Naps and EASY schedule thrown off

[jkettler07]

I have a 5month(next week) old daughter who in the past 2 weeks has decided to not take a nap longer then 30-45 min.  She is on a 3 hr EASY and sleeps through the night from 8pm-5:30 or 6am.  Here are the things I have tried.

1.  Going in 30 min early and pressing down on her to try and get her through the "jolt"  (did for 3 days and she woke up everytime)

2.  Tried to rock back to sleep (works for 15 minutes but then back awake crying)

3.  Letting her cry until it was time to eat, but she just gets frantic

4.  Moving her to her swing, (stayed awake and then eventually cried)

5.  Tried to move her to a 3.5 hr EASY and even a 4 hr EASY but she can't stay awake long enough and gets super cranky.

Here is her typical schedule

5:30  Eat
6-7    Activity
7-7:45 Sleep   (then spend the next 35-40 minutes trying to get her to go back to sleep)

8:30  Eat
9-10  Activity
10-10:45  Sleep  (same as above)

11:30  Eat
12-1    Activity
1-1:45  Sleep  (same as above)

2:30  Eat
3-4  Activity
4-4:45  Sleep  (same as above

5:00 Eat  (i like this time as a feed so I try to schedule her day around it, but sometimes its 5:30)
5:30-7 Activity  (bath and bedtime routine, plus she refuses at all to go down for a nap at this time and always has)

7:30  Eat
8pm  Sleeps until the morning

So what should I do??  I feel like she isn't getting enough sleep with these naps because she does wake up she is always cranky.  If I keep her up until her next feed time then she wants to go to sleep after eating because she has been up so long. 

Alot of things I have read have said that babies do this at 4-6month old stage so is this just normal?? 

Please help.

[jessmum46]

Hi there

I have a 5month(next week) old daughter who in the past 2 weeks has decided to not take a nap longer then 30-45 min.  She is on a 3 hr EASY and sleeps through the night from 8pm-5:30 or 6am.

Part of your issue here may be the 3h EASY - at her age a 4h EASY is more usual.  There is a huge difference between a 30 min nap (usually OT) and a 45 min nap (generally UT or inability to transition between sleep cycles, though can also be OT).  Do you find you get 45 min naps earlier in the day and then some 30 min ones creeping in later on?  She also has a long day from 5.30/6am to 8pm - generally we aim for around a 12h day, so if she is up that early, you'd be aiming for bedtime around 6pm.  There's a link to some typical routines here: chronological EASY samples, 4-6 months

3.  Letting her cry until it was time to eat, but she just gets frantic

I just want to clarify this - do you mean you are letting her cry it out (CIO)?  Or is it a mantra cry? What’s a mantra cry?  We do not support CIO in any form as it can break the bond of trust between your LO and you.  If it's a mantra cry, it's fine to leave her to it, but if it's an "I need you" cry you need to be there with her.

5.  Tried to move her to a 3.5 hr EASY and even a 4 hr EASY but she can't stay awake long enough and gets super cranky.

The key to doing this is increasing her A time slowly by 5-10 mins every few days.  Tired signs can become quite unreliable as LO gets older, and LO can show signs of wanting a sleep because their body is 'used' to going to sleep at a certain time.  I think if you gently push her awake times over a couple of weeks she should easily manage a 4h routine and you may find she starts napping much better.  This might help: 3-4hr EASY Transition – In 5 Minute Increments

HTH x

[jkettler07]

1. Sometimes she takes 30 minute naps and sometimes 45 minute naps.  There doesn't seem to be a morning versus later in the day pattern.   6pm seems like a really early bedtime and she has not usually ever gone to sleep for us that early and had good results sleeping through the night.

2.  She does a mantra cry and then works herself up to a fit in 10 minutes.  That is when I usually go in there to get her.

3.  Will look at the routines and try again. 

[jessmum46]

The short naps can be really hard   Sorry you're having a tough time of it - I know how frustrating it can be.  You may find with a a few tweaks to the routine that things improve for you - I really hope that's the case.

Totally your call on what time bedtime is - I can only offer advice from my own experience (same as everyone else here) which is that a 5.30/6am to 8pm day is too long for many LOs, especially with short naps.  OT can be the cause of early wakings, and often putting your LO to bed earlier can result in a later wake-up.  I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but it has worked for me many times and my DD has often been in bed at 6pm when she has needed to catch up on sleep. 

As I said, it's just advice and it's up to you what you do with it - this forum is a place for us to share our experiences and support each other through the challenges of being a Mum, but ultimately what you do with your own LO is totally up to you

[Buttonbobs]

Hiya, I was going to respond to your other post & then spotted it had been locked & found this one. I second everything that jessmum has said. I know that it sounds crazy at first but OT really could lead to earlier wakings & the best way to prevent it is to lengthen the earlier A times & probably stick to a 12 hour(ish) day if you can. Once the day and the sleeps are a bit better you might find you can shift the timings to a later wake up & day generally.

I would just suggest trying the A time lengthening and hold it for a few days & see how it goes, you may well be pleasantly surprised :-)

[jkettler07]

So are you both suggesting that she is sleeping by 7pm??  I am a little confused.  I know that a 12 hr day is long, but I have not ever been able to get her to sleep in until 7am.  :-(

Upon further watching her and looking back at her log book it seems that she has been waking at the 30 minute mark, but I didnt count that as waking because she just laid there and stared into space for 15 minutes and then starts wailing, so I was calling that a 45 min nap.  Guess that isn't true??   One of you said that a 30 min nap means that she is OT, so how do i combat that and still try to move her to a longer routine??

I also have no idea how to move her to a 3.5 or a 4 hr schedule bc she will only sleep for 30 minutes.  How much should she eat every 3.5 to 4 hrs??  She has reflux so we have only been feeding her 4oz except she gets 5oz when she wakes up and right before she goes to bed.

She was a preemie, but has always hit every milestone on time so most of the time I have followed guidelines for her regular age and not adjusted age and she has done great.  Is this causing the nap problem??

If i started a 4hr routine with her should i do e.a.s.a.s.e  ??  and how long should the A times be??

On a side note because of this 30 minute napping thing it is starting to affect me in a negative way.  I can't take any naps at all and since I exclusively pump there isn't anytime to pump when I am supposed to.  Its also really hard to find time for me or to eat and i have started having insomnia.  All of this has contributed to making me a very frustrated and irritable mommy and i hate to be that way.  its hard for me to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

[Buttonbobs]

Many hugs sweetie, I tried to exclusively pump when BF didn't work out for us. I managed for 6 weeks before I couldn't keep going with it, you are doing so incredibly well to keep that going. I do understand what you mean about the lack of napping getting to you, particularly with the added pressure of needing to pump.

It sounds like you are describing OT naps of 30 mins, which could be a sign that your LO is not coping well with he long days. Sorry if i wasn't clear in what i was suggesting.If your LO is waking up between 5.30 & 6am, you would want to go for a BT 12 hours approx after that - I.e. 6pm. I went through this myself while I was trying to stretch out the A times when DD was small. It seems terrifying at the time - I was imagining 3am wake and start to the day, but it was never that bad. Going with the shorter day meant that DD slept for a longer night & caught up some of that OT. Later on (a few weeks later) she had started regularly sleeping longer nights and as I extended her first A time the morning starts moved later too.

My advice (& like jessmum has said it is just advice not the only way) would be to start a new day with a slightly longer A time before the first nap. You may get OT 30 min naps for a few more days while the lengthening process takes effect but when she hits a good A time & when the nights are longer for her it will settle down.

[jkettler07]

Ok, so here is what I am thinking. This day is already messed up so tomorrow whatever time she wakes up aim for her to be asleep 12 hrs from then for her bedtime??

The thinking is that she will catch up on her OT and then will eventually sleep until 7am???

While I am doing this should i stick to her 3 hr schedule or should I try and extend it??

Sorry if these questions seem redundant, I am not exactly running at 100% right now.

[jkettler07]

Ah SUCCESS!!!  Thank you so much for all the help.  Last night we put her to sleep by 7pm and you were so right. She slept until 7am!!!  Wow....I feel kind of dumb for making the overtired mistake for so long.

So her first nap she went to 40minutes but then was eating her hands and crying so I gave her some more food. She went right back to sleep.

So I guess I haven't been feeding her enough and I am going to stretch her a times to 1hr and 45 minutes and see how she does for 3 days and then attempt a 4 hr schedule.  What do you think???

[jessmum46]

GREAT night!!! Well done!!

Just keep extending the A time slowly, 10-15 mins every few days and keep it low-key and you'll be at a 4h EASY in no time

[Buttonbobs]

Fantastic news! As jessmum says keep going with the A increases and you will see an extending of the naps too. If your LO is draining the bottles it is worth adding another oz or two - there should always be a little left at the bottom of the bottle so you know LO has finished herself and not just because the bottle is empty if you know what I mean. Fingers crossed