What have I done 'RIGHT'?!?

[Keeblea]

For 2 months we have had lots of issues with the '3-2' transition. When on 3 naps she would go into her cot awake and send herself off to sleep with no problems. Since we have done the 2 naps it is an absolute battle every night and subsequently we end up giving her th dummy to go to sleep. Our day looked like;
6.30 WU
10-11.30 nap
2.30-4 nap
6.45 bed (with a fight!)

BUT! Today we started like usual-10-11.30 nap and then we went swimming so she fell alseep 2-2.30 in the car. She then wouldn't go to sleep when we got in and ended up having another 30 minutes when we went for an evening walk 5-5.30. We got her in bed at 7.30 and she sent herself to sleep like before!

What on earth happened?

We've tried an hour sleep in the pm instead of 1.5 but she was super grouchy and stil wouldn't go to sleep.

Ang insight would be greatly appreciated-or suggestions as to what I could try tomorrow (as 2 seperate cat naps in the pm isn't really an option!)

X

[anna*]

How old is she? I think with the dummy you have to decide to either let her have it to sleep, or don't - don't have an hour's crying and then give her the dummy, that doesn't help anyone. Have you tried an earlier bedtime?

[newkidontheblock]

Swimming probably got her nice and tired but mainly, I feel that she went to sleep because she was tired enough. Have you considered pushing BT back a bit - maybe to even 7 pm? She might be fighting you simply because she isn't tired enough yet.

She seems to be doing a longer am A than her pm. Have you considered making both the same and capping the pm nap to accommodate BT? And finally, how did the rest of the night go?

[Martini~]

How your day looked like when she was on 3 naps? Was she sleeping 3h+ during the day and having 12:15h day? The problem which may rise with the transitions is that children need less naps but not more sleep usually. So if your 3 naps were summing up to less than 3h or they were 3h but the day was longer, it may suggest her total A during day after transition is too short.

[Keeblea]

Thanks for replies ladies;

She's 7 months now.
When we had 3 naps she was doing;
7am WU
9-11 nap
1-3 nap
5.5-45 catnap
7.15 bedtime. She would go off to sleep and not wake until 5-whereby I would pop a dummy in and have to wake her at 7. The dummy was thinly thing that worked, PUPD would over stimulate and even the shh pat wouldn't work!

Unfortunately last night wasn't very good in the end-she may have gone to sleep but woke up at 10, 11, 2 and then I gave in and gave her the dummy!

I'm desperate to get rid of the dummy, and we pretty much did until the 3-2 transition but not she has huge problems with sleep it seems to be the only thing I can do to extend her nap.

It is only a rare occasion I can get her to go down for a nap without a battle-and that's usuallyt after a long A time. And in the am she then wants a huge nap of about 2.5 hrs but I have started to wake her up so that she doesn't get more than 3 hours in total. (Waking her up mid nap makes her cranky!)  I cannot figure out if she is UT or OT so unsure if I should change nap times or bed times.

Should I keep the naps the same push bed time back or change naps and leave bed time? X

[anna*]

Sweetie you have to decide about the dummy, does it stay or does it go? I feel being inconsistent with it is only going to compound your problems.

[Keeblea]

It goes...

Any tips on other ways to settle when she wakes at 3/4/5am?

[anna*]

Feed? It's not at all uncommon for babies this age to still need at least one feed overnight, and to me if she is waking that frequently it would indicate either hunger or discomfort. Or, PUPD or shush pat. She won't cry forever - it might feel like forever though

Sorry can't remember if you said already, does she go to sleep completely independently for naps and at bedtime?

[Keeblea]

She sometimes goes down if I get the timing exactly right (not that I know what that is!) and other times she needs the shh pat-I never give her the dummy to go to sleep with.

After reading the book and following the suggestions of using th dummy to eradicate night wakings for milk I thought it would be a step backwards to start giving milk again in the night-maybe I'll try it x

[anna*]

She's still very little, many at this age are still having a feed over night.

[newkidontheblock]

How's it going? Did she do it again ?