This is new....Any advice?

[giggles]

Hi All,

Something new is happening with my bub. It has happened a week or so running now so I hope you can help me work out what might be wrong!

She goes down for a nap (the same time around 10am the last week or so) and wakes after about 40mins crying. She won't resettle so I assume hunger.

After about 5 mins on the breast though she falls asleep and I can pop her back into bed for another 40mins to an hour?

What could be wrong with her to wake her and for her to be so unhappy? She never used to do this, was quite happy to nap and then woke and fed ready to face another couple of hours.

[drewid]

Hi there

Sometimes after 1 sleep cycle, for one reason or another, bubs wake up instead of staying asleep. It sounds like your bub was still tired, but couldn't get back to sleep on her own, and the booby did its magic.

I remember Andrew when he was littler, when he would wake up after 40 mins was still tired, and so when he did wake up, he cried and cried and was so cranky. I think some mums go by the idea that if a bub wakes up crying, they are still tired (unless its dinner time!)

As they get older they get better at resettling themselves. I hear Andrew wake up every 45 mins or so during his 2 hr naps and there are little sighs and snuffles and then silence again. So cute!

I'm sure it will pass, just go gently - she might be going through a phase where she wants to have a longer nap in the mornings now and is adjusting to it.

[giggles]

Thanks Nicole, that makes sense.......she is just getting into this longer sleep in the morning as you said.

Just when you think you have a handle on whats happening, they throw you a curveball :o

[Mummy-2-2]

That happened with T as well.

Apparently a baby's sleep cycle is around 40 mins, then if they wake and cant resettle themselves, they cry. (obviously!!)

T learnt to settle, then as she got older, that would change and she un-learnt to settle herself, so it was a case of teachin her again.

With her, it was a case of making sure everything was exactly the same when she went to sleep, as it would be when she woke up, ie we play the same music to her over and over, the same light is on for her, she is in same place etc. We would go in, pat her till she was settled (but not asleep) and then leave the room, letting her fall back asleep herself, then she would re-learn to settle herself AGAIN.

I found that when she was teething, when she had a tummy upset etc, she would relapse and we had to start all over again.

[JanetF]

As babies brains mature their sleep patterns change. It's all normal! And no, you might never get a handle on it but that's ok. You can't control it so just do what it takes to support her. Bfing her to sleep is THE BEST thing you can do. Not only is she biologically programmed to feed to sleep but she's getting good relaxing hormones to help her with that process. Try this for some more info on how normal she is :)
http://askdrsears.com/html/7/T070200.asp