playing at naptime!

[lilapple]

Hi!  I've been posting with in the pu/pd section with Nina Lou and she's been very helpful--we're in the midst of doing Tracy's plan to get on EASY that she talks about in her second book--the one to remedy accidental parenting.  Anyway, we've been going for about five days now and have seen great success -- from waking every 2 hrs at night to sleeping from 7 pm to 7 am w/dreamfeed, from only being able to sleep after nursing to sleeping independently--both at bedtime and naptime--I mean it's really been great!!!  Here's the hitch:  The one thing we need to work on is naps--they have always been hard for us.  Her am nap today was 35 min. I have been going in at the 30 min mark to wake to sleep and when she stirred I put my hand on her belly, cause that's what we've been doing to soothe, and she turned this way , then that , then became more and more awake and then started becoming social with me.  I never look at her face and I don't verbally soothe unless she is upset and crying.  For these past three days that she's picked up this habit I have thought it best to leave the room (there's nothing to soothe, and doesn't Tracy say to wait until she cries?)  She calls be back with "calling" or crying and I go in and soothe again, but she usually gets social again so I leave always with saying that I will be back when she needs me to help her go to sleep.  I started going in to help her get back to sleep for naps b/c they were an hour or less and that is what Tracy advises in the book.  But I am wondering if I should just see if she can or will get back to sleep herself, since I know she can-she has done it before.  She has gotten to the point where she goes immediately down and almost immediately to sleep for naps.  I have tried to spend more wind down time with the sitting (actually we stand b/c she gets agitated if we sit--it's the chair where we used to nurse to sleep and she starts to turn to nurse)  When I stand and hold her over my shoulder she relaxes for a minute or two but then pushes back and arches her back--at which point I lay her down, kiss her, etc.
Any advice?  Thank you --you all are so helpful!!!!!

[lilapple]

ps  sorry I forgot to mention we're doing the four hour easy and she's 6 mos!!!
thanks

[Colesmom]

Hi,

WOW-what wonderful success!  Congrats to you on correcting your AP.  The night sleep must be a huge relief.  My DS slept through for the first time just last night!

How long is DD up between naps?  Is she having 2 or 3 naps a day?  If you could please post a typical day I'll come back this evening and see if I can recommend something. It sounds like you may need to extend her activity time.  At this age she can likely handle around 2-2.5 hours A time depending on the time of day.

Thanks

[lilapple]

Thanks for getting back so quickly!  I'm following the 4 hour easy plan in Tracy's second book more or less
wake 7am
7:30 bf
8:30 solids
9 nap
11 bf
1pm nap
3bf
5:30/6 solids
7 sleep

longest nap was 1 hr 15 1x  in past 4 days,
today only 30 min each time  we had a real rough time of 2nd nap today she was crying a lot toward the end ( a more desperate kind of cry --I'm not sure if that was the famous regression they talk about on 3rd or 4th day of putting them on the plan?) but so I got her up at 2:40 instead of three as tracy recommends b/c she spent 2 hrs in crib and only slept 30 min. 

today actually up at 7:30 (me) I'm not sure what time she was awake but probably something like that so am nap was at 8:30 but she went right down and practically straight to sleep


How do you recommend I react to the playing part?
thanks
tanya

[Aarismom]

From your schedule it looks like she might not be up long enough

You could start slowly extending wake time and see if she can handle another 15-20 mins, maybe more. It also looks like she's overtired by bedtime...looks like you have her up 4 hours or so. Granted, when I was transitioning to a 2 nap a day schedule, there would be days where I had to keep mine up 3-4 hours at a time, because bedtime would end up being pushed back if she got another nap, but sometimes she would get the third nap, especially if naps were pretty bad that day.

What you could consider is putting her to bed at 6 or 6:30 for a few weeks until the transition is made, then adjust as she's able to stay up longer. This will be especially helpful if she's had a particularly bad nap day. If you're concerned that she'll start waking earlier, that may be a small possibility, but most little bodies have their own little alarm clock that tends to go off about the same time every morning regardless of what time you put them to bed at night. Mine has been known to get 13 hours of sleep at night when she's had a rough nap day the day before and has gone to bed even earlier than 6 pm. However, this doesn't apply to everyone, but it's not unusual for it to happen

Hope this helps!!

*HUGS*
Sonya =P

[Colesmom]

Hopefully extending her awake time will make her more tired and solve the playing part.  otherwise you're doing okay, trying not to make eye contact or engage.  HTH

[lilapple]

thanks for the replies!!  But now I'm confused--I just checked the four hour easy plan and it says nap at 9 nap at 1 and from how my lo looks at those times, she's ready---I'm trying to catch her in the window, right?  So she's yawning, and goes right down--if I wait too long she might not go down so well and also not sleep as well.
But if what you say is what i really need to do, then I stretch awake time total 15-20 min more  little by little? for both awake times?

[Colesmom]

I know it's hard not to go by the book hard and fast...but that is just a guideline.  Each lo will be different.  I would start with the first awake time and stretch her only 5-10 minutes if she is going down well.  Stretching awake time takes a few days. Those extra minutes just do something quiet...play on the floor in her room with a soft toy etc.  It can be tricky but even just that little amount of time can make them tired enough to have a longer nap.

good luck

[lilapple]

Thanks again!!!!
I tried it this morning--actually stretched it by about 15 min and she slept 40, woke, then put herself back to sleep another 40  ---now  she's down for nap 2 and i again stretched it 15 min
fingers crossed!