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| It is so bright outside! |
This is a summary for Brinley’s 12th week–she was 11 weeks old. This was really a perfect week. In my experience, I knew this was the “calm before the storm” kind of deal before the next wonder week came along. Even though it was a nice, calm week, there are some points of interest.
EATING
All normal. Still six feedings a day. She took her bottle again this week just fine.
SLEEPING
Sleep was all good and perfect. I still love the Merino Sleep Sack. I haven’t decided if I am getting a second one or not. She did fine for her one nap without it last week on laundry day. However, she is a child who obviously likes her stuff clean. I have never had a child be like this. I change her swaddle blanket every other day and her sheets three times a week. So I do think she would be happy with two just so she could have it cleaned more than once a week…but I don’t know. Yes, I know. She is my youngest child alright? Allow me to do some spoiling here.
Brinley is still in her bassinet in her crib for all naps and night. I did a couple of naps in the crib, and for one she slept as usual but seemed to take FOREVER to fall asleep. Then the next day, she didn’t fall asleep at all. I think she still likes the incline. I am sticking with the bassinet for now and will try the crib again at a later date. We still have months before it will be too small for her.
I also changed the light in her room this week.She has always napped with the blinds fully open, but after watching her on the monitor, I thought the sunlight streaming in the window might be making it difficult for her to get into a nice deep sleep. So I now close her blinds half way. I think that is better. Every child is very individual on what kind of light they can have, and Brinley has even changed through her life, so always keep that in mind when troubleshooting sleep.
WITCHING HOUR
Witching hour is definitely on the way out. It is often not even around.
SUNDAY DISRUPTION
The church disruption can be killer. I think being at church is important, so we push through it. This week, though, I did leave 20 minutes early because she just wasn’t sleeping.
This week I also skipped a feeding in the evening. She gets so tired that it is hard to wake her up to eat, and then she ends up snacking. So I skipped a feeding in an effort to get her hungry enough to just eat. I still had to wake her up to eat, but she did eat well and we had no night issues that night.
COCONUT OIL
At the risk of sounding trendy, I know coconut oil is all the rage these days, coconut oil really is fantastic. My sister-in-law gave me some when I was pregnant with Brinley. She had a dry forehead, and I had tried the various lotions. I finally decided to go with the coconut oil and one nap later she looked 100% better. The rest of her skin does great with the Aveeno, but her face does best with coconut oil.
TIME CHANGE
I have been shifting her schedule in preparation for the time change. The only thing I haven’t shifted is the dreamfeed.
SCHEDULE
This is our daily schedule.
8:10–feed
9:10–nap
11:30–feed
12:20–nap
3:00–feed
3:50–nap
6:00–feed
7:00–nap
8:00–feed, then bedtime
10:15–dreamfeed
HELPFUL BOOKS
- Baby Body Signs: The Head-to-Toe Guide to Your Child’s Health, from Birth Through the Toddler Years
- Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby
- On Becoming Baby Wise
- Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
- What to Expect the First Year
- The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems: Sleeping, Feeding, and Behavior–Beyond the Basics from Infancy ThroughToddlerhood
- The Wonder Weeks
RELATED POSTS/BLOG LABELS:
- newborn summary (blog label)
- Newborn Summary: Week Twelve (McKenna)
- Regulatory Sleep Systems
- The Sun and Sleep
Valerie, also known as The Babywise Mom, is the mother to four children. She has been blogging on Babywise and general parenting since 2007. She has a degree in technical writing and loves using those skills to help parents be the best parents they can be! Read her book, The Babywise Mom Nap Guide, to get help on sleep from birth through the preschool years. You can also find her writing at Babywise.life, Today Parenting, and Her View From Home. Read more about Valerie and her family on the About page. Follow her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for more tips and helps.
Just wondering about the start time you have for naps – is that when you lay her down or when she falls asleep? I'm just curious how long she is actually awake because my daughter is only about 2 weeks older. Thanks.
My daughter is 14 weeks old and still not sttn. She is on a 2-3 hr schedule during the day and then wakes 1-2 times at night. She will only nurse on one side usually and will only nurse for 5-10 min. I cannot get her to eat any more. Her wake time is about 1 hr. Wondering what I am doing wrong? With my 1st child I EP and he sttn by 3 months. #Readyforagoodnightssleep!
My son is 17 weeks and isn't sttn. He is on a 3-2.5 hour schedule. He takes great naps and is a super sweet boy. He wakes up once, sometimes twice at night to eat. He seems to wake around the same time each night no matter how I play with his routine, which makes me think its just out of habit. We have tried just giving him the paci when he wakes, but he is persistent and since he is in our room still, I am just not as determined at 3 or 4 am and end up just feeding him. I have played with his routine a lot and have added feedings in the day. I've also played with the timing of the dreamfeed. Just not sure what to do. Am I just being impatient? Thanks!
What kind of bassinet are you using? I'm curious because you mentioned of an incline. I have a newborn who is 5 weeks old and is struggling with lying flat.
Diana that is what time I put her down. She typically falls asleep within ten minutes or so.
jewels4jesus,Have you looked through the Nighttime Troubleshooting post?Since she isn't eating much, I think it sounds like she isn't particularly hungry. My first guess would be that she is cold or too hot. I would focus on that first.
Jen my first guess would be that it is because he is in the room with you. All babies will wake throughout the night and stir. So it could be that if he were in a different room you might not hear him (unless of course he were really crying) and he would go back to sleep. The discussion today might give you some ideas from other moms, so watch that post as people post on it.
Kelli it is a Kolcraft. But it didn't come with an incline. We bought some foam at Joannes (it is green), cut it to fit the bassient, and then cut it at an angle. I think I will do a post on it because a lot of people have been asking.
That would be great 🙂 He often falls asleep at his last feeding and sleeps until 5:30 or so. When I put him back down after that feeding is when I'm having problems. Often fusses and spits up. If it put him in a bouncy seat he's fine. Makes me think not so flat would help him. With my older I used a sleep positioner, but I know that they aren't recommended anymore.
I will check out the night time post. I wasn't real clear… at night I feel like she is really hungry since she will eat for 10 min. Its during the day she will only eat 5-10 min. She doesn't seem as hungry in the morning after being fed twice in the night. I'm not ready to cio yet as she will cry for 1hr+
My son is a week behind Brinley, and I am amazed at how much Brinley sleeps compared to him! I roughly added it up, and is it true she's only awake about 5 hours of the day? I heard the average for an infant this age is about 16 hours of sleep, which equates to about 8 hours awake. Is Brinley just more sleepy than the average baby? My son rarely sleeps more than 1.5 hours at time, usually only 45 minutes or one sleep cycle. I've postulated that it's in part due to his need to eat more frequently because of reflux. He starts refluxing if he eats more than 2.5 ounces at a time. Any ideas on what I can do? He's on medicine already and we've done other things to make him more comfortable, but I haven't been successful at stretching out his schedule. Thanks!
Val or Lauren, any advice on this? My daughter is now this age with the same short schedule/reflux issue. Nighttime sleep is good, luckily, but a 2.5 hour schedule (always with 30 minutes of crying when she wakes after 2 hours) is getting frustrating.
I know this post is old but thought if post my question anyway and see if it gets answered. Does your daughter sleep for the entire time in between where you have nap and feed? If my math is correct them she's sleeping almost 20 hours a day still since her awake time are at just about an hour. I ask because my daughter can also only handle these short awake times but does not sleeo the 1.5 – 2 hours at all 4 naps during the day. Some books I've read suggest that average hours of sleep should be somewhere between 11 and 15 hours. If she's sleeping 10-11 hours at night could this be contributing to the short naps? Any suggestions?
Same thing as Rebbeca…I'm posting here in hope maybe u can answer here…I've posted the same question in a dream feed post but didn't get a response so I'll try it here.My son is now 12 weeks old and is sleeping much better for his naps and night…I stopped the dream feed as it was interfering with his night sleep. Previously he was taking the dream feed and waking twice after that and now that I took it away he's sleeping 7-9 hs straight which means he's waking between 3-5 AM…but now I don't know how to extend that from here…he's really hungry so I know he still needs it. Should I wait and see if he extends it by himself or do u have any ideas I can help him get there? He's still on a 3 hour schedule with 3 1.5-2 hours nap and a shorter 45 mn-1 hour nap in the evenin with bedtime at 8 PM…thanks for your blog! It's been a blessing in my life…