Almost 8MO - Need EASY Help

[stephanne2]

So it's only one school run? That's great actually, will make it much easier for you, IMO.

It's actually two runs, though the first one doesn't affect naps.  When walking, we leave at 8:30, return at 8:45. When driving, we leave at 8:40, back at 8:45/50.  It's a LOT less painful than the afternoon run because there's not as much time spent sitting in the car waiting in line for pickup when the weather is bad.

Which nap do you want to be the capped one?

  Does it matter? I was thinking I'd probably cap the first nap since that's most likely the one she'll start capping naturally, right? And since the afternoon one will be stickin' around for quite awhile. What are your thoughts? And should I look into capping now? When you cap naps, is the goal still 3 hours of DT sleep or does it become less?

Is she falling asleep in the buggy?

She doesn't fall asleep in the stroller or car seat easily. She hates it too much. And if she does, we're lucky to get a 20min CN. Our closest family is a 3hr drive away so those longer rides are a bear.  I've already blocked out the horrible memories from winter school runs last year with my car seat-hating LO, lol. I guess if there's good to be had with a non stroller/car seat sleeper is that I rarely have to worry about a quick car seat CN stealing from a regular nap!

And when is she usually waking up in the morning?

She's been sleeping until close to 7am and waking on her own. We're on day #2 of the earlier BT/shorter evening WT though and she's been waking at 6:30/40 instead :-(. I'm hoping that's just part of the adjustment phase? Two nights ago, she STTN until 5:10, then was up at 6:30am. I think she was still tired though--she was a real fuss pot all morning and practically fell asleep when I changed her diaper at 9:30 (there was no way we were going to make it until the usual 10am naptime!)  She slept the usual 1:25 and had a good afternoon nap as well.  Last night she STTN until 4:45, but started waking off and on around 6am, finally crying (not just fuss/mantra cry) at 6:40, so I went to get her.  She's in a little better spirits today, so we'll see how close we get to naptime!  Should I wait another couple of days to see if the earlier-than-hoped (not technically EW, I guess) waking corrects itself or should I look at either capping naps and/or adjusting BT a little more before waking at 6:30 (NOT ideal) becomes the norm?

[stephanne2]

Alrighty... these short (35-40 min) morning naps and 6:30am wakings are becoming the norm. Guess she's capping her own nap in a way... :-(  WWYD? Leave it or try to troubleshoot it?

Also... I've got some general EASY questions. One of which being her BF schedule.  I just don't know how to get in all of the nursing sessions she needs with her  nap schedule, because naps interfere with feeding times on 4 hours.  So, I've been feeding her before her 2nd nap, but that's only a 2 hour interval between BF's.  Then our nights are super crammed as it is, so I feed her at 4:30 which is only a 3 hour interval from the last BF.  Is this right? She doesn't seem to eat much (probably because she's not hungry yet), but the times we get closer to 4 hours, she's chomping at the bit and ANGRY (like she's hungry) so I don't want to risk a shorter nap and her waking hungry... if that makes sense.

Bf times:  7:30, 11 (can go to 11:30, but feed at 11 b/c I have to feed before 2nd nap), 1:30, 4:30, 6:30 (bedtime).
Solids: 8:30, 12/12:30, 5:30. 

[Ima shel Alon]

  Does it matter? I was thinking I'd probably cap the first nap since that's most likely the one she'll start capping naturally, right? And since the afternoon one will be stickin' around for quite awhile. What are your thoughts? And should I look into capping now? When you cap naps, is the goal still 3 hours of DT sleep or does it become less?

It doesn't matter to me, lol, but it's always better to aim for one of them, because every baby is different and some like their AM nap to be capped and some their PM nap. For us, for example, there was no way to cap the PM nap and it was very clear early on that the AM nap is the strong one, always long. Like I said, it's up to you. If you mornings are more at home and the school run is rather short then maybe you should actually cap the PM one? Just a thought.
Your day can look like this with school runs and going through the 2-1:
7-10:30 A (she should hopefully manage that in a month and if you can push it even more than that would be great)
10:30-12 S
Then you have two options that I can think of: One is to stretch the second A time till you are back from the school run. She will probably be OT for this nap but some babies handle OT ok and you will just need to try and see. Your other option is to do the nap before you go for the school run, so like 14:30 till 15:30ish. She will perhaps be UT for it, but again, some babies do ok with and not fighting it because of UT. In both scenarios I would do an EBT because she will be either be OT from a long A time before the second nap or she will have a long A time before BT.
I hope that helps.

Alrighty... these short (35-40 min) morning naps and 6:30am wakings are becoming the norm. Guess she's capping her own nap in a way... :-(  WWYD? Leave it or try to troubleshoot it?

You said you are doing an EBT, right? When is BT now? If she is sleeping 11h at night then this is not an EW. I would leave all A the same for the next couple of days and then we can look back at the days.

Re BF, have you tried feeding in the middle of A time? So your EASY will look like this: AEASAEAS, that works for many babies at this stage when they still can't handle a longer gap between feeds, but it also gets easier with solids, because they have their milk feed, a hour later a solid feed and then they are not hungry after 4h from their last milk. Have you introduced solids already?

[stephanne2]

You said you are doing an EBT, right? When is BT now?

Not sure if it's EBT by definition, but I've been putting her down 3 hr after waking from her last nap.  WT's are 3.5hr in morning and afternoon, then 3hr at night.  NW remain unchanged--she's STTN until about 4:45/5 and then is up at 6:30.  BT has been between 6:30 and 7, so her waking at 6:30 doesn't surprise me because she's usually only a 11-11.5hr sleeper.  But she's always tired when she wakes that early--like, yawning, fussy, red-eyed and cranky to the point where I almost wonder if maybe that's contributing to the short 35-40min morning naps, too because it's like her biological clock (or whatever) is used to being asleep during that time. I don't know. Some days I feel like I'm just making this all up as I go, because when I change one thing, something else "breaks".  And not that anything's really broken per se, just not ideal. I've spent 36 weeks searching for the best "ideal" for our family and just when I think I've found it, or something close to it, everything else falls apart--or so it seems. These are most likely exhausted, pp hormones talking. I am physically, mentally and emotionally spent. lol

Re BF, have you tried feeding in the middle of A time?

  For the most part, feeds do fall in the middle of A time. Here's what our schedule/routine has been (with the earlier-than-usual waking):

6:30 Waking (DWT is 7)
E - 7:30 Nurse, 8:30 Solids
A - 3.5 hours
S - 10 to 10:35/40
E - 11 (Ideal is 11:30, but I feed her at 11 b/c I need to feed her before 2nd nap, otherwise feed time falls during nap) Nurse, 12/12:30 Solids
A - 3.5 hours (including a BF at 1:30)
S - 2 to 3:25/40
E - 4:30 Nurse, 5:30 Solids
6:30 BT (bath, nurse, book, bed)

Bedtime falls right after feeds at night which is stressful because taking her from the high chair to the bathtub usually = spit up from not allowing a lot of time to "settle" and then I'm feeding her a milk feed right on top of that, too.  I'd like to switch to feeds only at 7:30/11:30/3:30 and 6:30, but I need an extra feed in there b/c of supply issues and also because the couple of times I've tried putting her down for nap #2 without eating first, she's woken up hungry. So, I'm leery of repeating--though I should probably just suck it up and try again, right?

She's a great solids eater--4oz of puree at bfast and dinner, then 2oz juice (diluted) + finger foods at lunch. Maybe that's not enough?

I don't know why I make things so difficult. It's really, really annoying. :-( I appreciate your help/feedback!

[Ima shel Alon]

Yeah, if she goes to bed at 18:30-19 and wakes up at 6:30 that's not an EW. Have you tried feeding her then, maybe she wakes up 'cause she's hungry?

A - 3.5 hours (including a BF at 1:30)
S - 2 to 3:25/40

Maybe push solids a little later so you don't have to BF again after 2.5h? Then you BF when she wakes up from her afternoon nap at around 15:30, next solids at 16:30 and then you have enough time till bath time and she hopefully won't spit up.

[stephanne2]

Have you tried feeding her then, maybe she wakes up 'cause she's hungry?

Well, I thought that initially, but she gets up between 4:30/5am every morning and is fed & put back down, so I didn't think she could possibly hungry again 1-1/2hr later... but do you think maybe her feed at 5am isn't all that great?  This earlier waking just started when I adjusted WT's to 3.5 for morning & afternoon.  Maybe it's partly that adjustment, too?  Though the short a.m. nap continues.  I'm getting 30-35 mins in the morning and 1:25 in the afternoon and she's fussy/cranky all the time again--morning, noon and night (OT?)  I'll keep with the longer WT's a bit and see what happens--hopefully it self-corrects.  If it doesn't--should I increase WT's or decrease a bit? Her NW haven't changed--we're still getting 10hr stretches as we were before I increased WT's, so I don't think it's that...

[Ima shel Alon]

How does she wake up from this 35min nap? Is she crying and cranky or chatty and happy?
If she seems miserable when she wakes up I would try and shorten the A time to 3:20h the next day, just for the first A time and see if that helps.