3.5 hr EASY- something went wrong

[Coral]

Hi

We have been on a 3.5 hr EASY for 2-3 weeks now. My Lo is 5 month old and is a textbook-angel type (usually).
She used to take a 1.2-1.5 hr nap in the morning and 2 hr naps around noon, and a shorter (if it is a lucky day) in the evening.
Few days ago she started to refuse long naps and woke up after 45 mins of sleep. Also, she started to wake up twice during the night (she usually wake up only once at 3am to eat- though  I guess this is also a bad habit)
So our yesterday looked like this:
23.00 E (I don't do DF b/c even if I do she wakes up at 3am) this time she woke up on her own
3am E
7 am E
8-8.50 S (At 8am she is totally sleepy, showing all the signs)
10.20 E
10.40-11.30 S
11.30 E (she cried like at night so I fed her)
13.20-14.30 S
14.40 E
16.20-17.00 S (lucky day 
17.30 E
17.45 - Sleepy but refused to sleep (I tried shsh-pat - not working)
19.00 E
19.30 E again - falling asleep


During the day she is falling asleep on her own, doesn't really need help (we have a 5 min sleeping routine -which apparently works fine) but by the evening getting her asleep becomes a nightmare.
Even if she sleeps at 4 pm waking up at 5 pm is not enough to stay awake until 7pm bath. She is totally tired by that time.

So I figured out that by stretching the morning nap the late afternoon nap would move to 5-6pm which would be great.
To achieve this today I tried to keep her awake for an extra 20 mins in the morning hoping for a longer nap but it didn't help 45mins nap again.
I stretched the second A time to 2.20 min and she slept for 2hrs (from 12.30-14.30) - hurray-
but she hasn't slept since 14.30.
I tried to put her into her cot at 16.30 (after 2hr A) though she hasn't showed the signs of sleepiness and we battled for 1hr20mins to sleep (shsh-pat-> she smiles at me, when I step away from her cot she starts to cry - I pu-pd ->she calms down but no sleep, rather playing with her hand, doggy, dummy, making voices-having fun). Finally I took her out and we will have another early evening (bath at 18.30).

Sorry for such a long post 

What do I do wrong?
My secret purpose is also to eliminate the night wakings beside moving the bathtime to 19.30, and I think that it has a connection with the daytime naps (or maybe not)...

thanks for any advice

[sherry lynn]

Hi there,
At 5 months your LO should really be doing much more Awake time. I think if you start stretching those awake times she will go back to taking her longer naps.

You want to do this slowly. Just 10-15 min every 3 days.

Here is a link that shows average A times: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.0

[Coral]

Hi Sherry lynn

Thanks for the advice, I checked the link and she should be awake for 2-2.25hr.
So practically, if she shows the signs of sleepiness, I just should try to keep her awake for 10-15 min more?
This is a problem mainly in the morning when I don't know exactly the time she wakes up as she is playing in her bed for some time before I realise she is awake . Or (as it happened this morning) she babbles for 5 min and then fall back asleep for 20 min. Should I count this as A time?
thanks

[sherry lynn]

The morning crib thing is tricky. I ended up buying a video monitor for that exact reason, because my LO is spirited and a 5 minute difference in A time could be disaster for him.

Different moms handle that differently. Some start A time from the time they take them out of the crib. Regardless of when they wake. If your baby is an angel/textbook baby that can be ok.

If your baby is a little touchy or spirited that might not go so well. Some moms just decrease the A time by say 10 min. I've heard that works pretty well. When my guy was little that worked pretty well because they are just lying there and cooing. As he got older and more active though that didn't work as well anymore because he started exerting energy early.

When you KNOW when she is away, then yes I would try extending the A time just a tad after tired signs. Sometimes they need just a little bit of a push.
Even just 5 or 10 min might get you a better nap. You could even just walk around with her to extend the A time.

Some LO have been so hard to push in A time that the moms even swaddle them and just walk up and down in the hallway really calmly with them to extend the A time.

[Coral]

I was thinking of a video monitor too, but I guess my DH and the grandparents would think I am crazy

Today I extended her morning A by 10 mins counted from the first voice and she slept 1hr10min. I am a perfectionist, but in this case I think I am happy with this
The second A was 2hr 10 min and then she napped 2hr30min
Now we are at the third A, just extended it with 10 mins. She didn't really showed signs (I would say only 50%) but as I entered the nursery with her she started yawning This nap was a disaster yesterday (she didn't sleep at all), now she fell asleep in 7 mins. Yeay

Surprisingly she is not so interested in the sleeping routine for some time. I put up the shutter, sing a song but in the middle of the song she starts squirming so I put her into her cot and tell her 'you are going to sleep b/c you are tired' and she is just happy with this. Altogether 3 mins
These times I fell so lucky.

One more question. I read on the forum that the time of the sleeping routine (ok, only 3 mins in our case, but still) should be counted in S, but someone said it is also part of A.
It appears that this 5 min is a key in our case (even though my Lo is an angel type). So where should I count it?

thanks

[sherry lynn]

At this age I think most moms count everything from the time their eyes open, to the time their eyes close as A time.

But, it's not that big of a deal either way   That's the perfectionist in you speaking (I am the same way)

My MIL does think I'm crazy regarding the video monitor. But, if she knew what I know she would have one too

We didn't get one until my LO was 9 months old and we went through a spell of really bad 30 min naps. It turned out that he was waking in the morning at about 5:30, but not crying or making any noise until about 7!!! So no matter what I did he was OT by the time I put him down I had much more success after that. But, if your LO is angel/textbook then it might be hard to justify the expense. Although, it is Christmas time and that would be a good present. You can justify it with you can use it for the next one too because two cameras can go on the same monitor

Glad to hear you had so much success today.