Vicious cycle of early waking and short naps!

[oneplusone]

Well she was up at 1:30 and wouldn't go back to sleep so I kept her awake until 3:30 and then she slept until 6:30 currently working on keekng her awake for at least 3 hours until her first nap time...
Thanks for your help

[becj86]

Good luck! Keep us posted

[oneplusone]

She had two naps yesterday, one for 2 hrs and one for 30 min. Tried for another nap but it wasn't happening. She did make it to 6 PM bedtime after 4 hours of awake time. Sleepy until... Yup 4 AM as per usual. Have spent the last 2 hours trying to get her back to sleep. No luck. No lights, no talking, no playing, but all the rocking, shhhing, patting etc... Is not working. If she isn't tired she just won't sleep. Agreed she clearly needs more A time in the AM, however that can't be from 4 to 7 or 8 AM. Ugh... Will stick with the 6 PM bedtime for a while and see what happens.

[becj86]

Hmmm... that 10hr night then wide awake could be an OT thing.

DYT it could be an habitual waking - same time each day or same amount of time from BT? Just wonder if its worth trying wake to sleep?

[oneplusone]

I think it's habitual. She used to sleep 4 pm to 4 am, but she'd go back to sleep after I fed her. Now she needs less sleep and that's just the time she wants to wake up naturally. I'm giving pushing bedtime back a few days. Don't want to change too much at once. so far she's managing to stay up later so that's good.

[oneplusone]

Thanks again for your help. Been pretty successful at having her go to bed by 6:00 every night instead of 4:00. She still wakes up every day at 4 AM, but if I feed her she'll go back to sleep for a couple hours until at least 6:00 ish. Naps are still horrible, but at least not 30 minutes. She's down to two naps, but they are still short 45 min to 1.5 hours. I think she needs a touch more daytime sleep, but I can't ever resettle her. Can't get her to cat nap anymore either to make it to the "later bedtime". It's infinitely better, but I wish she would have decent naps.

[becj86]

Glad its getting better. What's your routine look like now?

[oneplusone]

E is every 4 hours and A is approx 3 hours, but shorter in the AM. I feel I should push that a bit...Bedtime is 6:00. Dreamfeed is 10 and another feed at 4:00.

Awake 6:00 - no BF bc she just did at 4:00
Awake time 2-2.5 hrs
BF at 8:30/9:00
Sleep 45' to 1 hr
Awake time 3 hrs
BF at 1:00
Sleep 1 hr, sometimes 1.5
Awake time 3 to 4hrs
Bedtime 5:30-6:00 with BF
Dreamfeed 10:00
Night feed 4:00

[becj86]

A is approx 3 hours, but shorter in the AM. I feel I should push that a bit...

Agree - I'd probably push that first A time more - that's the one most likely to result in the 4am waking disappearing if its habitual or UT (anticipating a nap earlier than required).

[oneplusone]

Well amazing she slept 8 hrs last night after the Dreamfeed! But of course the 4 year old was up at 1:30 asking for water! Can't win!

But yes need to increase the morning A time and ensure she has a great afternoon nap. Yesterday was 1:45 which helped for sure.