When textbook babies go bad... 7 mth old.

[Sixx]

Hi all,
I haven't been on here since my first spirited baby who is now a happy (still spirited!) 4yo.
Our  new little one has been textbook from the start and settled well into the EASY routine, I guess this is the time things can go hay wire I just don't know where to begin and would appreciate a little subjective advice...
Basically for the past 2 wks or so she has gone from EW to EW and NW and now the dreaded 45 min naps on top of all of the HEELLLLLP!
So her EASy schedule was on a good day:
6.30 to 7 wake and bottle
8.45 nap
10.45 wake
11.00 porridge and bottle
12.45 nap
14.10 wake
14.30 dinner and bottle
16.30 catnap half hour
18.30 bottle
19.00-30 bath bed
23.00 dreamfeed

I know there are food issues here too, we are gradually dropping a bottle as solids increase... Am I right to suspected that we need to drop catnap? Also are her awakes not long enough? Today I am pushing them out a bit but this is hard given that she was pretty much awake from 4-5am, we just kept her in cot and did sush pat and soother popping until 7... much to her annoyance (she still didn't cry though so it's hard to be ticked off with her!)
Any tips really appreciated... she was such a little textbook we've been spoilt till now!

[jessmum46]

I totally agree that she's probably hit the 3-2 transition. It's so hard when the EW kick in - ugh I remember it well! The way forward is to work on extending her A times gradually as you have started doing, especially her first one which is really short for her age and likely reinforcing the EW. Add 10 mins or so every few days, hold to give her a chance to get used to it, then increase again. If you get two good naps with the second finishing around 3pm or later then skip the CN and go for EBT instead around 3h after nap WU. If naps are a mess or finish early then you'll have to offer a catnap but keep it short and get back to pushing the A time in the morning.  You may need to bring her regular BT a bit earlier too while she is waking so early to prevent too much OT.

The other thing that helps is making sure you do nothing to encourage EWs in the sense that you keep all lights off, noise to a minimum and try to resettle before an 'acceptable' WU time.

Hope that helps to start you're aiming overall for A times of about 3h to be totally done with the CN x

[Sixx]

Thanks so much for the reply, and super suggestions. Moved awake times today by about 10-15 mins and she was in bed by 7. Didn't think of EBT and that is a great suggestion after the EWs so if tomorrow is the same we can fall back on that tomo eve. Will let you know how we go... Thx. Everyone is so generous with their time and help on this forum it's great. We usually just search for similar probs without having to post.
P.S. Always have lights off and black out blinds Baby Whisperer to the core :-)

[jessmum46]

keep us posted about how you're getting on x

[Sixx]

Morning, so far so good, she woke at 6, put her down for first nap at 8.30... did a soft wake to sleep at 30 mins and she is just stirring now... fingers crossed for the rest of the day! Will let you know.

[jessmum46]

Great start . Hope the rest of the day goes well x

[Sixx]

Oh it was all going so well!! She could only manage 2h15 after morn nap so put her down then and did not to wake to sleep and she woke on 45... tried sush pat but to no avail! I guess it's early catnap time... how long should I let it be for and I guess as she woke at 13.30 it should be at 4? Thanks again... not defeated yet!

[jessmum46]

Oh sorry I missed this, what happened?