I want my happy baby back!
So, my 5 month old (22 weeks) has been really struggling with sleep and I posted about it last week.
She was on a 2.25/2.25/2.25/2.25 schedule, taking great naps (2 hours in the morning, 1 hour in the afternoon, and 30 minute catnap before last WW).
She is sleep trained and goes to sleep independently for all naps and bedtime. I EBF and she’s a little boob barnacle so she does get fed before and after every nap and before bedtime. (However, she CAN go to sleep without being fed before, and puts herself back to sleep during the night and naps regularly without a feed.)
Then she started to have some longer false starts and more, longer night wakes and early morning wakes.
We tried stretching a couple windows to 2.5. I always see on here that schedules need “more awake time” and that people are asking for too much time in the crib. However, with 2.5 hour wake windows, she was a cranky, unhappy baby and ended up sleeping much less overall. Nights were more consolidated but naps were awful and choppy. That would be fine by me if it didn’t affect her mood. (She had been getting 14 hours of sleep, and after the schedule change was maybe getting 13.) By aiming for 10 hours of awake time, we ended up with at least 11…and an unhappy baby.
Given how tired she seemed, we tried some shorter (2.25) wake windows and early bedtime for a couple of days. She slept great and was super cheerful. I did expect it was going to backfire soon with night sleep problems. Last night we had another broken nights and, today, crappy naps again.
Does anyone have a super sensitive baby that can’t handle 2.5-3 hours of awake time but also can’t sleep for 15-16 hours?
Those of you who are experts, any thoughts? Should I expect less sleep at night? Like 10-10.5? I understand aiming for 10 hours of awake time. I’m a rigid rule follower, so I probably took that more literally than others might. Help!!! I need sleep and I want my happy baby back!