5.5 month old grumpy and clingy after 2nd nap

[LovelyLilyandJack]

My textbook / angel 5.5 month old has been uncharacteristically grumpy the last few afternoons, crying whenever she's put down, and even still when she's being held for no apparent reason.  She's become a real Mummys girl whereas she used to go to anyone.  I thought it was her teeth as that makes her tired and clingy but it's been 4 days now and I think actually she's just really tired.  She's been crying through her bath which isn't like her, and falling asleep on her bottle which again, she normally doesn't do.  Previous to this she'd been waking in the night and waking quite early for her day so I thought her A time might be a bit low.  I've been extending it from about 2 hrs - 2hrs 10 to 2hrs 25ish over the last week or so.  Have I maybe gone a bit far?  I've not had any OT naps or anything but she does still seem tired after her 2nd nap as she's fine before that and grumpy afterwards.  Though I don't get that, as that's the point at which she's had the most sleep vs A time in the day?!

She will only nap for 3 hrs between her first 2 naps (so if she does 2 hrs on her first nap she'll only manage an hour on the second, and vice versa - it almost always adds up to 3 hours between the two no matter what she does) so is ready for her catnap quite early, which I often give her a bit late, but she's grumpy before that which is the bit I don't get?  She always goes to bed fine though and STTN so it's not a major problem... yet!  The night wakings and early starts have gone since increasing her A time.  She's also on solids on advice from the health visitor and I've been upping them the last few days (again, on advice) cos she's clearly also been very hungry.

Any ideas on how I could tweak my day to help the grumpy afternoons?  Here is a fairly typical day....

Wake @ 6.30am

E: 7am - bottle 6ozs & solids at 8am
A: 2hrs 20 - 2hrs 25
S: 8.55 - 10.35 (1hr 40).  This varies between 1hr 30 and 1hr 50 usually

E: 11am - solids plus bottle (anything between 7 and 12 ozs!  I have a post open on bottle feeding about this)
A: 2hrs 20 - 2hrs 25
S: 12.55 - 2.15 (1hr 20)

E: 3pm - bottle only 8ozs (again - variable)
A: 2hrs 30ish.  Sometimes up to 2hrs 45
S: 4.50 - 5.20

E: 5.45 - solids only
A: 1hr 30 - 1hr 40
S: 6.45 - 7pm (bedtime)

E: 10.30pm - 4-6ozs

Any ideas on what I can tweak to sort it?  I hate seeing her so miserable as she's normally such a happy baby.  Or is it likely to be a developmental kind of thing and I just need to hang on in there?!

Thank you in advance for any help!

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Our LO is getting worse and has had a terrible day today.  She's been crying all day pretty much which has been a mixture of hunger, tiredness and being very clingy with me (only calming for me and getting hysterical with her Dad).  It's like she's become a completely different baby over night - it's really upsetting.  What on earth can I do to get us back on track?  I'm not sure if I should be increasing or decreasing A time to help?  Last night she woke up at 1.45am and cooed to herself for about half an hour before going back to sleep so not sure if the night waking is about to start again....  Her morning nap is rarely longer than 1hr 15 at the moment as well - don't know if that's related?

[*Jo*]

Hi there, sorry things are a bit rough at the moment! ok for starters it could very well be that she needs more A time, however because her naps are short then her A times are too long afterwards it builds up OT and by the end of hte day shes over it and is majorly grumpy!

what i suggest is that after a good nights sleep increase her A time slightly for the first A time to 2.5 hours. if the nap is still short then shorten the following A time down to 1.5-2 hours depending on tired signs or your knowledge of what she can handle. anytime you ahve a short nap then the following A time does need to be shorten to compensate. also after her catnap i would look at possible only an hour or so for an A time, its been a long time since we were at that age so i cant quite remember what we did there but i know Caleb was majorly grumpy after his CN until it was dropped.

try that and let me know how you get on

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Thanks for your reply.  Today has been a lot better - I think Lily was actually going through a growth spurt and was grumpy cos she was hungry all the time - but she's still only napping for about an hour to an hour and a half at a time and was grumpy after her catnap today cos she'd only had about 2.5-3 hours sleep all day. 

I will try upping her A time first thing tomorrow (unless she has a bad night tonight but generally she's OK).  That's interesting what you say about her second nap cos I'd been trying to increase her A time on that too but I'll watch that one depending on how long her morning nap is.  At the moment she seems to be doing 1hr 30ish for her first nap but only 1hr for her second, though usually she splits 3 hours between the two, seemingly randomly.  I've been applying for a promotion at work so have been doing interview prep all week but that's all done now so I can focus on Lily a bit more again now!

I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Well she managed 2.5 hrs yesterday morning until she practically fell asleep on me and 1hr 25 today.  She's managed 2hrs (which I woke her from) and 1hr 30ish respectively.  She also slept til 7am this morning rather than 6.15ish which was lovely!  If she has a good nap should I push her second A time to 2.5 hrs as well?  I did today and she seemed ok (i had to wake her from a nap after 1hr 35 as we were going out) but not sure if doing it long term will make her OT?

[*Jo*]

It takes a few days to see the real results of any changes so I would keep doing what you are doing for a few more days yet and make a decision after that, otherwise you are doing a fantastic job

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Well, I've been continuing with the 2.5hrs A time before both of her big naps and generally, so far I've found that she's sleeping much later in the mornings (from 6am-ish to 7am-ish) which is a result - so she's doing just under 12 hours a night now.  Her total nap time hasn't changed though - she still splits about 3 hours between those first 2 naps and in fact often does a bit less now.  She'll quite often do about 1hr 20 - 1hr 30 for both naps now.  I'm wondering if the 2 hour naps are coming the day after we go swimming as I always seem to be late for the same class cos she's overslept!

I don't know if there's anything I can do to make her regularly sleep longer than 1hr 30?  I don't mind except she also seems to be quite tired all the time since I upped her A time.  She's been a bit more clingy and whiney than usual all day, though she's quite a hungry baby so I'm never sure if hunger is playing a part too.  Should I drop her second A time back a little bit?  She starts yawning about an hour - 1hr30 after she wakes from her first nap and that pattern continues for the rest of the day, though she is staying awake for the full 2hrs 30 and she's sleeping well at night.

[*Jo*]

I would say the yawns etc are actually bored signs not tired signs, try changing her scenery when this happens, do a different activity etc. I think the still shortish naps are slightly UT still, maybe try upping her A by 10mins to see if her naps get longer

[LovelyLilyandJack]

OK, will try that, thanks.  Sometimes she falls asleep on me during wind down but if it gets to 2hrs 30 and she's still looking OK I'll extend it. 

The yawns may well be bored signs, yes.  I'd been thinking she seems to be getting bored more easily lately as distraction always works and if she was tired it would just annoy her!

Thanks for your help again.