Work with me baby...taking 45mins of screaming and shh n pat to go to sleep

[malibu_nikkus]

having a rough time with my 11wk old to work out wake times.

I used some suggestions from another post but it causes more issues.  I read in that the first wake time of the day should be shorter - 1hr.

I notice LO starts yawning at about 45min wake time first thing.  I changed her and had her in bed by one hour.  She laid for 5min and then screamed and it took 50mins to get her settled.  It was horrible.  She is not usually that hard to get settled. This has happened two days in a row.  She then naps 40mins.

[malibu_nikkus]

Actually today, she napped 30mins.

Put her down at wake time 1hr, 1.20, 2hrs all result in 30min nap.

[weaver]

The average A time for her age is around 1 hr20-30 mins.  If you're having difficulty working out *her* best A time, and that can be tricky!, it's often best just to go for the average.  So try her with 1 hr20 for a few days.  You do need to try around the same time consistently for a few days in order for her to adjust and get used to it.

Yawns are not always reliable tired signs, an hour really is rather too short at this age.  Undertiredness always caused the worst, angriest sleep resistance from my LOs! And the fact that she resisted and then did a 40 minute nap looks like she really was undertired.  A 40 min nap generally means A time was not long enough as LO has slept one sleep cycle, and then woken up refreshed. 

[malibu_nikkus]

Thank you.  I finally end up getting her to sleep by 1.45 awake time on average, no matter what her wake time actually is (if I out her to bed at 1hr wake time, 1.30 wake time etc, she always falls asleep at about 1.45.  Could this mean I should extend her wake time to 1.45, or is it a coincidence?  Shouldn't the first wake time of the day be short or haven't you needed to?

Another question.  LO gets really worked up with shh n pat.  Currently I rock her to sleepy eyes, even closed but not deeply asleep, when I put her down, she opens her eyes and goes back to sleep.  Is that okay? Will this approach eventually teach independence?