Need help with 3-2 and EW

[lolsyb1982]

DD2 is 5 months and we've had a few rough weeks with short naps and a lot of OT as I just couldn't keep up with the increase in A times as they were big jumps every week it seemed.

So anyway at the moment her A time is 2hr 40. Not quite there at the 3hr mark to make the day a successful 12hr day with 2 naps.
She's also EW (unless I can't expect a 12hr night anymore?) in which case I also need to try and shift wu and Bt. I give a dream feed at 10 and that sees her through now until the morning. She never eats much first thing so don't think it's hunger causing her to wake early.

Yesterday looked like this and was our first 2 nap day due to a resettle in the morning so had a late wu.

Wu 6.55
Nap 9.25-11
Nap 1.40-3.40 (with a 20 min resettle in the middle)
BT 6

Today
Wu 5.20 (this is more her usual wu time of late and wouldn't resettle)

If I could get wu to be more like 6am that would be better.

Can someone help me with a schedule for a 3 nap day as I can't fit the cn in and she fights it and if so how early do I go with BT???

Thanks

[lolsyb1982]

And so after 2 good days we're back to a short 1st nap and waking happy.
She protested quite a bit going down and fell asleep at 2hr 55 so I thought we'd be ok.

How can I get her in a decent routine when everything's so unpredictable. Just forget A times completely and go by her instead? I'm so lost with it all right now!!!!

[becj86]

Ok, so no, once you're still one 3 naps but A time are upwards of 2:15 or so, 12hr nights go out the window. They often go at the beginning of a nap drop transition and then the nights lengthen again when the nap drops. Has LO always been on the high end of A times?

I sometimes suggest using A time as a guide:
- work out A time and therefore nap time you're aiming for
- watch clock til 10min before nap time
- watch LO for sleepy cues
- PD with cues or 10-15min after nap time, whichever is sooner

This allows you to then observe A times determined by LO to some extent and look at nap lengths for trends or to update the A time you're aiming for.

Here's some info re: the 3-2 transition: All about the 3-2 transition- 5/6 months

I would probably do something like this given what you've written:
6 - WU
8:45/9 - nap
10:15/10:30 - WU
1:15 - nap
2:45 - WU
5:15 - CN (cap at 30min)
7/7:30 - BT (depending on how she goes after the capped nap)
OR
6 - BT (if CN fails)

[lolsyb1982]

Thanks for your help. I think she has always been on the higher end but I just haven't clued in quick enough (which is really silly of me as I did exactly the same with DD1) and I've stuck to more of the average A times.

So I took DD1 to ballet just after she woke from her nap this morning. DH said he put her in the sling in an attempt to resettle as she was grumpy after about 15mins and we just got back and she was still asleep! So slept for another 1.5hrs in there!!

Thanks for the link, will have a read to refresh my memory. I remember this being the easiest of transitions with DD1 but I know she was older.

Will no doubt be back for more help!

[becj86]

I suspect these transitions tend to be more tricky with two, simply because you're working around another child for your routine and when its messy, its more noticeable.