u/sistermaryclare_

Hello! We think baby is ready to drop to 2 naps indicated by the 2/3 naps. She just turned 33 weeks and will be 8m next Monday. My largest question revolves around managing breastfeeding and solids but want to give extra details about her general schedule…

3 nap sched: 2.5/2.5/2.5/3 wake at 7am bed between 7:30&8pm. Total sleep capped at 3h spread between the 3 naps. Sometimes last catnap is 15min.

We nursed when she woke up, after each nap, and about 30m before bed. She also wakes twice a nice to nurse which I am fine with but she’s also dropped to one night waking for nurse here and there.
She had breakfast lunch and dinner about 1h after nursing as well.

Ideally we get to a point where she takes 2 x 1.5h naps at the same time every day, not necessarily based on wake windows…

My biggest concern is how do I manage nursing and solids during this time of longer wake windows and hopefully longer naps. I typically feed on demand but that ends up being every 3/4 h depending on nap length during a 3 nap day. If I continue with nursing after naps it seems like too long a time between sessions and while she eats solids she’s not eating a ton. Also, if I stick to every 3/4H but give her solids at the halfway mark of a wake window she would be getting solids before nursing a few times which I’m told I’m supposed to be nursing first and doing solids second. (Her weight is fine and has never been an issue)…

Feeling very confused and would love to hear from other EBF parents!

Hello! We think baby is ready to drop to 2 naps indicated by the 2/3 naps of her 3 nap schedule being less than 30 minutes and 1 nap being an hour for over a week. She just turned 33 weeks and will be 8m next Monday.

3 nap sched: 2.5/2.5/2.5/3 wake at 7am bed between 7:30&8pm. Total sleep capped at 3h spread between the 3 naps. Sometimes last catnap is 15min.

We nursed when she woke up, after each nap, and about 30m before bed. She also wakes twice a nice to nurse which I am fine with but she’s also dropped to one night waking for nurse here and there.
She had breakfast lunch and dinner about 1h after nursing as well.

As mentioned, based on her short naps (after we fixed them to be longer with longer wake windows) I think we’re ready to drop to 2 naps. Additionally I know people usually stick to nap times vs wake windows at this age to get a more predictable day - what does that look like?

I’m slowly lengthening her WW so right now we’re doing 3/3/4 but I know that’s less wake time than she was previously getting but jumping to 3/3.5/4 seems tough. She did 3/3/4 yesterday and managed it well but she woke a lot during the night. Shes also in major development mode so night waking I’m sure contribute to that.

My biggest concern is how do I manage nursing and solids during this time. I typically feed on demand but that ends up being every 3/4 h depending on nap length during a 3 nap day. If I continue with nursing after naps it seems like too long a time between sessions and while she eats solids she’s not eating a ton. Also, if I stick to every 3/4H but give her solids at the halfway mark of a wake window she would be getting solids before nursing a few times which I’m told I’m supposed to be nursing first and doing solids second. (Her weight is fine and has never been an issue)…

Feeling very confused and would love to hear from other EBF parents!

And maybe I just don’t understand baby wake/sleep at all. Partially I wonder if Huckleberry screwed me bc we followed it religiously but thug e never got better so I need to take control into my own hands.

From an early age we would contact nap but we began bassinet naps around 3m which she would do but only sleep for 30 minutes. This lasted until about 6months old, with adjusted wake windows, she would still never sleep longer than 45 minutes. She just turned 28 weeks.

I’ve seen some nap improvement the last few weeks with a 3 nap schedule 2/2.25/2.5/2.5 but it’s not super consistent and the last few days we’ve had a slew of 30 minute naps. She goes to sleep totally independently for naps and bed but her sleep cycles aren’t connecting. She almost never has 3h of naps a day.

Outside of naps she is also a bad overnight sleeper. I feel lucky when I only have to wake up 4 or 5 times a night to pop in her pacifier or feed her. (I assume one of her issues is that she won’t put her pacifier back in on her own and we should cut that out completely. ) Sometimes though she is just awake whining babbling and sometimes crying for up to 2 hours. Other nights she’s awake every 45 minutes. We’ve been getting about 2 hour stretches of sleep recently and that’s being very generous. She sleeps pretty good from bedtime around 730- 10or so when she starts fussing but I don’t nurse her until closer to 11 bc I’m trying to keep 4H between her last day feed (which is 30 min before bed). That said, lately she’s been waking up an hour after bedtime and every hour after. She also doesn’t have a designated bed time bc her naps are all over the place so she may be in bed at 630 one night at 745 another bc I’m focused on keeping wake windows consistent. And because I’m not sleeping at night once I pull her into bed with me around 5am I just sleep as long as she wants but I try to get us up no later than 730 but have slept til 8 on occasion. I know she is not sleeping 12h at night either probably closer to 7-9 which is also why I lay in bed til 7:30 trying to get her more sleep.

Typically the first nursing session is between 10:30-11 pm and the second js 4-5 hours after depending on her waking up. I don’t mind keeping these night feeds bc I sort of love them too since she won’t be a baby forever but it’s the rest of the night that is killing me.

I feel like I’m just all over the place and that there’s something I’m missing or don’t understand. I’m also just having a hard time with schedules constantly changing. I can’t control how long she naps so I can’t control bedtime and bc she is awake all night I am so tired that I can barely keep a DWT either and I’m drowning a bit. I’m managing but I’m dying to know what it’s like to sleep again. She was giving us 6-8h stretches of sleep at 2-3m old and then everything changed.

Shes generally a happy baby all through the day, but is she not exhausted?

We also room share for added information. I’m not against sleep training either but Im trying to understand schedules bc if I can figure that out maybe her overall sleep will improve. ? 😬 😩 idk I severely need help please !