Extending A Time

[jncassell]

Hi everybody!  I apologize if this is a topic that's been hashed over before, but I'm getting messages that the search function is down.  My husband and I are starting to do EASY and I have a question about the A times.

My LO is 5 months old and has been on her own natural EASY for a while (she's textbook/spirited), but we started having problems with naps, so we started the EASY method.  She now goes down much easier for naps, but we've gone from her natural 3+ hour routine to a 2 hour routine!  Here's what she was before:

6:30--wakeup
7:00--eat
7:30-8:30--activity
8:30-8:50--nap
8:50-10:00--activity
10:00--eat
10:30-12--activity
12-12:30-nap
12:30-1--activity
1--eat
1:30-2:30--activity
2:30-3:00--nap
3:00-4:00--activity
4:00-eat
4:30-6:30--activity
6:30-eat, bath, then bed
7:00-3:30--sleep
3:30-eat
4:00-6:30--sleep

Now:
9:30--wakeup, eat
10:00-11:00--activity
11:00-12:00--nap
12:00--eat
12:30-1:30--activity
1:30-2:30--nap
(repeat until bedtime, around 7)
Dream feed--10:30
3:30--eat
4:00-9:30--sleep

She's eating less at each feeding now.  I keep thinking that if we could extend her activity times, then her naps might be longer and we can work our way back to a longer 3hr-4hr window.  I don't know how to extend her activity times, because she starts showing signs of sleepiness after an hour.  I've tried using less toys, keeping things low-key, in case of overstimulation, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.  She was staying awake the average 2+ hrs before we switched to EASY, just split by the feed.  I'm not sure if I should just follow her cues and ignore the order or stick with EASY and see if she naturally lengthens her cycle.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[amayzie]

I keep thinking that if we could extend her activity times, then her naps might be longer and we can work our way back to a longer 3hr-4hr window.

you have pretty much answered your own question!! That;s exactly what you need to do- but how i hear you ask! Basically babies get used to being awake for a certain amount of time and so start to get tired- or show signs of being tired after this time. Unfortunately though this sometimes isn't enough time for them to be tired ENOUGH to either go to sleep easily to begin with or stay asleep for a good amount of restorative time (ie- at least 1.5 hours). So you need to every couple of days stretch out the A time by 10-15 minutes- we used to stretch our guy out by 5 minutes at a time ... This gives her time to get used to it as it can be a shock to the system.

At 5 months you should be aiming for about 2.5 hours or so of A time- and 3 naps in a day- 2 long and a cat nap. By 6 months or so you'll be looking to drop the cat nap and have your DD on 3 hours A time.

Try not to panic too much about the time between feeds- focus your energies on the A times- the naps should work themselves out and the feeds fall into place then.

Does that make sense?

[jncassell]

Thank you so much!  We've managed to extend her times to 1.5 to 2 hours regularly now.  She's putting up much less of a fight at naptimes, too.  My guess is that she's actually tired now!  And she's eating better again!

I have another question about A times, though. How often do you switch activities?  Some days I worry that I'm doing too much with her!

Thanks again!

[amayzie]

Great!! No hard and fast rules.. you just need to look for cues.. I found at 5 months my guy would get really grumpy and so needed to do a variety of things. I would get out of the house on the days he was grumpiest!! It's just about finding a balance between enough stimulation, and not too much- or too little! I wold try to keep things a little more low key and inthe routine in the evening.

[jncassell]

Thank you!  I think we're slowly getting the hang of it.  Today we even managed to meet the 2 naps and a cn as opposed to 4 cns! 

[amayzie]

Oh my god!! That photo!! What a sweet pea!!! Those EYES!!

[jncassell]

Thank you!  Easily my favorite of her features, especially since she gets them straight from her daddy.