Can someone help me with a proper schedule for my 16 week old?

[penguinpet]

I’m at a loss he sleeps terrible only contact naps during the day, if I’m lucky he will sleep 30 minutes for the first nap in the bassinet.
His bedtime wavers from 6-7pm and wakes between 6-7am. He’s was initially waking at 12am, 3am and 5 am for feeds overnight. Now he sleeps at max two hour stretch usually only 1 hour stretches from 2am. I think it’s the regression. He has to be bounced to sleep each time which takes about 10-20 minutes

The first wake window is only 45 minutes before he starts screaming and getting overtired. These are roughly the wake windows he follows 0.45/1/1.15/1.15/1.5/2 He naps around 3.5-4 hours during the day. Over 4-5 naps.

I feel like he is always cranky or overtired. Most naps are a fight I downloaded huckleberry and attempt o follow the sweet spot but he always falls 20 minutes short before he starts getting upset and tired. Although the bedtime recommendation is spot on usually.

Or bedtime routine is clean nappy, massage, lullaby, sleep sack, white noise and bounced to sleep on a yoga ball. I’m exhausted my back is killing me he is a big baby 8.8kg! So baby wearing fro contact naps is only a once a day affair the rest are on the couch.
Id love for him to sleep independtly but I don’t know where to start and feel like I’m failing him and his sleep. I’ve tried shush pat and it resorts to screaming as well as FIO andPLS methods. Help please I’m a FTM and have no idea what I’m doing and honestly feel overwhelmed by al the sleep advice

 

[bigdawg]

@penguinpet Hi Tessa18. I am having the same problem what did you do at the end? My son just turned 16 weeks and getting up every hour and don’t know what to do. Thank you

 

[penguinpet]

@bigdawg Hi! My boy is 11 months old now! We ended up using the Ferber method to help him learn independent sleep, it was very hard at first but by the end he was only wake two times in the night to feed!
He now sleeps through the night!! Good luck I promise it does get better!!

 

[briank7]

@penguinpet Hiya. Just wanted to show solidarity as my 18wk old only contact naps and as you said, if I'm lucky, 30 mins by herself in the morning.

I'd focus on wake windows and practising independant sleep at bedtime first before naps.

For reference, our wake windows are 1.75/2/2/2/2.25 with 4hrs of day sleep across 4 naps. It was a SLOG to up those windows. From what I've read and seen, babe will get tired at 60 to 75 min mark so you do have to push through.

For bedtime sleep, we weaned from rocking to holding to crib jiggling to shushing in crib and now nothing. It's taken a solid 4 weeks and we still have to pick little one up if she's very upset and pop back in crib when calm AND awake. We have a really angsty, power down cryer so baby steps!! We would rock for a minute or two less each day.

You can of course try full cry it out, but that's not something we wanted x

 

[clbarberio]

@penguinpet I’d try a 90 minute wake window

 

[alkalinity]

@penguinpet Sounds like I could have wrote this… I do think WW are short but also the regression hit us around 3mo. LO just turned 4mo… and pretty much wakes every hour after 11PM, goes thru one sleep cycle..then wakes for us to feed/rock/sway back to sleep… we take shifts so one of us can sleep but we are so tired. Also contact nap during the day unless in motion.. Solidarity w you.. we are hanging in there until we can sleep train in a couple weeks

 

[cindyfernandez]

@penguinpet At around this age I used "if in doubt use a 2 hour window" - try 1.5/2/2/2/2.5 (or throw in an extra 2/ in the middle for 5 naps)

I have a baby sleep guide in my profile with gentle methods, it's time to work on bedtime being independent, though still responding to night wakes.

 

[katvan1969]

@penguinpet Wake windows seem too short. For that age, they should be doing something more like 1/1.25/1.25/1.25/1.5/1.5 if on 5 naps, 1/1.25/1.25/1.5/1.5 if on 4 naps. That’s closer to a 3 month old schedule though so you can also try 1.25/1.5/1.5/1.75/1.75. Also, note that .25 = .25 of an hour, so 15 minutes!

You can extend one wake window at a time every few days or you can do cold Turkey - I think the latter would work best but you know your baby best. If he gets overtired easily, try showing a new toy, going for a stroller walk, walking around the home and showing things, etc.

I went through something similar a month ago. I thought it was the 4 month regression but it was just baby being undertired causing 1) crying to fall asleep for 20 minutes at a time (baby should fall asleep within 5-10 min usually with not as much crying as mine had) and 2) increased night wakings from not having enough wake time during the day.

Contact naps are very normal. My baby sleeps like a champ at night but hates the crib for daytime naps. We’ve started nap training this week and it’s going well. If you think your baby is read, you can give it a try but you should have nights mastered first.

Hang in there - this time isn’t easy because they’re no longer their sleepy newborn selves - they’re more alert and need more of a schedule and constant change of schedule to avoid night wakings!

 

[penguinpet]

@katvan1969 Awesome thankyou so much! I thought his windows were too short but I was just following his tired cues and was scared he would get overtired if I kept him awake longer! Going to try these wake windows and see if tonight’s any better

 

[katvan1969]

@penguinpet Ah yes, I have heard a few times that sleepy cues become unreliable around this time so that might be what’s causing issues!