lengthen A time?

[ghrkin]

Hi all,

first time posting to the nap boards.  Today is Day 3 of official Bbay whisperering.  LO is 7 months old. 

i've been runing to the crib as soon as she starts to rub her eyes, and she settles quite easily (about 5 minutes) for almost every nap and bedtime (and it's only day 3!!)  however, her A time is usually around the 2 hour mark before she is rubbing her eyes - then her naps tend to be 45-60 minutes.

now - since this is only day 3 and it's all going well, should i stick with where we are for a bit, or try to extend naps (tried that once eyesterday and it didnt go well) or should i be lengthening her A time and not running to the crib when she starts to rub her eyes... rather should i wait 10 minutes (or 20? or 30??) from first eye rub or something? 

another point - she is my second so i already have a 2.5 year old running around as well.  we tend to go out every morning so i havent figured out her napping locations and timing for when we're out.  can her "free" cat nap be in the morning rather than dinner time (in the car seat or stroller rather than the crib i mean) or should i try to stay home until after her first nap is done (hard with very active DS)

thanks for any ideas
andrea

[brenda2]

welcome to BW!  glad you're starting with your LO.

at 7 mo her A time should be about 2.5 to 3 hours.  often at this age too the sleep cues get harder to read or inconsistent or misleading.  an eye rub may not mean sleepy.  if you are getting short naps, unless she has always been a short napper, it's probably due to too short A time and she's UT.

does she have any props?  does she wake happy from the short nap?  do you leave her to resettle and see if she can go back to sleep on her own?

what were her naps and A time like before you started BW?

since it's only day 3 you need to give her a bit of time to learn and be consistent , but your a times also need to be right in order to get good naps.  i would aim for slightly longer A times than you are doing first thing in the morning or after a long nap.  after a short nap then 2 hours A time (shorter than normal) is appropriate becasue the previous nap won't be as restful.

also, re: routine.  this is a tough age to start with this because for most LOs it's right in the middle of the 3 to 2 nap switch.  at this age a lot of LOs when they can do 3 hours A time drop the catnap and go to 2 long naps.  so watch for that too.

also, at this age i found naps in the stroller much harder because there wasn't really a catnap and she needed to have 2 good naps in the day or else we had a meltdown at bedtime.  not to say it can't be done, but my Lo never did a long nap in the stroller so after about 6 mo she does her naps at home.  can you do the outings during A time?  her awake time should be getting longer anyway and then it's easier to get out and about.

[ghrkin]

i'm just worried if i miss the window she won't be easy to setlle in the crib.  i suspect she's having short naps cuz she's UT (as u said) and then having short A time cuz her nap was short.  cyclical i guess.  going to need to try and increase her A time.

prior to BW - well from month 1-6 her nights were very good with typically only 1 NW each night.  but napping was hit and miss.  she was a frequent cat napper, carseat or stroller of course, or the swing if we were home.  i pretty much 100% nursed to sleep (naps and night).  for the last month her nights have been getting worse, now typically 2-3 NW each night.  i know it's a rough time with milestones and teething etc (shes not actively teethign right now so far as i can tell btw)

so yes, she typically always has beena  cat napper.  and i think her A times are too short.  and i think it will be very challeneging to get out of the house only on her A times esp. when i have to remmeber to feed her! lol.  she's an angel/textbook babe so doesn't tend to complain much even for food.

also in the past she goes to bed medium late (9 ish) and now i'm shifting her earlier but last night might have been too early at 7:05 cuz now she's up for the day at 6:20 which means first nap will be around 8:30 or so. 

so props - yes nursing of course and the swing.  she didnt tend to do long naps in the swing either.  so this a.m will wait for her first nap to be done before leaving the house and then try to stretch her A time to 2.75 or 3 so she will in thoery have a longer nap at noon. 

sorry got so long.  thanks for the input.  will post back.

andrea

[brenda2]

can you post your routine, or what you did yesterday so i can get a sense?

great you are breaking the feed to sleep prop, this will really help things.

at this age the window is much larger than when younger, so i wouldn't worry too much about it.  10 min now isn't goign to make as much of a difference as when her A time was shorter.

are you doing sleeps now in the crib then?

as you get better naps and longer A times it will be easier to get out of the house during her awake times.  i really found once DD was on 2 naps it was way easier to do outings as i didn't have such a short window to get out and back home again.

[ghrkin]

okay - yesterday:

7:30 awake (nursed, play, fed cereal/fruit, play)
10:15 asleep
11:20 awake (nursed, play, nursed)
1:00 asleep
1:45 awake
3:50 asleep
4:35 awake
7:05 asleep
12:30 nursed
4:45 nursed
6:15 up for day


now - i must say, due to there being a 2.5 year old running around, typically she nursed well before he was up, well when he was napping, and well after he was in bed.. and then caught a few snacks here and there.  so i am trying to get her to EASY but right now it's EAEASY or EAESY i know. 

if we are home she is napping in her crib every nap.  (she's slept in her crib every night since birth)

since she is pretty mellow, i know i *can* push her A times, but she gets fussy around the 2 hr or 2:20 hr mark every time so i've been putting her in the crib then to not  miss her window.  DS is back to daycare wednesday/thurs/fri next week so i can work on longer A times more easily when he's not around.  speaking of DS i shoudl head over the the toddler sleep boards cuz he is resisting his nap right now

thanks again!
andrea

[brenda2]

hi
sounds like you know the answers...

i think you could have pushed her slightly longer first thing (and for each A time actually...), she did a 55 min nap which definitely means UT.  i would try for 3 hours A time first thing.  then if a 1 hour nap aim for 2.5 hours A time, if a 45 min nap aim for 2 hours 10 min or something like that.

also you know you need to work on stretching the feeds too and not feeding before the 4 hour mark.  if she is taking good feeds and solids too then she doesn't need to eat before 4 hours.