Trouble with end of day naps

[Tabathagucci]

My LO is almost 10 weeks and I've mostly got her A times figured out (1h15m) but still need some tweaking.  She is a reflux baby and at this time takes all naps in the carrier on me ( partially because I have a 4 1/2 year-old also and can't spend a lot of time putting a baby down for nap and a separate part the house quietly), but sleeps in an elevated lounger in bed with us at night.  I plan on transitioning her to naps in crib next month when DH takes time off of work, and possibly nights in crib at that time too.  Also, she's in the middle of developmental leap 2 so feistier than usual, but I've always had trouble with naps after 4 pm.  Some days she won't sleep at all, others she fights it forever, ends up falling asleep at the 2 hour mark and sleeps for 20-30 mins.

Here is what yesterday looked like:
E 6:05
A
S put down at 1 hour mark, she fought it falling asleep at 7:25 but fidgeting and waking up on and off till 8, then slept till 8:30 (put down 5 mins later today and got same result but slept longer)

E 8:30
A
S put down at 1h5m, fought briefly but fell asleep 9:45-12:10

E 12:10
A
S 1:25-3:20

E 3:20
A
S 4:35-4:55

E
A
S tried to put down at 1h5m mark and she cried for over 5 mins so I gave up.  Finally got her to sleep at 7, but had to wake her for a final diaper change at 7:30, went back down easily asleep at 8 pm
Night feeds: between 12 and 1 am and 4 and 5 am, but sometimes will go to 2 am and 6 am respectively.

[Tabathagucci]

 Hoping someone has some ideas  on this! Last night it took us three hours to get her to bed presumably because she was overtired from not taking an afternoon nap. She wakes up every morning around 615 so maybe I need to put her to bed at six? No matter what time her last nap is? She really won't  Nap past four. Today she woke up at four on the dot from her nap so maybe at that point I should've nursed her given her a bath nursed her one more time and put her to bed? That's two hours of awake time before bed and what if she wakes at 3:30 what do I do then? Very confused! Not even sure if what I've said above is the right thing to do but all I can think of right now!  Thanks in advance!

[becj86]

She wakes up every morning around 615 so maybe I need to put her to bed at six?

Yes, hit the nail on the head there. However you come at it, really she should be getting a 12hr night at this age, so BT at 8, WU for the day at 8 or BT at 6 with WU at 6, yk?

I think also maybe you're just missing her window - Perhaps she needs PD at 1:15 rather than hoping for her to be asleep at 1:15. Is she getting drowsy before you PD? If you can get those first naps a bit longer, then that PM might not be quite as difficult but it is a tricky time of day for a lot of babies.

[Lindsay27]

Hi hun sorry this was missed!  So yes if she is fighting sleep for 3hrs in the evening it is a case of being OT.  It's actually pretty normal at 10 weeks because they really don't usually have a super good routine at this point so the evenings always go wonky.

If she is waking at 6:15am then I would absolutely aim for a 6pm BT, I would try to keep her totally day at 12hrs if you can.  If she wakes at 4 (or 3:30) I would just try my best to see if you can get her to take a 15-20min CN to help her until bedtime.  At 10 weeks I pretty well just rocked my DD for a wee CN before bed. 

[Tabathagucci]

Thank you!!! Managed to get her to sleep at 6:20 finally.  She woke up again at 6:45, which seem to be her overtired mark (25 mins), but was able to soothe her back to sleep fairly easily with paci.  We will see how the night goes! Oh and right now I pretty much walk or rock her to sleep all the time.  We occasionally put her down and pat shush, etc. but it's not a regular occurrence.  Hoping to make it one next month!

[Tabathagucci]

One question, so you think if I do need one more nap in the pm to make her A time
Longer?  I was thinking that because she doesn't seem to be tired and fights me.  When I put her down too early she seems to get angry and it gets her all riled up!  LOL

[becj86]

Is she fighting more just after someone comes home or something changes in the PM? She may be OS, but yes, you could also try increasing the A a touch and see if it helps. Their sleep windows are so small at this age, its very difficult.

[Tabathagucci]

No I stay home all day and my husband works from home.  I'll try to stretch the A time before last nap tomorrow and see how it goes. Thanks!

[Tabathagucci]

Ok she had shots today and slept almost 3 hours when we got home, fill 3:40.  I nursed her when she woke, but she was asking for it again 1 hour later so I nursed her for 5 mins, made sure she was awake, swaddled and I put her down at the 1h15m mark and she fell asleep almost immediately but woke in 10 minutes.  I think her reflux woke her. The reflux isn't painful for her but it still wakes her up here and there.  So after a 10 min catnap, I fed, changed diaper, swaddled and handed her off to my husband at just after 6, almost 1 hour after she woke.  It's 8 on and she's still awake.  Not sure where I went wrong!

[Lindsay27]

Shots can really throw everything off, I wouldn't necessarily use a day where she had shots as a benchmark for anything to be honest.  My DD had them yesterday and was a fevered, tired cranky mess all day. 

[Tabathagucci]

Ok will try again today!  She's all of a sudden pooping again in the middle of the night too, which is throwing our nights off, so hoping that ends soon!