sound sleep with a strong cry, it may be the result of a combination of
any of the three factors mentioned above. It might be because her sleep
schedule was disrupted from a previous late evening or hectic morning. It
might also be the 45-minute intruder mentioned in Chapter Six. One day
your baby just begins to wakeup 45 minutes early, because she is hungry
even though your last feeding was a full feeding.
We find the monster appearing between seven and eight weeks and at
four months of age. It might stick around one or two days or up to two
weeks. What should you do if the intruder visits your baby? Our emphasis
and encouragement is to first approach the 45-minute intruder as a hunger
problem, not a sleep adjustment problem. Try feeding your baby first. If
the problem is really sleep-related, your baby will be disinterested in
feeding or will not feed well. But if your baby takes a full feeding, you
have your answer. Feed the baby during these growth spurts and adjust
your daily routine to allow for a few more feedings during the day.
It is important to properly recognize the intruder because it can affect
more than a single sleep cycle. While more research needs to be done in
this area, it appears a link may exist between the 45-minute intruder and
breast-feeding problems. If your baby, whether she be at two or four
months of age, demonstrates a need to feed more often by waking out of a
sound nap, it may be an indicator of a decrease in your milk supply or the
quality of your milk. The downward spiral begins. The baby is waking
early in the nap. Mother assumes it is a sleep problem. This continues for
several days. Meanwhile, the baby is not getting adequate daytime sleep
so she is not nursing proficiently. The end result in a week’s time is two
fold: Mother’s decreasing milk supply and a fussy baby who might
possibly over a week’s time begin to lose weight.
By feeding sooner than normal you are not going backward in your
routine but are making the healthy and proper adjustments needed to
move into the next phase of your baby’s development. If the 45-minute
intruder turns out to be a sleep problem, go back and check your daily
routine and review Chapters 3 and 7 of this book.
nora
(Nora)
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