So, I have quite the dilemma on my hands, and out of desperation, am wondering if I should go back to 3 naps at almost 10 months old. My Lo has been waking early for the last three months. By early, I mean in the 4-5am range. As a result of this as well as the fact that she short naps quite often, and is in my opinion low sleep needs, we are struggling to even make it to a 630 bedtime.....which I think contributes to the early waking. She usually only does a 10-10.5hr night. I feel the only way to resolve this issue is to be able to push back bedtime to 8pm. When it was advised to me at 7months, that the early waking could be due to the catnap, we worked very hard to get to 2 naps....probably pushing A times too quickly, and ending up in this awful, never ending OT cycle. My question is this.....is the theory that getting rid of the catnap reduces early waking, because presumably the LO is getting less daytime sleep and will make it up overnight? Or does is have something to do with the time of day that the catnap usually occurs? For instance, if I gave my LO a catnap at 4pm-430, and she still only totals 2hrs daysleep...which is still on the low end, should it really matter? Any thoughts, or experience with this would be so appreciated!
