A time for a 5 1/2 month old?

[Pamb.]

My daughter is 5 1/2 months old and we are struggling with going down well for bedtime which hasn't been a problem before.  I am wondering if it is connected to her naps.  How long does a 5 1/2 generally stay away between naps and bedtime.  She is currently doing 2hrs before her first and second nap and then still having a cat nap.  She goes down pretty good for naps.  Has no props other than swaddling.

Her routine:
wake up:7:15ish-7:30
E 8:30
A: 2hrs.
S: 9:30 (2hrs.)
E12:00
A: 2hrs.
S: 2:00 (2hrs)
E: 3:30-4:00ish:
A: depends on second nap, I put her in the swing so she will have a catnap around 4:45ish
E7:00
Bedtime: 7:30

[meltown]

most drop the cat nap between 6-7 months.  has your LO needed less sleep the average before?  what is happening when you put  her down at the normal time?

[Pamb.]

Hi,
When we put her down at 7:30pm she will cry, we leave her for 2-3 minutes, go in, comfort her and leave again, keep repeating.  Sometimes we need to lift her up to calm her down, if she gets too worked up, she will vomit.  She goes down great for naps, not a peep, or just a 20sec little cry.  The last two nights, I have let her catnap go to 5:30pm and kept her up to 8:00pm.  She went down better.  If we put her down earlier, she cried so we just got her up.  Today though, she had poor naps because we were out in the morning, so her last nap, catnap ended at 4:45ish.  So, I am hoping she will go down at 7:30.  She use to be a brutal 45 minute napper but for a month now, her naps have been improving.  I am not sure if the poor bedtime is a stage thing, a napping too much thing or what. 

Often her catnap needs to be in her swing if she has had two good 2hr. naps but today she went down fine for her catnap because it was early enough.

any help is so appreciated!
Pam

[meltown]

wen you comfort her what do you do?

how much totl sleep is she getting?

[Pamb.]

when I lift her up she will calm down, sometimes if we bring her out of her room, let her sit or hold her for 10min and then try again she goes down but not all the time.  Last night, she went down great at 7:30 not a peep, but then woke at 8:00 screaming, we did the wi/wo for 30min and then rocked her to sleep, oh, actually I fed her and then she went to sleep.  We never have to feed her but her last bottle was early so it might has messed her up.  Her total sleep varies.  Her naps are getting much better.  On a good nap day she will get 4 1/2 hours on a 45min nap day (which are not as common) she will get closer to 3hr. and then she usually sleeps 12hrs. at night.  Her poor bedtime started actually when her naps improved.  However, it doesn't seem to matter is she has good naps or poor naps, bedtime is still brutal.  It use to be good and she still goes down for her naps well. Thanks for any help!

[meltown]

you should be doing pu/pd at this age.  your LO is a bit to young for Wi/WO.  also I would try to shorten the naps a little.

[Pamb.]

with pu/pd do you wait till they stop crying before you put them down? We were kind of doing a combo of pu/du and wi/wo do you stay in the room when you do pu/pd?   how short should the naps be? And what should the A time be do you think?  She had shorter naps today, 1hr. 15min,(had to wake her from an appointment so then the next nap was short too) 1hr.30ish, and now her cat nap so we will see how she goes down.  I can't imagine waking her up from naps.  She is finally sleeping for naps, (well not today, ) but normally it seems crazy to wake her up.  Thanks sorry about the million questions

[meltown]

with Pu/Pd you try to calm n the crib.  then you pick them up hold until calm, but don't do anything but hold them.  then put them down.  if the are still clm you move away and see if they start to cry, if you you leave the room.  if they do start crying you go bck and try to calm then again in the crib an PU if needed.  so you never leave a crying baby.  and you only hold them long enough to calm them and then put them down.

how did the day go with the shorter naps?