Is he overtired?

[bennybean]

Hi-  My 5 month old is on the 4 hour EASY plan and does great for the first half of the day before it falls apart.  Here is our schedule:

5:45   wake, 6oz bottle (I can't seem to do anything about the early wake-up so I have accepted it) 
          I usually put him back in his crib to play but that he will only stay in until about 6:15
6:15    activity
8:15 -  9:45 morning nap
9:45    6oz bottle
10:00  activity
11:35  he begins to get very fussy so we begin the wind down routine
11:45-12:30   afternoon nap(he usually wakes up and is very fussy.  I try to get him back to sleep but usually at 1pm will just take him out of his crib)
1:00  we try to go into A, but sometimes he needs to eat to calm him down so it depends on the day.  Some days he can wait to eat until 1:30
1:00   or 1:30 6oz bottle
2:00  We usually try and get out of the house for a while to stretch his awake time otherwise he would want to nap again soon.
3 or 3:30  cat nap - 35-45 minunte nap at most.
4:30   6oz bottle
6:15   begin bedtime routine 4 oz bottle
7pm   asleep.  (at 7:45 and 8:30 he always wakes crying but I don't think he's really awake.  I give him his paci and he's asleep again)

He almost always goes to sleep easily.  Our mornings are wonderful, but then I feel like after the afternoon nap the day falls apart.  I know he is still tired when he wakes up but he will not go back to sleep.  I have tried patting him, reswaddling him, and today I even tried to take him out and rock him to sleep.  He seemed like he was on the verge of falling asleep, but after more than 30 minutes I just gave up and took him downstairs to play.  When I pat him he thrashes around a lot and scratches at his face and blanket. After a while he just gives up trying to fall back asleep and looks up mischeviously at me! After this our feeds are off, and I don't know whether to keep him up or put him to sleep after 2 hours. 
Do you think I should be putting him down for his afternoon nap sooner?  It's already less than 2 hours of activity, and I'm afraid if I put him to sleep earlier then he will need a 4th nap before bed.  Maybe 45 minutes of an afternoon nap is enough for him?  What do you think?  We have been trying to extend these naps for almost a month and I have almost never gotten him back to sleep.  Help!!

[KellyC]

Hi

I think your diagnosis of over-tiredness is probably right, especially if he's waking an hour after going to bed which is usually a sign of being too tired.

FWIW, I think you're doing the right thing feeding him when he wakes early and then putting him back down for as long as he's happy as you're showing him that it's not morning yet and you never know he might go back to sleep one of these days!  Is his room really dark?  That might help with your early mornings.

Your first nap seems to be working well so no problems there but if you know he usually gets fussy by around 11.35 how about getting him down for his second nap for 11.30 and seeing if that helps?  If he only sleeps 45 minutes still go out for your 2pm walk but let him fall asleep for half an hour or so.  He'll then be ready for his usual catnap at around 4.30pm and then there'll be a shorter stretch between the catnap and bedtime.  If all these things fail and you feel he's not had enough naps during the day then put him to bed earlier, say 6.30pm.  If he's not so tired when he goes to bed that might also prevent him from waking early so try not to stretch his last A time too much.

HTH
Kelly x

[Pimento]

I had a very similar problem at around the same time.  I know this doesn't follow the EASY plan to the letter but I started cutting down my daughter's morning nap to 45 mins which was enough for her to cope with the morning and then her lunchtime nap increased from 45 mins to one and half to two and half hours depending how tired she was.  I then gave her a short cat nap early afternoon.  Here's our day if it helps:

6.15-7.00 Normally awake but I just leave her in her cot to entertain herself unless she gets really upset
7 - milk
7.45ish - breakfast
9 - sleep for 45 mins
10.45 ish - snack (rice cake type thing)
11.45 - lunch
12.30 - sleep (length varies but normally at least one and a hlaf hours)
3ish - snack
4.30/5.00 - cat nap for about 30 mins.  She used to need this every day but now it depend on how long she slept at lunchtime.
5.30 - tea
6.15 - bath and story
6.45 - milk
7.00ish - bed for the night.

HTH
Kelly
x

[Mom to M&M]

If Kelly's idea of putting him down earlier (at 11:30 or so) doesn't work I'd actually try to put him down LATER. At 5 months, a typical A time, particularly in the afternoon, is 2.25 hours - so if he's waking at 9:45 from his first nap, he may do better with second nap at 12 - when he gets fussy at 11:35 can he be distracted with a different activity? Maybe something soothing like a walk around the house or outside and then into crib at say 11:55?

[KellyC]

Lol, isn't it difficult trying to figure these bubbas out?!  Marisa Mom's idea would work well to move your catnap later which would mean less A time after the catnap and before bed.  Let us know how it all works out!

Kelly x

[bennybean]

For the first time in months my LO slept until 7 am today to throw my whole plan off!  He woke at 5:30 which is pretty typical and I gave him a bottle and put him in his crib.  He played for about 5 minutes and started crying.  This morning we have been having thunderstorms so its still really dark so I decided to just bring him to my bed for the first time - but just to play.  Of course he fell asleep right away and slept until 7am!  This tells me that he must still be tired when I get him up at 6am.  I know I need to try and stretch the morning sleep but usually it just seems like an uphill battle.  I think I will take your advice and put him down earlier for his afternoon nap.  If that doesn't work after a few days then maybe I will try and put him down later for his afternoon nap.  I'll let you know how it goes!
Thanks for all the great advice!