EASY routine napping question

[adalovebug]

I'm hoping that all of you experienced BW moms can help me out here!

My DD is now 7 1/2 months old.  We started EASY at about 6 months, following Tracey's instructions in the "Starting EASY after 4 months" thread in the EASY section.

Here's my question.  Tracey says in that document that if the baby wakes from her nap early, to do PU/PD and get her back to sleep and then wake her at the hour and a half mark.  Here's the quote: "You’re changing her routine and this is how you do it. Even if she’s slept for only ten minutes, wake her up at 11 in time for her feed, so you don’t get off track."

After about a month and a half, my DD is still waking sometimes 1/2 hour into her nap.  I go in and sometimes it takes about 1/2 an hour to 45 minutes to get her back to sleep (she doesn't really cry all that much, just fusses and tries to play with the crib rails, but she's definitely still tired).  Then a lot of times I just let her sleep over the hour and a half mark because I just want her to get some sleep so she won't be so cranky.

Should I still be waking her at the hour and half mark to "set her clock" or should I just let her sleep so she'll be less cranky and get used to sleeping longer?

Thanks so much!

[Mom to M&M]

I used to allow DD to sleep past feeds by 30 minutes sometimes if she needed the sleep. But what is your current routine? If your DD is still waking often 30 minutes into a nap perhaps she's overtired and/or needs a routine change? How long are her A times?

[adalovebug]

Here is her current routine:

7:00am      Wake Up & Nurse
8:00am      Breakfast – Baby Food & Oatmeal
9:10am      Down for Nap
11:00am      Wake Up & Nurse
12:00pm      Lunch – Oatmeal
1:10pm      Down for Nap
3:00pm      Wake & Nurse
5:00pm      Nurse
6:00pm      Dinner – Baby Food & Oatmeal
6:45pm      Nurse & Bedtime

Her A times are 7-9:10am, 11-1:10pm and 3-7:30pm. 

She usually starts to get fussy around 8:45am and I hold her off until 9:10 or so.  Then she is asleep by 9:30.  Depending on how well she sleeps in her first nap, she gets fussy around 12:45pm and I put her down at 1:10 or so, asleep by 1:30.
Maybe I should put her down 1/2 an hour earlier? (8:40 and then 12:10?)

She is also very cranky in the afternoon by about 5:00 - maybe I should still give her a third nap?  I was pretty sure that by 7 months she should only be taking two naps and that she shouldn't sleep after 5:00 if I want her to go to bed by 7:30.  But I guess if I make the other two naps earlier, she might have room for that third nap?

Thanks so much for your help!
Mandy
DD 4/24/06

[Mom to M&M]

At 7 months, I think you need to start extending some A times. If she's not waking until 7am, I'd delay first nap until at least 9:30 - but extend slowly - maybe 5 minutes every couple of days. If she takes a nap of an hour (and I'd wake after 1.5 hours tops if not up), then you can try 2.75-3 hours before second nap and try to start phasing out the catnap...

[HeatherC]

I agree with Karen.  My first thought was that she might need about 2.5 hrs of A time.  Since she seems fussy at about 1.75 hrs, you'll have to really work to preoccupy her to get her through a bit longer.  But, as Karen said, increase the time slowly.  She's probably fussy so soon now due to being overtired, but that should change once she starts taking longer naps.  When I was phasing out the catnap with my dd (sorry, but I don't remember when), I would just go into her room and sit quietly with her in the rocking chair just to give her some time to relax.  She didn't want to nap, but she was still having a hard time getting through the whole evening.  Eventually she could do without that rest. 

[adalovebug]

Thanks, ladies!  Extending her wake time is the opposite of what I was thinking, but it makes sense, so we'll give it a try   I'll let you know how it goes!

Mandy
DD 4/24/06

[adalovebug]

Well, we've been trying to extend "A" times over the past couple of days and it's working GREAT!!  When we've been good on the routine (Sundays mess us up with our church schedule), she's taken 1 1/2 hour naps without waking up at all in the middle.  Hopefully it's not a fluke, but we'll see!

Here's another question:

If I'm extending her "A" time, does that mean we move to a 4 1/2 hour nursing schedule?

Here's our current routine with the extended "A" time:

7:00am Wake & Nurse
8:00am Breakfast
9:40am Down for nap, asleep by 10:00am
11:30am Wake & Nurse
12:30pm Lunch
2:10pm Down for nap, asleep by 2:30pm
4:00pm Wake & Nurse
5:30pm Nurse
6:00pm Dinner
7:00pm Nurse & Bedtime

So, if she goes for a full 1 1/2 hour nap, she will have two 4 1/2 hour gaps between nursing.  She seems to be okay with that over the past couple of days and she is still getting the same number of nursings per day.



Thanks!
Mandy
DD Ada 4/06

[HeatherC]

I think it looks great.  Once solids come in to play, that helps fill their bellies between nursing sessions.  Of course, if you ever felt the need, I don't see why you couldn't nurse 2 times between a nap if she wanted/needed it.  There's no rule set in stone.  However, I think 5xday for nursing at 8 months is great.