Need to drop catnap? How?

[Moma of two]

Ok my 14 week old is just coiming off of a brutal weekend of napping mistakes ( mom kept her up fr 3.5 hours because she didn't look tired and DH who woke her up after an hour because he misunderstood my instructions)

Since my schedule is 7:45am to 7:45 pm I had to sneak in a catnap at 6:10 as her last nap ended at 4:45.  This catnap made it a two hour long process to get her to sleep.  I am starting to try to extend her morning A time by 15 min to make it 1hr and 45 minutes.  I am only on my second day but so far so good.  My question is how do I get rid of this late catnap?  Should I just extend her other A times if I have to to make it work?  I think that if I can get her last nap to end around six she should be able to make it until BT.  Any suggestions?

[Papaya]

Can you post your EASY hun? I'm not sure I understand your situation - is she usually on three naps and a catnap, or do you mean you were just doing one yesterday because she was OT from the weekend?

If she's got a bit OT I would tend to reduce A times just for a day or two and do EBT to try and help her to catch up.

[Moma of two]

Ok sorry a little confusing.  I have been doing 3 naps plus catnap but I find she takes two hours t get to sleep after catnap.  Then last night I tried to extend A times and naps and she took three hours to get down to sleep.  Obviously I am screwing something up.  I will post my Easy for last two days.  I am in the process of moving to a four hour easy and am upping my A time by 15 min in morning.

Catnap day
UpE 7:55
S.    9:30
E.   11:10
S.   12:40
E.    2:10
S.   3:45
A.   4:20
E.    4:45
S5:40 - 6:10

E 7:30. Took two hours to get to sleep

Non cat nap day
Up/E. 7:55
S.    9:40
Up.  10:45
E.    11:00
S.    12:30
E.     2:15
S 4:15 - 5
E. 7:00 slept for 40 min then took 2 and a half hours and 10:00 bottle to get to sleep


So I am really confused how I can tweak my nap schedule to avoid catnap but also avoid OT.


E.   

[Papaya]

Tbh, the first day you posted looks pretty good - is she sleeping from when you put her down through until the next E time? The third nap was a bit short so I would have done a shorter A time after that and brought the catnap earlier - I think she was OT for it, and for bedtime which may be why it took so long to settle. Almost definitely OT for yesterday evening as well, that was a long last A to bed after a short nap.

I'd say she needs to get three good long naps of 1.5-2 hours, to avoid OT at bedtime - otherwise she may still need a short catnap to see her through to bed. How is she coping with the longer A in the morning - are you aiming for 1hr45 now? Average would be about 1hr30, moving towards 1hr45, but many LOs like a slightly shorter A time first thing.

[Moma of two]

Unfortunately her third nap before catnap is always short and this is what throws my schedule off.  I have been at 1 hr and 45 minutes for morning A for for days now.  This morning I got a two hour nap.  According to book I should extend morning to two hours and then work on afternoon.  I am mre inclined to move second A time to one hour and 45 min.  What do you think?  She s 14.5 weeks old so I am anxious o get her to a 4 hour EASY although night time still tends to be a disaster.  Last night was just as bad and I included a catnap.  So frustrating!

[Moma of two]

Knock on wood she s down for evening.  Last nap was only an hour and ended at 5:30.  I started E at 7:00.  Cross your fingers

[Papaya]

I am mre inclined to move second A time to one hour and 45 min.

Yes, definitely this. If you're getting a good am nap after 1hr45 mins I would stick with that and extend the second A slightly. She's still young, quite a lot of babies aren't ready for a 4 hour EASY until 4 months (and for feeding, still might not be ready for 4 hour EASY until later, esp if bf). Hope tonight goes well!

[Moma of two]

Thanks she doesn't seem to ever want to eat at the 3 hour point so the eating transition is ok.  I extended the second A so I will see how it goes.

[Moma of two]

I took your advice and did not move first A time up.  I moved up second and got a 1.5 now she seems to want all her A times to be 1 hour and forty five min or will not fall asleep.  Does this seem normal for an almost 15 week old.  She also does not want to eat at the three hour mark for some reason.  3.5 seems to be the magical number so I may stay at that for a while.  She is a big girl so I think ped will start her on solids at 4 months.  My prob is that if the third nap is too short I really don't have time for a catnap.  I hope all three will be 1.5 so it wont be an issue.

[Moma of two]

You have been so helpful.  I am getting a little discouraged as despite that one good evening it has been hours to get her to sleep.  I can't ever get to help my son go to sleep as it anyone's guess as to how long it takes.  I thought yesterday was perfect but obviously something happened because I gave her the last bottle starting at 7:15 and she finally fell asleep at 9:15 after intermittent bouts of crying.  Please tell me where I went wrong.  My son never had these issues at night I would put him down and he slept.  He also had reflux with meds.

upE. 6:45
S.      8:20
UpE.  9:55
S.      11:40
Up E.  1:15
S 3 - 4
E.  4:30

S. 6:00 - 6:40

E. 7:15 then slept at 9:15

I shortened A time after 40 min nap as suggested.

Tell me what you think. Oh she then woke up at 10 so feed her as normally do DF at 10:30.  She slept until 5:45 and was unfortunately up for the day.

[becj86]

Do you have a BT routine that tells her its time for a long sleep?

I wonder if she's overstimulated at bedtime too - that's what would have DS fussing for hours and waking soon after BT is he wasn't OT.

I also think maybe you need to push that 3rd A time to 2hr or so and see if you get yourself a longer 3rd nap - that may get you to BT without the CN.