[Robin FRAITURE]

Hi Emma!

An update here, we had booked progress with daytime naps but lately my 3 months old has become quite fuzzy. I think he may show signs of teething: Drooling a lot, chewing calms him down, refusing one breast, wants extra comfort and has difficulty with his daytime naps again too. We keep on trying though to go back at the sleep routine at least for the day. I’m positive this will work.

We’ve unfortunately only not booked too much progress yet at night. He sleeps for a maximum of 30 minutes I’d say and then wakes up again in his co-sleeper. I’ve tried the gradual approach, but the only way he seems to sleep 3 hours straight is still by allowing him to sleep on his belly on our chest at night. Sometimes he sleeps for 1hour straight if he’s placed on his side beside one of us, while we stay awake to monitor him.

He was able to roll over though last week! So I’m hoping we can place him on his belly after his paediatrician here approves and that this may possible help him? What do you think?

Many thanks again for all you do!

Warmly

Robin

[Robin FRAITURE]

Sorry 1 addition, he likes to sleep on his belly with his face aside on our chests. Not on his back. I have an inkling this also plays a role.

[Robin FRAITURE]

Hi Emma! Thanks for being so proactive here whilst running a business and household of your own! Tremendous respect.

As some sort of miracle, or little one started accepting his crib yesterday for short naps during the day of c. 30 minutes. This occurred 3x a day. And I believe these short naps are normal right at 3 monts?

Today he only slept in his crib during the morning nap. I think because I failed at waking him at the same 30min window in the morning. He was a bit tired in general it seemed as well. Here are my replies.

1. Does your little one have a consistent wake time each day? If so, what time is it? Yes, around 7:30 he’s awake. I then sometimes keep him with me on my chest and by 8:30 were in the daylight in the living room. I try to make this by 8am in the living room so we stay in the 30min window.

2. Can you walk me through what his nap sleep routine looks like from start to finish? He shows signs like rubbing his eyes or fuzziness, yawning, or becomes grumpy during play time. I pick him up and hold him against me for a little bit. We go to the bedroom. I sing the same song whilst holding & rocking him in his sleep sack if I managed to put it on on time. I place him in his crib when I believe he’s calm and fell asleep on my chest. I remove myself slowly from him + hold my hand on his chest for a while longer. Wait & observe. I follow the pyramid technique from here upon.

3. Have you been able to implement the wake, feed, play, sleep routine during the day? Mostly Yes. Sometimes I’m confused whether he’s still hungry when finger smacking + looking for the breast or just wants to be comforted on the breast before falling asleep again. Then it looks like: wake-feed-play-feed-sleep.

4. You mentioned you feed him to sleep at bedtime—how do you help him fall asleep at nap time? For example, do you baby-wear him, or do you sit on a lounge and pat him to sleep while you stay still? I hold him against my chest whilst rocking him & singing the same lullaby. Or I sit on a rocking chair with him + singing same lullaby until he falls asleep.

5. What does his bedtime routine currently look like? Around 6-7pm he starts showing signs of sleepiness and only wants to be held. We sit on the balcony with him or in the living room for a bit. We dont do anything overstimulating & play the same calming lullaby in a dark living room with only atmospheric lights on. He becomes more and more sleepy out of himself. Then I often feed him a little bit and he falls asleep around 7:30-8:30pm. It’s a poor habit probably that I started when I thought before that he was still hungry. At 9pm he’s fully asleep and I transfer him from my chest to my husband’s so I get some deep sleep time myself.

6. When you say you live in a one-bedroom, is the bedroom separate from the living room and kitchen, or is it all one big room? Seperate indeed.

7. When you say he sleeps on your chest at night, are you able to lay him down in his crib overnight, or do you hold him all night or co-sleep with him (so you can get some sleep)? My husband and I take turns indeed holding him all night. A potentially dangerous and unhealthy habit I’m aware. We just didn’t know how else to do it until now. I hope with succeeding with your technique during the day, we can slowly accomplish placing him in his co-sleeper at night (the chicco next to me co-sleeper).

8. Does he use a pacifier? No, he spits his soothie pacifier out most of the time when we try to give it. So we stopped.

9. Can you describe what his sleep environment is like in the bedroom? (e.g., darkness, noise level, temperature, white noise, etc.) We have blackout curtains, there is background chatter coming from the living room where my husband works during the day. Bedroom temperature is 22 degrees Celsius. We have the Hatch white noise machine.

10. How many naps is he having per day and how long do these naps tend to be? Around 4 to 5 naps a day of max 30 minutes now & sometimes there’s a nap of 45 minutes to 1hr.

Lastly, what time does he usually go to bed? By 9pm is his bedtime. Although we keep him on our chest here still.

• This reply was modified 11 months ago by  Emma H.

[Robin FRAITURE]

Hi Emma!

Thanks so much! I will try out the gradual approach first.

He entered a little growth spurt I believe where he’s been more fuzzy and clingy than usual. The crib has been challenging during these days. But I’m optimistic!

One thing I got told is to try placing him on his side, or use some special pillow that he can hug as he’s not happy on his back whilst sleeping, but isn’t this dangerous? Will this solve things for us?

I’ll keep you updated on how things go!