less naps more night sleep?!

[brenda2]

kirsten, i would try to extend your first 2 A times a bit longer and see if those naps can be pushed a little later still.  if she's skipping a 3 pm nap that's way to long to make it to bedtime.

will she nap in the stroller, car or sling?  when they start to fight it sometimes doing a bit of AP for that last nap is ok just so they'll make it to bedtime without getting OT.  DD had a lot of catnaps in the sling around the time she was trying to drop the catnap.

[~Mama Bug~]

Well so far....not so good. Her morning nap is usually ok about two hours from wake and she'll sleep about an hour but after that is a huge battle.  I extended A times and everything but she just won't go to sleep, sometimes not until she's been up for 4+ hours! I'm getting pretty desperate, not sure what to do from here.

[brenda2]

if she's only sleeping an hour i would extend that first A time a bit more, maybe 2 hours 10 min and see if you can get a longer nap.  4 hours is way too long though...is she in bed before this and just won't go to sleep?

[*Nicola*]

We had to do a bit of experimenting around the 6 month mark too. 

The key for us (and lots of others) is getting the first A & S time right so that they pave the way for a good day, and hopefully night too.

[~Mama Bug~]

Anytime she doesn't take a nap isn't from lack of trying   She's always in bed for the 3pm nap after the winddown and everything and usually she just plays until eventually she starts crying and refuses to nap. If she'd sleep instead of play I think we'd be fine

Even if the first and second nap is perfect she'll still refuse that last catnap. I have taken her in the car just to get her to sleep a bit.

Our nights have been affected too. The past two nights she's woken up whereas she used to sleep straight through. She's going through seperation anxiety and I'm wondering if that's causing it. Although we've also started solids on a regular basis, twice a day everyday, could her stomach be bothering her enough to affect naps and nighttime sleep?

This morning she only took a 30min nap and she took another after only being up an hour, that one was 45 minutes but she is cranky as all hell right now. Speaking of, gotta go.

[brenda2]

i think AP for that last catnap is fine at this age.  as they gear up to drop it i t can be a struggle to get them to take it.  DD had lots of catnaps in the sling around the 6.5 mo mark.

she's a bit young for SA...that's usually at 8 or 9 mo...i think maybe the solids is a more likely culprit.  are you doing breakfast and lunch?

[~Mama Bug~]

Yeah, 7 and 4. Today I skipped the 4 o'clock solids to see if the NW goes away.

I think SA because she cries everytime I leave a room, as soon as I come back she goes back to playing. Plus she's fine until I take one step away from the crib, then she starts crying.  I don't know what else it could be.

[brenda2]

i would try solids at 7 am on;y or 7 am and 12 pm if you're doing 2 meals...avoid the solids later in the day for a bit.  you can add in a 4 pm feed in another month or so. rice cereal can be very constipating, we did better when i stopped the rice and switched to oatmeal and veg/fruit.  there's no rush to be doing 3 meals.

if she's crying every time you leave the room and stopping when you come back the best way to deal with that with sleep training is walk in walk out if she is able to put herself to sleep independently.  put her down in her crib after your winddown say sleepy time or whatever you say and leave.  when she cries go back in,. comfort in the crib until she stops crying then leave again.  repeat as necessary.  you may als o want to do lots of leaving and coming back in the day time too.  she's a bit young for it but it does sound like SA...

[~Mama Bug~]

I did cut out the 4pm feed and last night she didn't have a NW. Although she didn't go to sleep until 9 when her bedtime is supposed to be 7 so I'm not sure if that affected it. We'll see tonight hopefully. Her stomach didn't settle well on rice cereal so we've been feeding Stage 1 and 2 baby foods, could it be too thick for her?

I'll try the walk in walk out. When I go in to comfort I know I can't pick her up as it makes things worse when I go to put her back down, but how should I handle it if she doesn't stop crying? I expect this to happen after a couple WI/WOs. She'll figure it out and know I'm going to leave again. Is there a time we should take a break or just stay until she's calm?

[brenda2]

rice cereal wasn't good for us either.  i would stick to stage 1 foods.

if you are doing the wi/wo for naps then do it for 40 min and then take a break.  for NWs i wouldn't take a break.  i always comforted by leaning way into the crib and holding her down gently and patting her back, maybe humming a bit.  at 6 mo i was still using a noise machine too.

if you have more questions about pu/pd or wi/wo head over to the pu/pd board, peek a boo is great at answering technique questions!

[~Mama Bug~]

Thanks, I might just head over there in a few minutes.

On a good note, it's 3:45 and she's sleeping! In her swing but I still couldn't be happier!

[brenda2]

 

[*Nicola*]

Kirsten,

Just wanted to add that Callie has probably catnapped about 10 times in her entire life.  Even if the day was perfect she would refuse to catnap.  We just kinda muddled through until she was able to tolerate a longer A before bedtime and had a 630 bedtime in the meantime.