Early first nap

[Niki&Isaac]

Amber's first tired cues come about 1 - 1.5 hrs after she wakes. When at other times of the day (when she is being particularly difficult to settle) she can go for 3 hours awake time.

Is this a clue as to something isn't quite how it should be?

She doesn't go down easily at all at the moment either, in fact she is getting harder to settle, and nearly always cries when she is put down for a nap. I have posted in another forum for help with this.

Her "routine" (if i can call it that)
Is 7 - 7.30 wake up
Feed
3 Naps - all over the place
6.30 bath
Feed
Bed 7.30
Up again to settle
Bed again. 

She is generally very good at night and at the mo is waking for one feed around 3 ish and can settle herself back to sleep well.

[KathrynK]

many babies stop with the tired cues at this age and become harder to read- it is quite likely that now when she rubs her eyes and yawns after only 1.5hrs she is actually telling you she is bored and needs a change of scenery. That's also probably why she won't settle easily for the nap- she's not tired enough and needs more A time.
At 5mo most lo's are awake for 2 -2.5 hrs at a time. I would try extending that first A time by 15-30 mins and see if she settles easier for her nap.
Many babies have shorter A time in the morning, this is very common, so don't be surprised if she still stays up for longer periods as the day goes on.

[Niki&Isaac]

So if the cues for boredom are now the same as the tiredness cues, how do I gage when it is the right time to put her to bed?
Thanks KathrynK x

[KathrynK]

well I had the same problem as Sophie stopped showing obvious tired clues so since about 5mo I've pretty much gone by the clock- and there are many here that have had to do the same!
I looked up the average A times & nap times for her age (there's some info on this in the FAQs section at the top of the board). I took into account that she's always needed more sleep than the "average"(- she didn't drop the catnap till 8mo and the norm is around 6-7) and so worked on the premise that is the average 5mo was staying awake for say 2.5hrs, then I would aim for perhaps 2-2.25hrs with Sophie and put her down after that amount of A time. Obviously if she looked knackered after 1.75hrs then I would put her to bed, I wouldn't keep her up when she clearly needed to sleep!
It's not about watching the clock obsessively, it's a balance of knowing your lo well enough to see an eye-rub and think, hmm, well she's only been up 1hr15 and I know she shouldn't be tired yet so let's play with something else for a bit and aim to put her down closer to 2hrs. Or something like that!
hope that helps a bit more
K