how do i get her to understand that........

[snowchickie79]

Hollye - I feel your pain. DD changed her sleeping patterns around that time also and it took me about 3-4 weeks to cotton on to what she was doing.. However the good news was that she was changing all her sleeps around and is now sleeping through (about 9.30pm till about 6am, then dream feed and sleeping till about 9am)

I'm with the other girls on asking if she is over stimulated. Going from 3pm till 9pm at 10 weeks is far too long without a sleep so I'd say that is the issue, overtired and just wanted to fight it as you mentioned. DD even now will stay awake for about 40 minutes to 2 hours at a time. The fact she is kicking and playing can still mean she is tired. Even now DD cracks up literally with a chuckle when I lay her on the wrap and wrap her up but I pop her in bed and she instantly closes her eyes and goes to sleep. It's almost like I flick a switch and off she goes to sleepy land.

If she is throwing your bedtime routine out of whack then you'll need to adjust the order you are trying. DD used to wake around the same time you mentioned in the afternoon from her nap and I'd then feed, bath and have a little play and then she was back in bed by 6pm. She soon changed that and soon wasn't even making it to the end of her bath without screaming her head off for sleep. When that happened she started going for a nap (1 cycle) around 6pm, waking around 7pm and then staying awake till around 9/9.30pm. I soon figured out that at that time (4pm) a feed AND Bath and PLAY was all too much so i changed it to just a feed and little play and back to bed. At first I was fighting to get her back to sleep but as soon as I worked out it wasn't going to happen and just got her up, unwrapped her and put her on her mat to play, she let all the energy out, wanted another feed, and then off to bed. Her longest time awake now is between her last nap around dinner time and when she goes to bed. I moved her bath time from after her afternoon nap to after her 6/7pm nap to space it out and not get her over stimulated. So now... She has her 4pm nap, will wake around 5pm. She has a feed and maybe a little play, back to bed around 6pm, up about 7pm. Has a bath and another feed and then awake till bed time. It seems to be working well, so far..

I'd try some different options, maybe put her down for a nap at the very first sign of being tired. I know when DD is ready as she goes from a happy baby who talks and gurgles to making stronger more sharper noises and gets her arms really swinging up and down. I also found that if she could see the TV it was over stimulating so I'd make it that she'd play with toys (no noisy ones to over stimulate) and turn her away from watching TV..

Also wondering if the shower is overstimulating for her with the water on her skin. Maybe try a calm bath where she can just lay and relax and play a little.

Unfortunately when they go through these routine changes it's hard to work it out straight away so may take a little trial and error to work out what she wants to do.

Have you tried seeing what happens if you don't wake her for the 11pm feed? I used to do the same thing as DD wouldn't dream feed (would get about 20ml in before working out "hey there is a bottle in my mouth, I might wake up") so i stopped doing it and just demand fed and she soon dropped that feed altogether.

I'm not that far ahead of you in terms of bubba's age but shows how much things can change. Hope things settles down soon for you.