Nap time trouble

[ariesmom]

I'm pretty new to the EASY routine, but PU/PD is working like a charm at night time.
That said, I am having nothing but problems with my 6 month old (as of today!) and her naps.

Here's today:

Woke: 6:50am, nursed
E: solids 7:30
Started our wind down of story, diaper change, dimming the room, sitting at 9:30. I know this sounds like a long time for a newly 6 month old, but she shows no signs of being tired before this and when I've tried to put her down earlier, she ends up taking a good hour and a half to go to sleep.

Here it is, 10:40am, and still no sleep. She spent the first 45 minutes in her crib playing, happy as a clam, razzing and what not. Now she's crying and I've been doing pu/pd to try to calm her down.

Finally just stepped out of the room to see if she'll go down on her own without me.

The problem is, it's near 11am, when, if she had fallen asleep at 9:30 or 10, I would be feeding her.

If I feed her at 11am, she's going to fall asleep nursing.

Please help!!!

[ariesmom]

And I think staying A for 4 hours is a really long time for her age, right?

[ZacsMumme]

She could be on the higher side of As which would put her at ay be 3 hrs. You coud try to PD ~3 hrs after WU. What personality is she, some LOs like a short WD, long ones peeve them off

[ariesmom]

She's a spirited textbook baby! hahaha

I'll try a shorter WD, I tend gear what we do (and for how long) based on her cues. If she's acting really sleepy, then it's a quick flip through a book, diaper, and PD. If she's not acting that tired, then I tend to do maybe 2 stories (short ones, obviously), diaper, dim, sit, and PD.

But we're on day 3 of her staying awake until her next feed time and I've nursed her to sleep. Today is now the 3rd day that I've done this same pattern and I'm not happy to have this as our new routine. We just stopped walking/strolling her to sleep last week and at night she's doing great.

It just seems to be a problem when I'm faced with another feed time to keep at a 4 hour E routine.

So today I did do her PD at 3 hours and she still stayed awake until 11am when I nursed her. Feeling like a failure!!

[ZacsMumme]

You are not a failure hun, 6 months is a tough time with developmental changes, GS and introduction of solids.
Spiriteds do tend to like a short WD once a naptime is established anyway. Are you PD at a set time in the AM or after an A time?

Is she bottle or BF? On solids?

What is happening when you PD after a 3hr A? Is she acting tired? Not at all? Crying in the cot or hanging out?

[ariesmom]

She is BF and is on solids now.

I PD after an A time. She used to be like clockwork, going down after 2 hours of A time (I would WD about 15 min before PD). Now, everything seems off.

Last week she was looking like she was transitioning into two naps - one around 10:30, give or take 30 min and one around 3pm, give or take 30 min. She has only taken 2 naps every day this week so far.

When I PD after 3 hr A, she starts off by acting tired: rubbing eyes, burrowing head into mattress. But then she tends to amp back up and practices her knew skill of sitting up. After about 45 minutes, she'll start to cry.

Once she actually goes to sleep, she's napping great - 1 hr 15, 1 hr 30 average.

But she isn't going down for a nap unless I nurse her after she's all upset.

Not sure how to break this habit other than moving E time closer to S? Tired of being lectured by my husband that I'm being manipulated.

[ZacsMumme]

Tired of being lectured by my husband that I'm being manipulated.

(HUGS) hun, its hard at this age. I dont think your LO is capable to manipulation, but at this age they do become more independent and harder to read. I wonder if 3hrs is too long after reading this:

she starts off by acting tired: rubbing eyes, burrowing head into mattress. But then she tends to amp back up and practices her knew skill of sitting up. After about 45 minutes, she'll start to cry.

Maybe by this point she is OT so cant settle well on her own? Did you make a jump from 2 to 3 hours quickly? I would say if she was doing well on a 2hr A and has just started to fight you that her new A may be closer to 2hr15 or 2.5hours.

It is an age where they can start to use the breast as a prop. Do you think you can feed her before her nap (but not right before) and see if she settles better, some LOs like a full tummy on a nap.

Oh and this 

But then she tends to amp back up and practices her knew skill of sitting up. After about 45 minutes, she'll start to cry.

Could be developmental, lots of practice during her A time in and out of the cot may help

[ariesmom]

I am wondering too if 3 hours is too long. I actually tried to PD today at 2 hr 40 (had already done WD) and she took about 2 hours to go to sleep. *Sigh*

So, all I can do is start over again tomorrow and give it my best.
I will give 2 hr 15 a try and go from there. I really don't think she's developmentally ready to be awake for any longer than 3 hours. I just notice it's so much harder for her to go to sleep at that point.

She's definitely using nursing as a prop because she won't nurse very long if she's been awake (and crying in her crib). She just uses it to soothe herself and then fall asleep.

Unfortunately, she slept from 5pm until 6:10, so I'm looking at her probably going to bed after 8pm. Hopefully she'll do great with her bedtime like she did last night.

Tomorrow, it's up at 7am and give the 4 hour EASY another try.

My question is: Do I do her WD after being awake for 2 hrs and make the WD no more than 15 min? Then do PD?

[ariesmom]

So I started her PD after 2 hours 15 minutes of A. She's been crying off and on in her crib for 1 hour 15 min. I've been going in and out doing PU/PD.
 When she does stop crying when I'm not in the room, she's just sitting up in her crib looking around.

How long do I let this go on?

[ZacsMumme]

Do you go back in when she is not crying? I would only go back in there when she is crying for you 'an I need you cry' she may be trying to settle herself.

The other thing I am wondering is do you think she is dependent on the breast to nap now and this needs to be broken? Doe she settle immedietly when you offer the breast?

[ariesmom]

I only go back in if she's crying. If it sounds like a mantra, I don't go back in. But if she's screaming bloody hell, then I do.

She does settle immediately when I offer the breast, so I nursed her during our WD so that I would know in my head and heart that she isn't hungry.

It took her an hour and 45 minutes, but she went to sleep without nursing! I'm so happy for she and I and I'm proud of her. She did hold my fingers as she fell asleep, which I thought was much better than me nursing her.

That was a really long haul. Thank you for suggesting that I start at 2 hour and 15 min. At least she wasn't over tired on top of breaking nursing to sleep.

Cheers!

[ZacsMumme]

It took her an hour and 45 minutes, but she went to sleep without nursing! I'm so happy for she and I and I'm proud of her. She did hold my fingers as she fell asleep, which I thought was much better than me nursing her.

Iwow that is amazing work, good on you and her.

You may find the next few days tough...but hopefully things will get easier. She will get OT, but once that BF to sleep habit is broken things will get back on track quickly.

If she short naps on you then I would try to offer he next nap after 2hrs A as she will get more tired quicker, plus you will have the process of not feeding to sleep to go through.

(HUGS)

[ariesmom]

Thanks for the hugs. She fell asleep yesterday after nursing - tried to give her a nip before WD and she nursed until drowsy, so I took her off and she turned over and fell asleep! I was baffled!

But today, we're going for it again. She cried off/on for 1 hour 35 minutes (10 minutes less then yesterday, but still, whew, I started crying too!!) and finally went to sleep. Thankfully, though, she has slept for an hour and half so far, which is more of the norm for her ever since she transitioned herself into 2 naps.

Night time sleep is still taking about 45- 60 minutes for her to fall asleep, does this get any better?

[ZacsMumme]

How long have you been working on weaning the breast? I am going to see if I can get some other eyes on this one for you re the weaning questions. It is great she is sleeping well once she gets herself off to sleep.

[Erin M]

Hi there!  Sara's given you some great ideas on starting winding down a touch earlier, tweaking the A time a bit in order to get her to fall asleep more independently.  Is she eating a lot of solids right now?  Are you worried that she is waking due to hunger?  If she's not taking much in the way of solids, you could always offer her a small bf along with her solids in the AM (since bm should still be her primary source of nutrition at this age) so you'll be positive she's not hungry.  It would also be early enough in her A time that she wouldn't fall asleep either.  Do you feel like she is dependent on the breast right now to fall asleep?