Non-napping happy Angel baby - what to do?

[MomOfKaylee]

Hey friends!

I have a 100% Angel baby who is just about to turn 5 months old. She has been on EASY since Day 1. (Our 5 year old daughter was a Textbook baby and did AWESOME on EASY! I'm a believer!) She was on an AWESOME 4 hour schedule with great naps (always woke up at 45 min, but put herself back to sleep after training her w/ ssh/pat in the beginning) and then all of a sudden, she just stopped putting herself back to sleep during naps! I mean, NEVER! Developmentally, she has exploded... she wakes up from her nap and plays with her hands and now her feet, makes noises, talks, etc. She might fuss a bit but RARELY cries! If I try to put her back to sleep using Shh/Pat or PU/PD, she thinks it's a great game and smiles and laughs.

Sounds like she is UT, right? So.... I started keeping her up longer... and we quickly went to OT and 20-30 min naps. Still waking up fairly happy. She'll fuss some, but again rarely cry.

I know she is tired because I have tried holding her and putting her back to sleep and she will fall asleep in my arms (not accidental parenting... just did this a couple of times several days apart just to try to get her caught up a little and experiment).

It's a terrible cycle because if she takes a short nap, then she can't stay awake for as long the next round and then it messes up her schedule with eating, sleeping, everything!

(Just an FYI -  sShe has been sleeping fro
m 7pm to 7am with an 11pm DF since 11 weeks... she only wakes up if she hasn't gotten enough calories during the day.)

So what do you do with a baby who doesn't sleep but doesn't cry?

Thanks for your help! I love you guys!

[MomOfKaylee]

For example... this morning, she woke up at 7am happy. I put her down at 8:45 after a 15 minute wind down (story, nap routine) and she was asleep by 8:50. (I just lay her down and she puts herself to sleep.) She was awake 39 minutes later... talking to herself. She fell back asleep 10 minutes later and now she's awake again after an 11 minute nap. She is currently laying in her crib, playing with her hands and making noises.

If I leave her there for the remainder of her nap (until 10:30ish), she will likely just do the same. Sometimes, she'll get fussy but not cry.

Is this under tired? Why is an almost 5 month old not tired after nearly 2 hours of being awake?

AND... how long should I keep up up in the next "round" if she technically woke up around 9:45am after a total of 50 minutes of sleep?

THANK YOU! This is driving me crazy! (Even though I know I should be thankful she is happy! )

[Aishi]

Hi and welcome to the boards.

Can you post your easy in EAS format please? Is your lo 5 months? It's just your ticker says 4m4wo...that could make the diff in a times...4mo it's 1h45-2 and 5mo it's 2-2.25. I know with my lo 5 min more or less can make a huge diff to nap lengths!

Is my baby ready to increase his ‘A’ time? (incl. 'A' times for younger babies)


Typical Amounts of Day and Night Sleep

Has she got developmental stuff going on? That can also play havoc with sleep. Or she may struggle to transition between cycles still although that's less likely As she does fall asleep independantly... There are methods to extend naps (without lo waking) to help with these sort of and habitual wakings

How do I address habitual wakings? (wake-to-sleep and other methods)

Hth for now xx