Sorry if this is in the wrong section, didn't think it was a comforted sleep thing but if I'm wrong please move..
DD is in quite a good routine which she has made herself but for quite awhile now, dinner time has always been an issue.
To explain her day...
She normally sleeps during the day for 4-5 hours between feeds except in the mid/late afternoon where she only has a 1 hour nap. She can be awake anywhere from 1hr to 2hrs depending. She is a happy little player when she is awake. In the afternoon she is normally asleep around 3.00pm and will have one sleep cycle nap till about 4.00pm or sometimes 4.30pm. After her nap we get up, change her, and feed her. Majority of the time she'll only have a small feed at this stage (maybe 120ml but never usually more than that) and then play time which can last from 30-50 minutes. After that when she starts to get a little annoyed I run a bath and we have 15-20 minutes in the bath which she adores. Then we get out and dress her and then sometimes I'll give her a top up feed if she looks like she wants it. I am NEVER able to get her to stretch to last till 7pm like alot of people suggest and the books all recommend so generally she is in bed by 6.00pm/6.30pm which is great as I can start cooking dinner.
However, and without fail, she is now waking about an hour or so later and will not resettle herself and will not go back to sleep. We've been resorting to getting her up, leaving her wrapped, and she sits out with us while we eat (if we didn't we'd never eat dinner or it would be majority cold). Once we've eaten I can put her back in bed and she'll go to sleep.
I don't understand though why she is waking and not resettling herself when she does it no problems the rest of the day. I never have to settle her, i just wrap her up and pop her in bed and she is off to sleep herself without my assistance. I've tried to perservere and keep putting her dummy back in, tried patting and shhh'ing hoping she'll settle again but after half an hour or so I give up (mainly due to hunger) and get her up and bring her out with us while we eat. She happily sits and watches and doesn't make any fuss so I know she isn't crying in bed from pain or anything like that.
I don't know that I can be much help really but wanted to let you know that I remember DD going through a change at 3m which affected her sleep. I think there may even be a wonder week about then (don't take my word for it, my memory sucks)
Anyway, it's fantastic that she is going to sleep on her own happily (you are a lucky one). I personally, would be hesitant to start introducing patting/rocking/whatever or she may come to want it all the time (which is fine IMO but why start if you don't have to?)
Have you thought about her environment at that time? Is it dark enough to trigger night sleep now that summer is coming on?
My experience with DD and nephews/nieces, is that there's lots of times when sleep goes weird, and you hardly ever know why. If it was me, I would just go with the flow and keep to your bath and bed routine, get her up if that's what she needs right now, and see if she gets back to her old routine on her own. Sorry can't be more help but good luck!
Maybe she is still needing that little bit of awake time before she goes down? So she has a little power nap, up for a bit and then down again? Is she grizzly when she is up with you? If she is happy I would just get her up, let her play/watch etc for a bit and then resettle when she is tired again - so she might be going down at that 7-730 time anyway? Good luck - it is hard to work out what these munchkins need!
My DD was a relatively good sleeper until 3 months old and BANG it changed... especially during night she became a restless sleeper, crying in her sleep, wanting to feed more frequently. This lasted for a couple of months! So it seems that babies go through some developmental changes around 3 months. They also become more aware of their surroundings. It might also be that she now somehow senses your dinner time when both you and your partner are there, and hence enjoy being up and social with you guys? If she's happy and you're OK with her being there, I think I would just let her be there.
My guess is shes getting too much sleep during the day and isnt tired when it comes to the afternoon. As they get older they dont need as much sleep during the day. Ive always been told to feed them every 3-4 hours turning the day. This means waking them if they are asleep. During the night dont ever wake them though. Ive done this with both kids and both are wonderful sleepers and settle very easily, esp at night. Ive always gone on their lead on how much sleep they want during the day. When they have tired signs i let them sleep. But always wake to feed every 3-4 hours.
So my only suggestion is to not let her sleep so much in the mornings. Get her up give her a feed, let her have a play for an hour or so and continue doing that during the day, so she starts to learn the difference between night and day. How is she sleeping at night? Does she sleep through? If she doesnt, you might find she is having her main sleep during the day, so cutting that down may help her sleep through.
I actually meant to say that she is feeding every 3-5 (5 is absolute max) hours during the day, not actual sleep. E.g. if she wakes at 7am to feed then she'll be back in bed within an hour or so (around 8.30am ish) and would then wake around 10.30am/11.00am for her next feed. So your suggestion Kellxx is what I'm actually doing.
She is sleeping during the night in 5-7 hour blocks depending (she has gone 8 hours once where she slept from 6pm till 2am) and I've been told to consider that as "sleeping through". She still wakes anywhere between 2am and 5am for a feed depending on the day before and how much she took at her last feed. During the day she is having sleeps of between 2 and 3 hours at a time but if we go out then she won't sleep at all, such as today, we left home at 10am where I woke her to go out, we got back just before 2pm and she didn't have a sleep during that time until I put her down at 2.30pm after a change and a feed.
CrystalBoo - Yes I do consider myself lucky that she self settles so easily and I agree that if I don't need to rock/pat etc her now then i don't want to introduce it as a way of getting her to sleep. I have considered her environment but her room gets good protection from the sun in late afternoon/early night so I don't think it's a light issue and she also has no trouble sleeping middle of the day with a well lit room. I was thinking it might be the smells of dinner cooking are getting her senses going but not sure if babies have that happen at this age although I'd have to assume they would. Would be curious to see if it still happened if I didn't cook dinner for her to be able to smell it (maybe have toast)...
Tanstar - I thought that maybe she wasn't tired also but when I put her down it's on the verge of her screaming the house down. She is generally showing extreme tired signs and crashes out straight away so I'm pretty sure she is really tired. But no she isn't grizzly when I get her up. She just sits in her rocker and doesn't make a sound, just watches what is around her. Last night I didn't get her back to sleep till almost 9.00pm which I would think is too late for her to be awake.
Will see what happens tonight... She is asleep now (3.45pm) but should wake in the next 15-30 minutes so I'll go from there and see if we can have a better night (considering hubby is working late and I have my Dad and Sister coming for dinner - my Mum is interstate for work and Sister's fiance is working late so I'm the cook for the night! - Should make for an interesting night and possibly a late dinner if she plays up again )
Dinner time dramas and what can I do??
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