How to get thru dropping catnap transition?

[EllenS]

My lo is 7 mo and has habitually been a short(er) napper - usually 1 h in the am and 1:15 or 1:30 in the pm, which worked out OK when she was doing a 30-45 min catnap - a little on the short side for day sleep, but after getting through the "solids introduction" craziness, she did a 12 hour night with 1 feed, so I figured she was OK in the 24 hours.

She has refused to catnap for 4-5 days, and gets SOOOOO tired in the afternoon.  I tried putting her down earlier for bedtime, but it caused her to wake 12 hours later on the spot, which made wakeup time creep back to 5:30 am!

I figured her 2 naps would extend when she dropped the catnap, but it does not seem to be happening on its own.  In fact, her PM nap is getting SHORTER!

The last couple of days have looked like this:

wakeup 6am
bf 6:30-7
Down for nap 8:15
Asleep 8:30

Wake 9:30
bf 10:30-11 + solids
down for nap 12 - 12:15 (sometimes some PUPD)
Asleep 12:30 - 12:45

Wake 1:45 - 2:15
bf 2-2:30 + solids (we start feeding more often in the afternoon to cluster before bed)
Attempt catnap 4  - 4:30
PUPD
5 - 5:15 start Mommy's evening routine (dinner, etc) and bedtime routine
5:30 - 5:45 bf
6 - 6:15 bedtime
6:30 asleep

OR when trying to put down early, 5:45 bedtime, 6:00 asleep.

She gets SOO overtired in the afternoon, she falls asleep at her bedtime feeding and I have to keep waking her.  Sometimes I've had to do PUPD at bedtime, and sometimes she has brief NW but goes back to sleep with 1 PUPD.

Right now she's woken from a 1 h AM nap and I'm letting her talk to herself/complain in her crib for another 30 minutes or so.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[dbj]

Hi Ellen,

I went through this whole rigmarole with my DD when she was just over 6 months, so I'll pass on my experience and some of the advice I got that worked (though bear in mind it took awhile to adjust).

We did find success with an earlier bedtime of 30 mins - 1 hour, depending on the day (She'd waked at 8:00am but was going to bed between 7 - 7:30pm).  We are still doing an earlier bedtime now, while gradually trying to increase her A times.  I cut the interval between the last two bf and put her to bed earlier, at a time that was more consistent with her A times.   It seems like your DD's A time in the PM is probably too long for her at this point (4 hrs) and she is getting OT and that maybe her AM one is a bit too short.   I would work on slowly extending the morning A time and naps (which you are doing), and aim for a bedtime that is about 3/3.5 hours after she wakes up from her last nap.  If she wakes up earlier in the morning, try to re-settle her.  My DD will sometimes wake an hour or so early, but she will usually go back to sleep.  It may take some time to adjust, but everything will fall into place.

Good luck!

Donna

[EllenS]

Thanks.  Our "prime" bedtime used to be 6:30 pm, which gave us a 6:40-7am wakeup.  I don't know how much earlier I can keep pushing it back - If I put her down 3/5 hours after her last waking, that means 4:30 in the afternoon sometimes!  Once she's up in the morning after 12 hours, there's no putting her back to sleep.  (and until we move she sleeps 2 feet from my head, so leaving her to fuss just seems stupid - it's not like we get extra sleep!)

Any tips on how to extend that AM wake time without getting her into a meltdown?

Sorry to be so negative, it just gets me down, especially since I have to fix dinner and do all my stuff in the house before putting her to bed, because we don't have a separate room.  Starting dinner at 4 pm is a bit much.

[dbj]

Don't get yourself down, I know it's tough, but it will work out.  This is just a tumultuous time for a baby, so many milestones, so much going on...

I guess it won't really work if her naps are really short as you'll have a lot of extra time at the end of the day, as well if there are short A times, so a catnap might still be needed.   4:30pm would be too early for bed, but I would aim for bed somewhere between 5:00 - 5:30pm which would probably be ok with a wake up time of 6:00am.   It would then get later again as her A times extend.    The key for us was to make sure A times weren't too long at any point in the day and get in a couple of decent naps.    If you can get her to nap for 1.5 hours in the morning and afternoon that would be ideal (or a 1 and a 2 hr would also work).  I think what you are doing there is good... if she wakes up and is not screaming for you, let her chat to herself or whatever, though her nap may improve with better A times as well.  I guess to extend the A time in the AM you might have to do it really slowly... even if it's just 5 or 10 mins every few days, at least you'll be making progress.  I also find that my DD sometimes justs gets cranky or fussy, but she's not actually to her peak tiredness yet, so I just try to mix up the activity and get outside if I can for a little while. 

I'm sorry I can't be of more help. 

[sorayas mom]

Hi EllenS,

One thing that helped my lo when she dropped the catnap around 6 months, was to lie down with her every few days at normal catnap time and she would  then take the nap. It helps to do it every couple of days to catch up on some lost sleep.  On the days you don't lie down with her, try to put her in her crib for some quite playing for 30 minutes or so.  One other thing I've figured out, in order to extend my lo's am nap if it starts to habitually turn into a 40 minute nap is when she wakes up to early ( and I cannot get her to go back to sleep in her crib) I will put her in the sling and she will go back to sleep for another hour.  I do this when I know she is really tired but can't settle herself to sleep.  Normally after doing it a few days in a row she will start taking long am naps again.  I don't know if it gets her back in the habit of long naps or if it catches her up on some sleep so that she can sleep more restfully or what but it seems to work!  I used to worry it would start a bad habit, but it has worked every time for me to get her back on track!  Hope this helps!

[EllenS]

Thanks, I may try that - I'm just so afraid of starting another AP dependency - we seem to go on and off them all the time with milestones, cold, etc.

What I wouldn't give for a 2-hour nap!  Just once, ever!  Those 1.5 hour naps are a fond memory, too.