At the beginning of December, my LO (spirited, 4 months and 2 weeks) moved fairly easily on to a four hour EASY from a 2-3 hour EASY. She definitely only needs to eat every 4 hours but the afternoon nap is the problem (and the am nap seems to be getting shorter every day). When I started the transition, the 40 min nap monster had shown up so I increased her awake time a bit and used sh/pat to extend her naps. The sh/pat worked like a charm for the morning nap and after a few days she was napping for 2 hours. It hasn't gone as well for the pm nap. I did sh/pat at the 40 min mark for a week at the start of December which did extend her naps and I got a few days of long naps (she'd cry for 2-3 min in the middle and then go back to sleep) and then back to short naps. I've been working on extending the pm nap again but I don't feel it's working (but maybe I just need to stick it out and keep trying). Day 1 - patted for 40 min and she went back to sleep. Day 2 - patted for 30 min. Day 3 - for 10 min. Day 4 - patted for over an hour and she was calm but not really asleep and today DH patted for an hour and she was wide awake. She generally seems quite happy after a short nap but that's not saying much because DD is usually quite happy to be awake even if she misses a nap.
Today looked like this:
WU and E - 8:10
S - 10:10-11:35 (I used to have to wake her from this nap at 2 hours but lately it's been 1.5 or a bit shorter) - played in her crib till noon
E: 12:10
S: 1:45 - 2:30 - DH patted from 2:30 - 4 - she did drift off again briefly but woke up again
E: 4
S: 5:15 - 5:50 (Started WD at 4:55 which was way too late - OT and hard to settle)
E: 6
S: 8
We've had a few EW 2 weeks ago but none this week. She's had a few nights where she slept right through and sometimes she wakes up once.
Her A time is usually 2h and she's been settling to sleep fairly easily at that point (pacifier and a few pats). Today was off because of the short naps and DH being in charge for the afternoon.
I'm fairly certain that the short pm nap is not OT because she was not waking up howling like she does when she's OT.
On more days than not the pm nap is short. If I don't get in there to pat as soon as she makes a noise, she talks to herself for a while then cries a bit and back to talking. Should I continue trying to extend the pm nap or increase her A time? Even though she's not yet 5 months, is it possible that she's in the 3-2 transition?
When she short naps should I add a short 4th nap or put her to bed earlier?
Sorry for the long post. After reading it again, maybe this would be better on the EASY forum - let me know if I should move it.
