Amost there...

[mummy2013]

Hi!

I've started using BW's advice 3 months ago and thanks to all the help received on this website we managed to get into a nice routine! We got rid of most of my LO's OTdness and naps have improved a lot.

However, naps don't seem to have a pattern and only one of her two main naps are long enough and I can tell she still needs a bit more of sleep. Is this normal or do I have to keep working on this?? what do I do? I thought about doing wake to sleep, but as her naps duration are all different, I don't know when to go in??  Once she wakes up early from her nap it's impossible for me to put her back to sleep. If I leave her cooing, she may stay awake for 1h30mins! but if I go into her room, it distracts her and waker her up more.

This is her routine
Wake 6:00
E 6:30
A 7:00
S 8:00

E 10:30
A 11:00
S 12 or 12:30

E 2:30
A 3
S 4:30 or 5 catnap

E 6:30
A 7
S 8

DF 10:30

She's 6 months, sleeps 8 to 6 at night with a couple of NW's a week, but generally goes back to sleep on her own. The duration of her naps in the last 7 days were:

Morning Nap
35mins          45mins          45mins          1h35mins          1h5mins          1h30mins          50mins

Afternoon Nap
1h50mins      1h10mins        1h15mins      1h10mins          20mins!           40mins             1h15mins

Thanks!!
Flavia

[yaya]

not sure what your question is? If you feel she needs more sleep (btw is she having a catnap?) then i would try to extend those naps, her last A time of the day seems a little long to me and I would be tempting to extend daytime A to 2.5-3hrs and reduce the evening A time a bit to see if that helps.
What do you do to extend naps?

[mummy2013]

Hi!

Sorry I wasn't very clear.

Yes, she has a catnap but I still feel I have to extend her naps (the short nap) and my question is how do I do this? Do I try wake to sleep? If I do, then do I do it in every nap after 30mins she falls asleep?. Because I never know how long she is going to sleep for, do I do wake to sleep in every single nap?

At the moment I feel stuck if she wakes up early from a nap because all the things I try to put her back to sleep don't seem to work.  I've tried holding her hand and reassuring her, but sometimes this distracts her. I've tried picking her up and do wind down again, but when I put her down she seems to be wide awake. I've tried leaving the room if she's settled, but she doesn't fall asleep. Most of the times, I give up after 40mins of 'trying' and I take her downstairs and try again after 1/2 hour.

I agree that her A times need some adjustment. I'll definitely try that!
Thanks!!

[yaya]

wake to sleep will only work if she's waking at the same time every day asa in after the same amount so say 30 mins 40 mins etc, check the FAQs for how to do it.
As far as extending, I would do whatever you do to iniėtially get her to sleep but to me it seems more like a routine issue that anything else...
how long is catnap, she'll be growing out of it soon so maybe don't have it too long....
I would do sometihng like this:
wakeup 6.00
1st nap 8.00-8.15 for as long as she will sleep so hopefully 1.5 hrs
wakeup 9.45
2nd nap  12ish for as long as she'll sleep, hopefully 1.5- 2.00 hrs
wakeup then a catnap at 5 then bedtime 7.30

my thinking is that since you last had issues DD has grown up a biut and could handle longer A times so she isn't tired enough for those naps?

Just a thought

[mummy2013]

Hi Yaya!
Reading your message I realise that wake to sleep won't work as it's not always after the same amount of time.

Her catnap is generally 40/45 mins, do I wake her up after 30 mins? How do I know when she's growing out of the catnap? What do I look for?

I agree with you that it's a routine issue, I hadn't thought about that but it makes sense! I'll try extending her A times! One last question, I know that at her age her A time should be about 2.5, at around how many months does it change to 3hs?

Thanks for this, it clarifies a lot to me. 
x

[yaya]

I really depends on the LO, mine was on 3 naps till anout 9 mos as she had awful nights and was pretty tired in the daytime but many move away from catnap from 6 mos onwards. I would gradually
increase your A time so 2hrs 15 then 2hrs30 then 2hr45 then 3hrs so you can see what she can handle.
You can try w2s and yes go in at the 30 min mark stroke her cheek or stir her in some way and let her resettle herself into another sleep cycle, ahev you read the FAQs?

Personally I would reduce the catnap to 20-30 mins see it as a power nap that will stretch her to bedtime until she can handle longer A time

[mummy2013]

Hi Yaya
Thanks so much for all your help. You were right, I've started adjusting her A times, and I can already see the difference. 

x x x

[yaya]

yay! excellent news!