Morning nap

[geekoid36]

My 5.5 month old wakes at varying times in the morning between 6 and 7am. I'm confused about what time she should have her morning nap - at a set time regardless of when she wakes up or a certain amount of time after waking? I'm struggling with 30 min naps and wonder if I'm getting it wrong at the very beginning of the day by putting her down at the wrong time. I'm usually putting her down 2hrs after waking at the moment.
Ideally I want to get her to go down at a certain time so that I can plan our day a bit better with my 2.5 year old but not sure if this is possible.
Thank you in advance for any advice

[TB9]

It is possible she needs more A than 2hrs?  How long has she been staying uo for 2hrs in the am?

Setting naps is entirely up to you.  Some people go strictly by A time, some use a sleep window (so pd for nap sometime around a certain time, give or take 15-30min depending on how sleepy LO is), some set naps at a reasonable A time after a 7am wakeup and push through to that time even if LO wakes early.

[geekoid36]

Thank you.
I think I'll try a longer A time. Its hard though as this morning she woke at 6.30 and by 8.35 was rubbing her eyes and yawning so I put her down. She went straight to sleep yet still was awake 30 minutes later. I left her for 15 minutes and she wasn't upset or crying and so I just got her up.

It's probably about 10 days now that I've been stretching her A time in the morning.

I've been very strict at sticking to no cuddling to sleep and no naps on mummy as we were in a bad habit of this (which I got in to because of trying to her her past the 30 minute naps). Yesterday she did 4 30 minute naps as I just couldn't extend them. Today I gave in at her luchtime one and after she woke after 30 mins I picked her up and cuddled her and she went back to sleep for another hour and a half. So it feels like she does want this extra sleep but she just can't get past the 30 minutes even though she self settles in the first place. Even when she falls asleep in her buggy herself she still wakes after 30 mins.
I'm really confused! I felt so pleased with getting her to self settle but feel a bit disheartened every time she wakes up after 30 mins.

[TB9]

How long do you have to cuddle her for?  Do you sit with her, or just stand beside her crib?  Would she go back to sleep if you used shh/pat?

[altpj11]

I don't know if this will help, but is it possible that she could be OT by the time she goes down? I was told with my first LO that 30 minutes often means OT when going down and 45 minutes often means UT but I don't know if that is always the case. It did seem to hold true for my first LO.

[geekoid36]

She's a mystery to me! On Saturday she woke at 6.30 and I tried keeping her awake for a little longer. She went to sleep at 9am and slept for 1hr30 (she did cry out briefly after 30 mins but settled herself), which was amazing. She then had a long nap after lunch too.
Today she woke at 6.30 again and so we did exactly the same thing (asleep by 9) and she only slept for 30 mins and then the naps for the rest of the day were all difficult too. It seems that first one is key but I just have no idea what made Saturday work but Sunday and the same thing didn't. I find myself sitting there just willing her over the monitor to do longer than 30 mins and feeling upset when she doesn't as I know the day is going to be more difficult then. I do leave her for a bit to settle herself again and tried to sssh pat today to extend but I do find it difficult especially in the week when my husband isn't home as I have a 2.5year old who I can't just leave on his own for ages while I try to extend naps.
I'm so pleased she is now self settling and not napping on us but it's difficult to have hard days when she is overtired when I know if I cuddled her and let her sleep on me she would definitely do a long sleep. I just need reassurance that I'm doing the right thing persevering putting her down even if it means some days all she does is 30 min naps and is really overtired.

[TB9]

Ah, yes, I had the same thing...toddler at home, so I couldnt extend bad naps   I usually just tried quick to settle her and then got her up if she didnt settle again.

30min wakeups can also be caused by props (like cuddling if she has come to rely on it) or hunger