3 month old

[Nauvoo]

We have successfully avoided feeding to sleep but to be honest this is about the only part of EASY we have accomplished.  Short naps and NW's are getting us nowhere.  I'm positive DD is ready to go longer between feeds but with so many short naps it seems we aren't able to extend.  I'd love love love some feedback, suggestions, or advice on how we can establish a more stable EASY.
DD is 3 months, 95% for height and weight, and very very happy, angel/textbook.  Hardly ever cries and is happy as a clam to be incredibly OT, most days that is.
Our EASY is so different day to day but what is consistent is short naps and NW's.  Extending naps is hit and miss.  I usually don't try unless my 3 year old is napping (doesn't happen often these days) because it takes 20-25 min to get her to sleep and 20-25 min to get her back to sleep which never results in more than 20- 30min more.  Currently she will go down with a bit of patting in her crib for her first 2 naps of the day but for the rest I have been holding her until she is to the point I can lay her down and either httj or she's asleep when I lay her down.

Today looked like this:

Night feeds at 2:30 and 5am
Usually has a NW after the 2nd feed, or if we are lucky to make it to 4am for 1 feed that night she will have a NWing around 5 or 5:30am.
Wake 6-6:30am
nap 8-8:45 (DH in charge and forgot the morning feed)
Eat 9am
Nap 10:-10:45 in arms at church, would have slept longer but I had to put her down to teach a class.
Eat 11:30am
Nap noon-12:30 in car seat as we were coming home from church
Nap 1:15pm -1:30pm
Eat 2:30
Nap 3:00-3:20
Tried a nap at 4:40 but unsuccessful at being able to lay her down
Eat 5:30pm
Nap, fell asleep feeding but 15 min into getting her asleep in my arms, I coughed and her eyes were wide OPEN!!!  Tired another 5 min with no success so ate dinner as a family.
Eat 6:30 pm
7pm asleep
Will do a dream feed at 11pm.

I did get a 2hr nap from her yesterday, after a 30 min morning nap!!!!  This was great!  I think her A time after a good night is 1hr 20min, I think this because one morning this last week I got a 2 hr nap from her after this A time.  Tried the same the next day and got 30min morning nap.

She usually eats about 3.5 - 4ounces a bottle, on and off the bottle for the most part but feeds are usually ended with her lying flat (I've been advised not to do this but it works so well and so far no problems with it).  The feed before bed is always the hardest and involves a good bit of fussing.  No reflux is suspected either.

[~Sara~]

Sorry that it's been a couple of days...how have things gone?  Could you post her routine for a non-church day?  I think Sundays are a write-routine wise   They are for us, anyways, since our church is 3h long.

[Nauvoo]

Thanks,
We go to the same church and I totally get what you mean, throws it off a bit.
Yesterday she did
Awake at 7am!!!!
Eat 7:30am
Nap 8:30 - 9:00
Eat 10:00am
Nap 11:00- 11:30 as we were out
Eat 12:45
Nap 1:15 - 4pm I settled twice during this time and it was hard work and took a good bit of time both times, but since DD1 is ill she took a 3hr nap so I could focus on resettling.
Eat 4pm
Nap 5:30-6
Eat 7pm and in bed at 7:30
Night was awful!!!!  Dream feed at 10:30, she woke at 2:00, I resettled and she woke at 3am for a feed.  Woke again at 4:30am, I resettled, then woke at 6am for a feed and was up for the day. Phew!

Today she fed at 6am
nap 7:30-9:10 I resettled at 30min
eat 9:15
Nap 11-11:30 as we were at a friends house.
Eat 12:15
Nap 12:45- 12:55 at same friends house, I put her down and she woke withing 10 min.
Eat 2:30
Nap 4:00-4:30 because we were then at the dentist and didn't get home until 3:30.  
Eat 5pm
Tried for a nap in the Moby but never happened.  She was completely broken after a bath at 6pm so fed and in bed by 6:45pm.

I am out a lot with DD1 and friends and I think this has an affect on DD2's naps but I'm hesitant to stay in just to get good naps when we get terrible naps at home anyways?  
I would really love to extend some time between feeds but it's just not happening.  She had 6 feeds today and most were less than 3 hours apart, I know she can go more but then she gets even more OT and it's harder to settle her for naps.
One good note is that for all of her naps at home yesterday and today she went down in her crib with a bit of encouragement rather than me holding her until she was asleep.  Also, when I resettled during her NW's last night, she resettled in her crib with a bit of patting rather than me picking her up!  This is encouraging as I'm hoping that sleep training will help us get a handle on some things.  

[~Sara~]

Sorry that it's been a couple of days.  Any improvements/changes??

Okay, so going with the routine you posted...

1) I'm wondering if she's not really able to handle 1.5h A times first thing in the morning.  What if you tried to have her asleep at the 1h20 mark?  I think if this nap is short, the rest of the day just goes off, too.  I've always found that to be the case, personally.

2) Some babies are just NOT good sleepers when on the go.  My son wasn't.  He'd get so interested in what was going on that he couldn't go to sleep, so he always ended up OT and then would wake up early from the nap (to this day he will not sleep for longer than 40 minutes in the car or stroller ).  That could just be your LO, too.  When I have M at my parents' or in-laws' houses, I will wrap her up in a blanket, give her her paci, and rock/hold her to sleep in a dark bathroom with the vent turned on.  Once I know she's asleep, I put her in her carseat and leave her in the bathroom (still dark, still with the vent).  I know I seem really weird to everyone else, but that's normally the only way I can get her to sleep.  Sure, she sleeps beautifully if we're in a loud place like Jimmy John's and the music is blaring   Anyways, maybe that can help if you're over at someone's house.

3) With re: to extending her feeds, do you mean you want her to go longer than 3h in between feeds?  Is she showing signs of being able to last longer?

[Nauvoo]

Thanks so much Sara for the replies and the help.  Things are actually going soooooooo much better.  I tried a 1hr 25 min A time and got 3 great days of naps out of her!!!!  We started sleep training full on about 4 days ago and this seems to be helping leaps and bounds.  (fingers crossed that it keeps going well).  I have been able to extend naps with sh/pat successfully.  Today she had a great morning nap, 2 short naps as we were out and about and then a great long nap this afternoon.  We went with a short A before bed and hopefully she wakes at a decent time in the morning.  She has been showing signs of being able to go longer between feeds and so far she is doing well with this early on in the day.
I just feel bad at times to be dragging her around doing stuff with DD1 and getting short OT naps when I know that if I were to stay home and work with her she'd take really good naps.  But alas, I can't stay home all day every day.  We are out and about quite a lot with DD1 so I will just have to work things out.

[~Sara~]

Wow!  That's awesome!!  If she's doing well with the longer A time AND taking long naps, then I bet she'll do great with a longer time in between feeds, too.

What a lot of moms with 2 kids say around here is that after a day of being out and about, they'll spend a day or two at home so LO can catch up on sleep.  Maybe that would work for you.  That's definitely what we had to do with DS after crazy church days

[Nauvoo]

that sound like a good plan.  thanks for sharing.  So far we seem to be getting longer nights with a good long evening nap after short naps throughout the day.  It does take a lot of work to get the long evening nap but when I got to sleep in until 8am this morning I think I'll keep working hard at that evening nap on short naps days.