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SLEEP => Naps => Topic started by: Mandy.kamal on July 15, 2016, 14:44:53 pm
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We've just started the 3-2 transition. DD is 5 months now and was doing 2, 2 hour naps and a 40 min catnap.
Now things have gotten a little fishy and she's doing odd 1 hour naps but still acting tired. I think I need another A push but it's just becoming hard to read her because we are in a bit of and UT/OT loop.
Yesterday was:
Woke her up at 7:05
S 9:30-10:38
S 1:00-1:35 (had to resettle her) had to wake her up at 3:30 to preserve catnap
CN 5:30-5:53
BT 8:15
NW 4:45- fed
Woke her at 7:00 today
S 9:25-10:28 woke crying but hard to resettle so just got her up
A push?
And to add- she's hard to get back to sleep at the 4:30/5:00am feed. She usually is back to sleep by 6:00 and then I have to wake her at 7:00. Not sure if that affects her first nap or A time. She starts fussing to sleep after 2 hours A time and I just keep her awake until 2hours 25 mins usually
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Yes sounds like an A push is in order :). When we went through the 3-2 we had to push right to a 3hr A. It was hard and there was lots of OT but it was what was necessary at the time. Now her A times have kind of settled at 3.15 or around there and we have 2 good naps (or 1 really long and 1 shorter) and a 7pm BT. The transition is really awkward I'm not going to lie, but we had to do a huge A time push to make it through.
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Hi,
why did you decide to 3-2? Was it the 4:30 EW? Do you feed her then? I remember when DS was ST most of the night he was still waking up from hunger at 4:30...So I wonder if it's hunger or EW.
I would personally use the fact that she goes back to sleep and sleeps to eliminate 3rd nap. She still needs to do more than 2,5h A time to be on 2 naps.
Would you wanna try something like this:
4:30 resettling if possible (if she won't at some point, it would mean that first A time needs a push)
8:00 WU?
10:30-12 nap1
2:30-4 nap2
6:00 bath and bottle
6:30 or 7 (here you have to watch her if she is tired) BT
Then you can do A push, which will push out BT and keep longer naps. Also, A push will eliminate 4:30 WU (if it's not hunger) and give you something like this:
7:00 WU
10-12 nap1
3-4:30 nap2
7 BT
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Thanks ladies!
Lindsay, what age did you push right to 3 hour easy? I don't want to do it too soon!
Bella, that 4:30/5 wakeup is hunger for sure. I always feed her. She's just hard to resettle after because it's so close to wakeup time but she eventually does. I just felt the 3-2 was happening bc she was doing 2, 2 hour naps and there wasn't much time left for the catnap.
But now things have crumbled and she's doing odd naps and I'm second guessing A times because I think she was UT/OT.
I just need a set A I guess for a few days and see? Today's naps have been awful. I'm holding her to sleep right now actually. She seems OT now.
Just to update. Today's naps have been the worst in weeks.
This second nap was:
1:00-1:16, up squirming, tried to get her b2s twice, finally did around 2:00 (not exactly sure) and she was back up at 2:40 crying.
Was this one OT? And maybe the first hour nap UT?
I just need guidance on what that first A time should be. Then I can go from there. This is slowly spiraling....
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My DD was probably about 5.5 months when we really started to push toward a 3hr A. We did 2.45 first for a little bit. There wasn't room for 2 naps + CN but just being on 2 naps wasn't enough so we did a long first A followed by a capped nap (1hr I think), then a slightly shorter A followed by a long nap, and then a CN. We only had to do this for a few days before we eventually ended up with 2 naps. We were also battling an EW though so I really had to push that first A to combat that, I think if you don't have an EW you'd probably be ok with 2 naps of the A times are longer.
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Thank you! I was getting 2 hours naps on an A time of 2hr 15/20mins the last time I charted. That was for this first A time. The second A time was usually a tad bit longer but never exact. I have to juggle that one a bit to have my 3 year old and her nap at the same time
What should I try for? 2hr 35min?
Poor thing is OT right now. I have to take her out with me now so I'm hoping she has a decent CN in the car later
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I think that's a good plan, 2h 35min. Not too much of a push.
Also, they say that the first A time of the day should be the longest, and this is helping to lay out the day to avoid OT/UT cycle. My DS had the last A time of the day the longest. He was just like that. But it always helped when I was trying to push the first one during transitions.
What A time is the easiest for her?
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Well it was 2 hours and 20 mins. That gave solid 2 hour naps. Then I stopped charting down her days since things were going so well. Now we got into a little mess plus I think that NW/EW to nurse has her tired when I wake her at 7:00am.
She used to wake at 3:00ish to nurse but recently started sleeping more before waking.
I'll try the 2hr and 35min tomorrow for the first A to see if that gives her a long nap
What does a 20min nap mean? She's been having those the past 2 days. OT?
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What do you mean by which A time is the easiest?
I may have misunderstood you, sorry
Also, she woke at 5:20am- hungry- fed her but she wouldn't go back to sleep. No clue when to do her first nap now...
What do I do now that she's waking so close to wake up to nurse?
She wakes around 3:00am some nights, should I just go ahead and nurse her then? Or is that worse since she can sleep longer without eating?
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I mean which A time is the longest and you know she can do i.e.3,5 h whithout any problems.
Sorry, I dont know about 20min. It might help if you write down a day with a nap like this.
I personally would feed at 3 to avoid being it to close to WU. In the past, when I couldnt do it any longer, i just started the day:/
How is her solids? Do you think you could add some daytime intake to make sure she has enough for the whole night?
I would do a regular A time or add some time if she seem ok. Catching 3rd nap can help.
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20 mins is often OT, or OS.
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I would bet OS.
Didn't know that btw, thanks!
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Okay, so I backed off yesterday and today and followed her a little more than the clock. Turns out, 2 hours and 15/20 mins is where she's at now.
So she was OT and/or OS all last week. i tried the A push to 2h 35m and she was even worse- that's why I tried to just watch her and see. Today I did 2h 15m for the first nap and she did 1.5h nap. The second nap was late bc of her older brothers meltdown after lunch and was closer to 1.5 A time and she woke after 30mins crying- resettled and she did another hour or so.
So I'll stick with 2h 15 or 20m A time for now until I start getting short UT naps again. I think the UT/OT loop tricked me into thinking she needed an A push.
Anyway, I'll keep this up for a bit longer and see how things go. She's still crying before every nap so I'm thinking OS is an issue as well but it's almost impossible to keep things low key with a spirited 3 year old running around!
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Ha, sometimes we all know what would be the best, but it is simply impossible :/
You're right, vicious cycles are the worst. Especially when we're in transition to another schedule. That process can take forever :/
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you, and let me know how it goes. :)
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You are lovely, thank you!
So far, so good! Going to keep it at this A time as long as I can :)
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I'm back...so things were perfect at 2hr15/20 min A time. She was doing 2, 2hr naps and a CN. She was STTN and waking around 5/6:00 to nurse then b2s until I woke her around 7:00/7:30am.
Then recently she started with having more NW again. Waking up crying but easily resettled with paci. I started feeding her around the 3:00/3:30am NW and she would do a full feeding. But the past 2 days she's been EW around 5:45/6:00am and happy and awake. That's after having a BT of 8:00/8:15pm so a short night.
I know it's the 3/2 business mixed in with the 6 month growth spurt (and developmental leap!) but I'm trying to nip the NWs and EW before it gets out of control. I'm assuming A push is needed.
My main question is regarding the long days. She's having a 13 hour day now or 14 hour if you count her waking at 6:00am but I don't 'start' her day and get her until 7:00am. The issue is that she will easily go to sleep whenever I want her to really- so my A times have to be spot on. I extended the time before BT but that made her days super long. And she's still having NW and EW.
I'm recording her days now and will post them soon. I just wanted to get some feedback if you ladies have any so far
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I think essentially the problem is too much day sleep and the CN needs to phase out. By 6 months I was capping day sleep at 3hrs max and out A times were near 3hrs. I'd start by pushing the first A out if possible and if you get a good nap then try to keep the second A the same which will eventually phase out the CN. It might mean you need to bring BT forward as the A to bed might end up being too long.
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Thank you Lindsay!
Last night she didn't have any NW and just woke at 5:00am to eat and went right back to sleep. Hoping for a 7:00am wake up so we can start her day at a normal time and I'll push that first A time as close to 3 hours as I can.
Update- she woke right at 6:00am. Ugh. So I'll shoot for a 9:00am first nap and if I get a good nap, try another 3 hour A time. And no CN and will just have to do an EBT to keep her day closer to 12 hours, correct?
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Yes exactly :). Do anticipate some OT during the transition, I found that my DD would sometimes wake 30mins into the first nap but I was usually able to resettle her.
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I'm going to try this for a few days and see if it fixes her EW. She still woke at 5:45am this morning. Ugh.
Yesterday went pretty good for pushing the A time. She did 2 hours 50 mins for all A times and did good naps.
She was happy and talking for 40 mins after the dreamfeed and now happy and talking after her 5:00am feed and won't go back to sleep. I'll still plan on the 9:00am first nap and hope she's not too OT
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Yes I agree try for the 9am nap. It may just take some time to sort itself out. My DD still often wakes at 5:30/45am but chats away and it able to fall back asleep (sometimes not though). We did have a while when we went through the 3-2 where the EW did correct, we kind of had to get over the OT hump first.
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She did end up falling back to sleep at 6:00am and I woke her up at 7:00!! Hooray!
I put her down at 10:00 and she went straight to sleep and just woke at 11:50. So far so good!
So if she keeps doing good on this A push then will her days be:
7:00
10:00-12:00
3:00-5:00
8:00
Give or take of course!
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Yes if an 8pm BT works for you, however I think I'd be reluctant to let her have 4hrs of day sleep, I think that is going to contribute to NW and/or EW. We often have a 2hr nap in the morning and then I cap the afternoon nap to 1hr.
So you could do:
WU 7am
Nap 10-12
Nap 3-4
BT 7
That is a 12hr day and 3hra day sleep which I think is ideal.
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Thank you so much. She seems more tired today as the day progresses. I pushed her to 2 naps pretty quick so I'm trying not to make her too OT. Her second nap today was only 1.5 hours. She's pretty fussy and seems ready for bed. Aiming for 7pm
Hoping for a good night. Maybe she will be in a nice groove by next week!
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Yes absolutely, some give and take is always necessary during these transitions!
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Another EW of 5:45am. Bleh.
I'll keep tracking her days and nights and give it a few days. I'll be back on then and post her routine to see if I'm missing anything
Hope everyone has a nice weekend
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Yes keep track for a few days and we may be able to spot the culprit!
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Lindsay!!!!! Ugh!!
Do the 3 hour A time is great. But tried solids again and get sleep has gone all crazy!! Like 5-7 NWs, EW and waking from naps screaming.
Which is now causing day sleep issues because our whole day is whacky
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Ahhhh! Oh no!!
Have you tired 1 food at a time to see if it is something specific? Or just plain rice cereal?
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I was offering one every 3 days. Rice was okay if it's really runny with breastmilk. Sweet potatoes
Seemed okay but honestly everything throws her off.
I didn't give her any today so I'm hoping she will sleep better tonight. Once I get this sorted then I will see if anything during the day could be causing NWs.
Today went great otherwise- 2, 2 hour naps and BT of 7:00pm. I let her do full 2 hour naps because she couldn't resettle after 5:45am so I wanted to push her day forward a bit to make it to 7:00pm
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Feeling extremely discouraged with the EW. Yesterday was:
Awake at 5:45. Got her up at 6:30am
Nap 9:00-11:00
Nap 2:00-4:00
BT 7:00
NW 10:30pm- she was so hungry- fed
NW 4:30am fed
Awake at 5:45 again
I really need her to start sleeping in until 7:00am. Older brother starts preschool next week and I won't be able to nap her until 10:00am.
What can I do?
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Just popping in... 4hrs is quite a lot of day sleep at this age & could be giving you the shorter night.
Could you try gradually pushing the start of the first nap later, maybe just 10-15mins every few days but still wake her at 11?
Or let her sleep 2 hrs at the first nap, start 2nd nap later but still wake at 4?
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Okay, thank you! Lindsay had mentioned that same thing. I was trying to stretch out her day and make it 13 hours hoping it would push her wake up later but that obviously didn't work. I also thought that dropping the CN would make her want to extend her 2 other naps but I guess not by that much. So what's the goal for day sleep? 3.5hrs total? I looked at the 'average amount of day and night' sticky but it has such a large range!
She seems a little 'off' lately. I'm sure a combo of teeth, solids, developmental, reflux, growth spurt, AP.... ::)
It's 9:00am now which is when I normally nap her. I'm going to hold her off for 15 mins.
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Good luck!
If you find she needs the 9am nap with that EW...the other option would be to keep the 4 hrs day sleep but push BT later?
That might give you a later start too.
The amount of day sleep really varies and if your LO is Higher sleep needs, she might need 4hrs day sleep but then only do an 11hr night.
5.45 wus for me usually mean UT somewhere..either first nap too early, too long or last A time is too short. She's a bit young for nap capping though so I'd try just pushing everything later either with later first nap or later BT. Sorry that's so vague but might be a few things to experiment with?
ETA- another option is to try to push whole day later... Later first nap, keep the 4hrs total daysleep and do a later BT!
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You've been so helpful. Those are all great options; thank you very much.
She only made it until 9:08am, ha! I think me issue is that she fusses for sleep and imediately starts closing get eyes when I go into room. Maybe I'll stay out of her room until right before I want her asleep. I'm just trying to keep her from getting OS around my 3 year old.
She falls asleep nursing before bed and is like a rag doll and sometimes won't even eat. She goes down so easily for naps and BT so I thought 3 hours was perfect but I think you're right. She's UT somewhere and I need to figure out a solution. I feel like it's becoming habitual now and I'm not sure how to get her back to sleep at the 5:45 waking.
I'll try some of those tips today and see how things go tonight!
Just to add- any chance it's just developmental? If she can self soothe and is napping well and is tired before naps and BT- could it just be something that has to sort itself out? Or more likely a nap issue?
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Or let her sleep 2 hrs at the first nap, start 2nd nap later but still wake at 4?
This is basically what we do. I let her sleep as much as she wants for the first nap (usually 1.45/2hrs) and then cap the 2nd nap at 1/1.15hr (depending on how long the first nap was), and also don't let her sleep past 4pm. And we usually get a WU between 6:15-6:45am which I can deal with. And day sleep is around 3hrs.
So something like:
WU 6:30
Nap 9:45 - 11:30
Nap 3-4
BT 7
Just for reference...though it might give you some guidelines since our LOs are close in age :)
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Thank you!!
She just woke at 10:30....I feel so lost. I gave her the paci and she went right back to sleep.
Not sure how things got so messy so fast. I'm completely confused at what to do anymore
Even when she wakes at 5:45 I leave her unless she's fussing until about 6:30. Maybe I need to count that as her wake up time and do 3 hours from then.
I see your LO is 8 months- mine is 6 months today- so that amount of sleep is okay for a 6 month old as well? I can't remember what my DS was doing at this age! Been awhile ;)
I'm about to post the last few days so you ladies can have a better idea and maybe see something I don't see
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Oh gees sorry! I think they were closer in age. At 6 months I think her total day sleep was 3.15hr give or take a bit. And I would count the 5:45am as the WU time. We did have lots of EWs at that age too and then settled once we were really through the 3-2, over all the OT and everything lol, probably closer to 7 months.
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Up 6:00
Nap 8:50-9:58 (crying- fed- b2s) 11:30
Nap 2:15-4:25
BT 7:15 (out cold)
Woke at 10:30pm fed
5:00am fed and b2s until I woke her at 7:05am
Up 7:05
Nap 10:00-11:50
Nap 2:30-4:00/4:20
BT 7:10 (she pooed and b2s at 7:30)
Woke at 4:30 and 5:30 (should have fed her- can't remember why I didn't)
Up for good at 6:00am
Up 5:30/6:00am
Nap 9:00-11:15
Nap 2:05-2:57(UT) paci plug and b2s until 3:45
BT 6:45
Woke at 3:00, 3:30-fed, 5:30, 6:40
Up 6:40
Nap 9:40-11:45
Nap 2:45-4:05
BT 7:10
Woke at 2:15 and was crying off and on until 3:30. Fed at 3:30
Up at 6:00
Up 6:00am
Nap 9:00-10:30
Nap 1:00-3:00
CN 4:50-5:15
BT 7:15pm
Woke at 9:00, 10:00, 2:00, 3:30 (fed), 5:45. All crying NWs
Up 5:45
Nap 8:45-11:00
Nap 2:05-4:00
BT 7:05
Woke at 10:30, 4:30 (fed), 5:45
Today:
Up 5:45
Nap 9:08-10:30 (paci b2s) still sleeping but will wake her at 11:00/11:10 I guess, right??
Just to add. DH does a DF at 11:00pm but she's been waking around 10:30pm crying so he will feed her then.
Anything jump out at you??
Also- I was just looking back at what I had jotted down before dropping the CN. On August 1 (so a week ago) she was only having a 2hr 15min A time and just starting to EW happy. Maybe I jumped the A up to 3 hours too fast? Could she be OT? Sorry....I'm just so confused! And looking back, her best couple days were on a 2hr 45/50 min A time
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I'm not sure, sorry...but it does look like the EW started after a very broken night with lots of crying...so could be OT?
Maybe try pulling back to the 2hr45 A time for a couple of days and see what happens?
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That's my gut feeling too honestly- that she was a tad OT. She is so much different than my first- he would SCREAM when he was even 5 mins past tired so it was obvious. This gal is more tricky to figure out.
I let her nap full length naps today because I felt like she was OT. Let's hope I made the right choice and that she sleeps better. If so, I'll pull back just a bit on A time- at least for the second nap and mainly before BT
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So she was OT before. Her night was so much better! No crying NW but still woke at 5:40, ugh. She didn't wake for a feed though so I plugged her with the paci and she dozed until 6:00 and was starving so I got her up and fed her. So another early start but may have been due to hunger. She was crying for sleep by 8:15 but I held her off until 9.00 somehow.
Going to try and shift her day forward. I guess it's all trial and error until her A time extends. If I could have a couple of 7:00am wake ups I'd be so happy and I think it would all shift! Ugh
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So I'm a bit confused now. It it normal for them to handle a new A time for a few days and then go backwards? She got horribly OT on the 2 naps and now is back to having/needing/crying for 3 naps!
She was doing 3 hr A time with 2 naps and now tired around 2 hours and I keep her up until 2hr 30/45 min.
Today she's had 2, 1.5hr naps and taking a CN after only 2hr A time. She was crying to bed again!!
I know she's teething. Probably a GS bc she wants to nurse before every nap and BT. She's in the middle of a stormy period according to her wonder week too.
This normal??
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Yes normal! Especially when going through major transitions like this. After the 3-2 my DD was doing a 3.5hr A time, then scaled back and was only doing 3/3.15, but now back up. I find that during wonder weeks A times can't sometimes either spike, or do the opposite and go backwards.
I think it just just as you said, she probably got a wee bit OT from the 2 nap days and just needs a bit of a catch up. No worries, the transitions are always back and forth!
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Thanks Lindsay! Xx
All this chaos is causing 4+ NW a night for the past week and I'm exhausted!! Ready for 2 solid naps and no more NWs soon
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Do you want to post your EAS and I can see if anything jumps out? NW earlier in the evening are usually OT. Any teeth on the way? Where are you with starting solids?
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I'm at my wits end. I really can't figure this out and she's so fussy and I can't read her cues. I keep feeding her and napping her and we are just going around in circles. She crying and fussing so much it's impossible to know what's, what anymore. Plus I haven't slept more than an hour straight in forever so it's all blurring together.
I only have the past 2 days charted. I was chatting all of them but lost that paper!! Here's the past 2 days and part of today. I know it's UT/OT loop but I can't get unstuck. Oh and yes teeth!!! Awful. But I'm medicating at night and giving her teething tablets before naps.
Up 7:15
Nap 9:55-11:17
Nap 2:05-2:26 (resettled her) 5:00
BT 7:30
NW 2:45, 3:00 (fed) 6:00, 6:45
(This day and night wasn't bad. I let her sleep as long as she needed that second nap to catch up on sleep)
Up 6:30
Nap 9:05-10:30
Nap 1:20-2:53
CN 5:00-5:30
BT 7:40
NW 9:47, 1:40, 4:00 (fed), 5:40, 6:00
Today
Up 6:00 (she laid in bed happy until 6:45)
Nap 9:09-9:58 (first happy wake up in a long time)
So obviously UT for today's first nap. She's been waking crying hard for all other naps and night wakings. Paci soothes her back to sleep. She used to fall back to sleep on her own but always needs the paci now bc she wakes up crying and so upset.
She's just laying in her crib now and looks like she's trying to go back to sleep so I'm going to leave her and cross my fingers. Just confused now because we had an EW and short nap so not sure how many naps to do and when. Seemed like those multiple days of 2 naps built up some serious OT and now she's caught up and UT and looking like we will just cycle back and forth for awhile.
The days I can't handle being messy. She's just SO grumpy and fussy. The nights are killing me. Worse than when she was a newborn.
Just to add- I know she can self soothe. All the NWs I'm paci plugging her bc she's so upset and I need her to go back to sleep quickly. Assuming that's OT behavior. Just now she's putting herself back to sleep from her UT nap without the paci being replugged so I know she can still do it. Just not at nights right now.
Oh and solids- I'm following the ped bc I don't know what else to do. Doing peas only for mid morning snack after nursing and only a little bit for a week. Then I'll add another food and try for 2 times a day. She loves, loves solids and finger foods but her tummy is just sensitive so I'm trying to go slow
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Hug hun! I know I found this transition really awkward for my DD and we had a whole pile of back and forth and a whole pile of OT. Poor Marta dealt with me and I probably drove her straight to the mad house! LOL :P
So, I think there are essentially 2 ways to go about this...one is to just stick with the 2 naps and push through the OT. There will be lots of messy days and probably a whole lot of crying, but at a certain point you just kinda got to keep going ya know, otherwise you will be back and forth forever. The other is to do a short/long/short routine. So do a good 3hr first A but cap that nap to 1hr, do a shorter A (maybe 2.5hrs) followed by a long nap, and then a CN later in the day. So let's say your WU was 6am, something like:
WU 6
Nap 9-10
Nap 12:30 - 2:30
Nap 4:30 - 4:50
BT 7
This essentially what I did, because 3 naps was too many but 2 wasn't enough. I did this for less than a week and then we made the push to 2 naps. The NW do sound a bit OT so maybe something like this would help? Do follow your ped's advice re: solids, but I am wondering if hunger is playing a part in any of the NW as well if she's only eating 1 smallish snack of solids?
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Thank you again Lindsay....you're right. This nap transition has been way harder than the one before. The past 2 days I've offered a 15/20 min CN and last night she did so much better!! She woke up after the DF and was up happy chatting for 45 mins but out herself to sleep and woke at 4:45 to nurse- full feeding and went straight to sleep and slept until I woke her at 7:55am!!! I couldn't believe it!
Today would have been a perfect day to push for the 2 naps and 3 hour A time but I messed up and put her down too early for both naps so they were 1h 15 mins each so I did a 20 min CN but she went to bed happy and seemed tired.
Hoping for another good night and later WU and I'll push her for all 3 hour A times and try just 2 naps tomorrow.
I'm ready to add more solids- I'm sure she would drop that NF of she had more calories during the day. I'll probably try 2 small snacks- morning and afternoon for a couple days a see. I think the ped wanted me to go slow because it was messing with her nigh sleep bc she was grunting and squirming a bunch and was having a reflux flare up too. She seems to be handling it better with the peas so I'll try adding in another mild food
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Wanted to post our last few days while I have a second. Definitely UT/OT loop. Can't seem to figure it out.
Up 6:00am
Nap 9:09-9:57, she resettled and b2s at 10:13-10:58
Nap 1:47-3:35
CN 5:25-5:45
BT 7:30
Great night, just one NW at 4:40 and fed. She woke at 6:48am but I gave her the paci and she slept until I woke her at 7:55am
Up 7:55
Nap 10:15-11:22 (should have pushed A time here)
Nap 2:02 (she was crying for bed) 2:49 woke crying. Resettled herself and b2s at 2:58-3:37
CN 5:20-5:35
BT 7:45
NW 3:00 and was very hungry
Up 6:00am
Nap 9:07-11:05
Nap 2:10-3:30
BT 6:30- she seemed OT
NW 8:00pm, 2:40, 3:30 (fed), 5:45 crying, up at 6:10 happy
Today
Up 6:10
Nap 9:05(OT crying)- 9:38 crying. I just resettled her and she went right back to sleep. So she's OT again for sure.
Anything jump out? Any suggestions?
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It looks like the day you got the best nap was with a almost 3.10 A time so I'm wondering if that's your ticket (though looks like a lot of NW that night). I honestly think you are doing okay even if it doesn't feel like it. It's one of those things that just kind of eventually works itself out, yk? If she's OT you have a few options - add a late afternoon 10/15min CN just to get to a 'normal' BT, do an EBT if you don't want to do a CN, or scale the As back slightly just for a bit of catch up (though I think that may result in other problems, the first 2 are your best options). I think if you keep sticking with a roughly 3hr A that she's going to come around and eventually she won't be OT, that's kind of what happened to us, we just had to ride it out at a certain point.
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Xx Thank you so very much. I think I just needed reassurance from you that I'm not completely screwing things up! I feel like I'm the only one of my friends still struggling with NWs at 6.5 months...
Today she was horribly OT and I have no idea why honestly. She had a decent night and I did 3 hours first A time and she had an OT nap twice today with lots of crying so I did a CN on me around 5:30 and she was a dream afterwards! She went to bed great too so hoping I have a good night ahead for her.
I'll just keep on with what I'm doing and when I know she's not OT and caught up I'll push her A out a tad to try and move everything forward. She seems like she's needing more sleep than normal for her age but maybe that's just because we're cycling back and forth. Thanks to you I feel better and will just keep on until she can handle longer A times
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We did lots of cycling too, and you know her best, so if she seems really OT and needs a bit of a catch up with a CN, or shorter A or whatever, then do it, especially if naps that day haven't been great or she had a bad night. We did a short/long/short for a few days and while it solved her EW she was horribly OT from capping her first nap, so I just let her sleep as long as she needed for a few days and she adjusted just fine!
I really think the transition took most of the 6th month and we didn't really settle into a full and consistent 2 nap routine (without OT) until 7 months, and it was a glorious month of lovely long naps! You're doing fab hun, hang in there!! I think we tried to stick to 3.15hr of day sleep at that point and then at 7 months it was more like 2:45/3hrs of day sleep.
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Thank you!!
So....another wake up of 5:45 happy. I'm afraid I'll have to drop the CN and have a BT of 6:00 :(
Just to update- I decided to walk both kids to my sons preschool- 4 miles round trip- so giving me plenty of time to let her take a short nap this morning. But the stinker stayed up until 9:45 and then crashed as I was pulling into my driveway. I rushed her upstairs like a rag doll and she stayed asleep while I swaddled her haha!
So we shall see what this nap looks like with a 4 hour A time!! :o
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So she's stuck with the EW so I'm just going to roll with you. You've given me the best advice and I'm just going to keep trying as best I can and hopefully another couple weeks and she will be past this.
I'm doing that short long short routine you posted for now and it's working great except she's still EW but no more crazy NWs at least for now...
I just wanted to thank you again for all your support and advice. Xx
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Mandy - we got stuck in an UT/OT loop with the 3-2 too...we had to just stick with it and did get later wake ups once DD was able to do longer A times and be on 2 naps most days
Hang on in there xxx
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Thank you so much!!!! Xxxx
I can't help but feel like I'm doing something wrong or misreading her cues or A times but I think it is just going to take a little more time
I am so thankful for you all
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Not at all! It's a really long and awkward transition, a lot different than going from say 4 naps to 3 when they are smaller. You are doing great, hang in there!!