EASY schedule for 5m cat-napper

[bellabump]

Hi there, I've been trying to implement some sort of EASY routine since LO was 2 months but don't have a strict routine as kind of just go by her sleepy cues as scared of getting her overtired as she is very difficult to settle and fights sleep big time. Anyway she is now 5.5months and she sleeps from 7pm to 7am with a dream feed at 10:30pm, she sometimes wakes during the night to have a little chat to the walls and then gets herself bk to sleep. In fact I'm so so happy she seems to have mastered self settling and now during the day she can self settle if I get the timings right. We havn't used the dummy for the past 7 days now (and counting!!)

Anyway, the problem is going by her sleepy cues can be misleading and if I don't get the timings of her naps JUST right she just won;t self settle. Even when she does self settle the naps seem to be getting shorter and shorter. Today my day was like this...
7am wake and bf
7:45 porridge
9am nap - (sleepy cues of fussing at 8:45am so had to push her to extend to 9 - usually will do 45 mins and wake happy but today woke screaming at 9:30 after 20 mins asleep and couldn't help her get back
10:30 crying for feed (trying to push for 11am but too hungry)
Pretty narky mood as tired from poor am nap.
12:30 Tried another nap, self settled ok within 5 mins but woke screaming and clearly v tired after 25mins. tried various things to get her back to sleep then gave up and had play time.
14:30 feed
15:00 nap in car on outing for 45mins
17:00 half milk and solids
17:45 wind down
18:00 milk
18:30 settled well for bed

So we didn't get off to the best start today - i think 3.5 hours is realistic for my LO to go between feeds until she gets more solids. Was I wrong to push her to do 2 hours A this morning? I know wake time should be 2-2.5 hours for this age but she doesn't seem to manage for long in the mornings before first nap. Any suggestions on a new routine or tweaks to this routine would be very grateful! I'm so happy she now seems to have grasped self settling without the dummy at the start of the naps I just wish I could help her to extend teh naps so she doesnt spend the days grumpy and OT 

[bellabump]

Sorry feed was 14:00 not 14:30, she can't make 4 hours...

[jessmum46]

The only time we had 20-25 mins naps at this age was when lot was in pain/discomfort, typically related to teething.  Do you have anything like that going on at the moment?

It wouldn't be unusual for a baby of this age to be up to nearly 3h A time so I don't think you pushed her too hard getting to 2h. The fact she normally does a 45 min nap and wakes happy tells me she is probably UT for her nap on a normal day, so pushing her is the right thing to do.  That said, if you push too quickly or during teething LO can get quite OT,  so I wouldn't normally advise routine changes if discomfort could be an issue.

If she is definitely otherwise well, then you need to increase A times by 10-15 mins at a time and stick with it for a few days at a time to give LO a chance to get used to the extra time awake.  If she can't manage a full 4h or more between feeds yet don't worry, you can have an EAEAS pattern to the day (second A being a small top up) until you introduce some solids. 

What do you think?

[bellabump]

Actually yeh we have a sharp tip of a tooth appeared so could be making things worse. Think I'll try and stick with 9am nap time and see if I can extend gradually, just don't want to push her to overtired stage as she seems to have a narrow window. Is it normal to have shorter A time at start of the day as she seems to be able to stay awake longer and longer as the day progresses?

[jessmum46]

Yes lots of Mums report that the first A time is shorter than the rest.  Though tired signs do get more unreliable as LO gets older and you have to look at other things like how well they settle, how long they sleep and mood on waking to judge whether A time needs to be increased.  Sometimes if you push past those early tired signs you'll find LO can handle being awake for quite a bit longer than you thought