LSN/high A times. What were/are your LOs doing at 4mosish?

[cuckoochick]

So I'm a bit lost with G at the minute. Our nights are finally getting better and she's been a bit more settled in the early hours of the morning too (fingers crossed I don't jinx this).

Her naps are short and hit and miss if I can extend but she's a happy little thing so we're just going with the flow. Her first nap dropped to 35mins so I've pushed her A time to 2hrs 15/20mins recently (she's now rejected the 4th nap completely so needing to stretch the day out to avoid a mega long A time to bed) which was helping but the last two days the first nap was bust. She's just not staying asleep. She is rocked to sleep and/or patted in the cot but the last few two days keeps opening her eyes, smiling and looking around, chatting etc. She's sort of dozing in my arms or when in the cot opening and shutting her eyes all the time. Or maybe staying asleep 5mins or so so I've been up and down the stairs. She's now been in her room for an hour and has probably been properly asleep for about 35mins.

So this behaviour sounds OT but she's not displaying her usual OT behaviour so I'm thinking it could be UT but then I feel like her A times are really going to get too long, yk? Yesterday her nap was totally bust and I eventually gave up. I then had to pop out and so ended up having to keep her up 2hrs and for sure I thought she'd be OT but she slept 1.5hrs (quick resettle needed at 45mins).

So do I push that first A more? Can you other ladies with LSN LOs/ high A timers reassure me by telling me what your LOs are doing? I should add she never really displays sleepy signs. She's happy playing and I'm a total clock watcher. I take her upstairs when I think it's time and she gets so upset I'm spoiling her fun by putting her in her woombie!

Thanks

[jessmum46]

We were mainly in a short nap mess . But there was a blissful period of about a week around 4.5 months where J did 2h A, 45 mins nap, 2h A, 1h30-2h nap, 2h A, catnap then about 1h30 A to bedtime.  After that it all fell apart with 37 min naps first thing (which I eventually realised with a lot of help from here were UT) and then we pushed on fairly rapidly so we were on two naps prior to six months.  So I would say if she's telling you she needs more A first thing, then go for it.  Every time I tried to go with averages at that age we got in a mess.  It sounds like you are reading her perfectly

[Lolly]

My DD had dropped the cat nap and was firmly on 2 naps by 5 months with a set bedtime of 7. We battled the cat nap from about 4 months so I just gave up eventually and pushed her A times a bit to even out the day. She also went to 1 nap cold turkey the day after she turned 1 and had dropped naps totally before she was 3.

I think push the A times a bit too - go with her, if she doesn't seem to be getting OT then she does need the A times.

Laura

[cuckoochick]

She will be awake for hours and hours without fussing or crying. I feel like such a spoilsport when she starts crying as soon as I take her into her room!: she usually only takes 5-10 mins to get down sometimes needing a quick resettle as she's not an independent sleeper but the last two days have really thrown me for a loop. She's been a bit all over the place today so I'm not too sure. I will try and push that first A a little bit more tomorrow. If all of her naps are shortish anyway, there's not that much to lose!

C dropped to 2 naps at 6 mos and was on one nap by 10mos so it's not unusual but it's so hard to tell whether it could be OS from having a big sister around etc.

She's happy even though she's probably always OT really so I just have to live with that but I am planning on starting STing in the not too distant future so don't want to be way out with the A times!

Thanks ladies

[cuckoochick]

Hmm so this morning she ended up having a lot longer first A than I would have liked because she pooed just as I was putting her down. But went down like a dream with none of this silly waking up shenanigans! Now I just have to hope it's not a 30min OT nap!

[Lolly]

Fingers crossed! Come on little Miss G, have a decent nap for mummy!

Laura

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Fingers crossed Nicola...following along as E seems to be LSN too and I have no idea how much A time to give her and I am curious to see how it goes for G.  Right now we get 45 min naps after a "normal for her age" A time but whether it is developmental or not I have no clue!

[cuckoochick]

She woke after 40 mins and so I went into to try and resettle her but she was smiling away and giggled when she saw me so I knew it was game over. That was after 2hrs 40mins A time first thing. So v high yes! I had friends over for coffee this morning and they stayed longer than anticipated so I ended up putting her down later than I'd have liked for her 2nd nap (2hrs 45mins ) and she's just woken at 45mins but I've been able to resettle her whereas this morning it was a no go.

I've had to push these A times a bit because she does 11.5-12hrs at night and with her refusing that 4th nap now I'm trying to avoid super long As to bed as I can't really put her down before 7pm.

Hopefully she'll sleep a bit longer now.
Any thoughts on the above?
Thanks

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

We get 12 hour nights as well. Yikes though with that A time...if she woke happy you wouldnt think ot at all unless as you say she can take her ot in stride. I have been doing the last two naps (well catnaps really) in the wrap if I have to just to avoid ot at bedtime.

[cuckoochick]

She can take OT quite well. She did wake crying there at 45 mins but is now still asleep. If I can get her through the 45min mark she will sleep 2hrs. It's just v rare to these days.

We can't ever get that 4th nap now even in the sling or car. We had to ditch it when DH was driving for 40mins and she still hadn't gone to sleep! I'll have to wake her soon

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

How is it going Nicola? We did an accidental 2 hr A this morning and though she was able to put herself to sleep with me just sitting by the crib she still woke at 45 min....but it was time to eat again by then.

[cuckoochick]

Hi well she slept 2hrs yesterday but then I had trouble getting her down for a 3rd nap. We got it after half an hour of some heavyweight rocking but I had to wake her at 35 mins to keep bedtime at a not-too-crazy time!

She's going through some serious GS behaviour though and we've had a busy day so today's been really off. Will see how things go tomorrow!

[ZacsMumme]

We had a long night at this age with Bt of 6 (12-13 hr nights but with NW) and a high A of 2-2hrs15. I could resettle well at 40 with pressure/paci or APOP though and we did still have to do that a fair bit. think we would aim for 2 x 1.5-2 hrs and 1 30-40 min nap.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Yeah I agree Sara....I am tempted to try w2s with the next nap just to see what happens. I had to wake from a nice nap to preserve bedtime yesterday too...were they comparing notes?

[cuckoochick]

There is no way G would sleep that amount in the daytime in her cot. She hasn't for months. I feel like a terrible mama but some days all she has is 3x 45min naps but she is happy. Yes our nights are poo but I can't do anymore than that now with C too.