Hi sweetie, sorry you've been waiting a while for a response. These spirited beings can be a delight and can be a struggle.
So even after eating it might looks like she wants to go back to sleep but will wake after 10 mins. I give her that since she's EBF and use to be fed sleep.
I would try to avoid this for a couple of reasons:
1. You then make A times harder to work out as she's had a short nap and it can throw everything off.
2. You're not really completely stopping that feed to sleep prop which might be part of your issues when you're trying to settle her to sleep for naps.
She fights sleep and cries going down. Sometimes she has to give one last cry before finally sleeping.
Spirited babies sometimes do fight sleep because they don't want to miss out on what else is happening, sometimes because they're OT/UT (honestly, I swear DS' sleep window was about 2min wide for almost the entire first year of his life), sometimes because the transition from activity to bed is hard for them (usually you find other transitions are also tricky). Try not to take crying personally - crying is her way to communicate. It doesn't always mean she's upset, sometimes it means "hey, why have you brought me here" or whatever else.
Right now we walk/rock her to sleep either in our arms or in baby carrier for both naps and night ever since we go away from feeding to sleep.I started to play a lullaby on repeat as we walk hoping she'll get use to hearing it so we can replace the motion with it.
This is a great plan. You can gradually remove your assistance and you've moved away from feeding to sleep which will make things easier in the long run.
I can't seem to find her sleep window since it seems to carry. Sometimes she's sleeping street an hour A sometimes 1.5hrs
I think if you get rid of those post-feed 10min naps, this will get a lot easier. Its not always easy with a spirited LO as their sleep windows do seem to be quite narrow compared with other temperaments but that will at least give you a consistent place to begin. I think you should probably try to go for 1.5hr and keep it really consistent for a few days then tweak from there. You're welcome to post your EAS for help in tweaking if you so desire, either here or on another board.
Sometimes we can put they into the crib after she's asleep sometimes we can't. The moment we do s transfer she'll wake.
If your entire safety was in the hands of another person and that person put you down, would you not wake and scream for them to come back? To me, I think this is a basic survival instinct for a baby. That's why settling in the crib will help with her sleeping more independently and getting through from one sleep cycle to the next.
I was hoping to see how people got their baby to sleep independently in the crib.Right now when I put her in even when she's almost asleep from the walking she'll immediately open her eyes wide then cry. Basically undoing all the work to get her to that state which can be 15+mins. And when she cries we have to do it so over again. Sometimes for get naps I have to carry her it else there will be no sleep. See this point I figured her getting sleep is more important.
I drove myself crazy trying to get my spirited baby to fall asleep in the crib at the appointed time when he was tiny. Eventually, I stopped worrying about the crib and got him to sleep with an appropriate routine. Once he was used to sleeping at regular intervals and was in a stable routine, it was much easier to get him to sleep independently in his crib. At 4mo, I did EAS by the clock at 2hr A time for 3 days and he just fell into it beautifully though he was sleeping swaddled on the floor in the living room because he couldn't deal with the transition to the bedroom. At 5mo, I trained him to sleep in his cot for naps with shush/pat (he had always been in his cot for night sleeps).
I don't know why by lately we try for the 8pm BT. but instead she'll cat nap and then wait for an other hour or 2 before we fight Shaun for her sleep. And we're trying for that we hour or 2 trying to get her to go back to sleep and nothing works but I don't want her to think it's ok to have an other awake time.
What are you doing in this time? Any sort of light or interaction will perpetuate this. Ideally you would keep her in her crib, lay a hand on her and play the lullaby. The room would remain dark. If she's lying quietly and is not upset, don't do anything other than sit there quietly (or just don't be there).
My suggestion for moving forward is the following:
1. Don't let her nap after feeds.
2. Feed directly upon waking from a nap - don't wait 3hr, just feed when she wakes then keep her awake.
3. Do 1.5hr A times from when she wakes to when you put her down for a nap.
4. Don't do long wind downs. Spirited babies (in general) don't benefit from long wind downs and it certainly seems yours doesn't. You just need a couple of consistent cues for sleep. That can be swaddle, put a hand on her and sing/play lullaby.
I think all babies and especially spirited babies need routine which brings predictability so they can self-regulate with respect to sleep and feeding. If you can give her the opportunity to sleep, eat and play in a specific order and at reasonable intervals consistently, she will be able to take the sleep and food that she requires.
