees. We already dropped the sleeping bag, added a fan (not pointed at her, just for air circulation) and only put a short-sleeved onesie. Do you think there is an increased risk now, settling her on her tummy in this heat?

For nighttime sleep sleeping until 3am only happened once before leaving; after, it was all over the place and now she’s waking once around 1-2am and once around 5am. Sometimes I need to hold her so she gets enough sleep, once I was able to put her back in her bed and she slept until 6:45am.

I haven’t returned to sleep-feed-play yet, because of the heat. It feels like I should continue feeding on demand to keep her hydrated, or is sleep-feed-play rhythm enough?

Thanks so much again and greetings from Vienna!

Julia

[Julia Sledz]

Hi Emma,

I ended up gently rolling her back on her back for the night when I went to bed, because it made me too nervous, wanting to wait for your reply first. Thankfully it didn’t wake her and she slept until 3am again, which was great.

She is able to roll onto her tummy, but rolling back she hasn’t mastered yet. A few times during playtime, she did it, but it looked like coincidence rather intent. Would you say it’s still OK? Or better wait?

We have both, her old bedside bassinet (besrey, but it’s getting tight for her I think) and a pack and play, though she has never slept in it. Imagine it’s also tricky settling her in it because it’s so deep?

I could set it up in our hallway maybe, it’s quite broad and a bit darker than the kitchen 🤔.

Also, I wanted to report that today the construction was working further down the street, so it was quiet enough in the bedroom and I tried her first nap there. It took 12min and she slept (she started out crying the moment I put her down). I left the room and after 5min she woke, flipped on her tummy and I waited and watched her on the monitor. She spinned and explored, in between she put her head down, but eventually she started crying and she wasn’t settling herself. I went in, tried to settle her on her tummy, she wouldn’t have it, then I did the pyramid, switching between last tier and picking her up, bc it kept escalating in the crib. In my arms she would immediately stop crying. We did this for 20min (felt like an eternity) and eventually I gave up. I put her in the carrier and 5min later she was deep aslepp for 1h. At this point I wonder if we’ll ever manage naps in her bed, getting desperate.

All the best from Montreal!

Julia

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Emma H. Reason: removed html code

[Julia Sledz]

Hi Emma,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! Yes, our little one is super busy learning all sorts of new skills. Today she successfully lifted the individual rings off the ring stack. It’s all going so fast, crazy.

Please see my replies below:

1. What time does she typically wake in the morning, and does this stay fairly consistent within a 30-minute window?
   Yes, we get up between 7 and 7:30am every morning. When the snooze feed works, she usually wakes up around that time. When it doesn’t work and I cradle her in my arms, I gently wake her for her wake time.

2. Could you share the timing and general duration of her naps throughout the day?
   First nap starts between 9:15 and 9:45, depending when we got up that day. Only lasts one sleep cycle (~30min)
   Second nap starts between 12:00 and 12:45, depending on the previous one and these days only lasts one cycle too.
   Last nap of the day starts between 16:00 and 16:45 (16:45 only when I got her to do 2 cycles in the previous one) and lasts one cycle.

3. You mentioned she becomes quite upset when rolling onto her tummy during sleep. Have you tried gently patting her bottom or placing a hand on her back whilst rocking her side to side when she’s in this position? Often once babies master rolling to their tummy, they actually prefer sleeping this way.
   I just tried it and it worked! (she woke up shortly after we put her down and she flipped on her tummy). I actually very lightly patted her back and switched to her bottom (I couldn’t exactly remember your message and improvised haha). As I’m writing this, she’s still asleep on her tummy. I’m a bit nervous, but if it’s considered safe after they master rolling to their tummy, I’m happy to explore this option.

4. Since she’s army crawling, I’m assuming she’s comfortable on her tummy during awake time?
   Yes, she is super fast and happy to be on her tummy for quite some time.

5. Do you have a specific nap routine that you follow? If so, could you describe it?
   I take her in the carrier, turn off the lights, shush and sway back and forth in the room, whilst also carrying a portable white noise machine.

6. For naps in the carrier, am I right in thinking you pop her in and continue bouncing on the exercise ball until she falls asleep?
   I sway back and forth until she’s asleep.

7. When you are settling her to sleep in the carrier what room is this usually in and is the room cool, dark, and quiet?
   In the kitchen living space in the back of our place, since the construction noise is much lower and can be ignored with the white noise. Room doesn’t have curtains, but with the lights off it’s not super bright. Still brighter than the bedroom. We don’t have AC, so it’s around 24 degrees currently. The bedroom is naturally colder, around 22 degrees.

8. Once she’s asleep in the carrier, do you continue wearing her whilst moving about, or do you sit down?
   That’s where the yoga ball comes in. Once she’s asleep I bounce. Without movement she wakes.

9. Does she use a pacifier?
   No, never has.

10. When she wakes overnight, do you follow the wake-feed-sleep routine whilst keeping the lights off or dimmed?
    Yes, lights stay off, blackout curtains drawn, it’s pretty dark.

11. What times is she typically waking overnight?
    Last night: 11pm, 3:50am, 5:30am.
    The night before: midnight, 3:30am, 5am, 6am.
    Before that, she would only have one waking before the snooze feed one*; around 2-3am. *When she wakes between 5 and 6am I try to get the snooze feed in, so she continues until 7/7:30am.

12. Is she breastfed, formula-fed, or combination fed? Breastfed only.

13. Have you noticed whether some overnight feeds are shorter or smaller than others? Yes, they have gotten shorter. 5-6 minutes now; it used to be double the time.

Thanks for your advice regarding our trip to Austria and thanks so much for helping me figure out our sleep situation! It does feel like if I only could get her to take better naps, things would already improve. Also during the day, she’s super happy when she wakes up after a nap, but her energy drains quickly, which affects her wake window.

Best, Julia