Hi,
I made the switch to the 4 hour EASY at around 4 months, and that solved all the nap problems my lo was having then. She's been great with the new routine, until we went on vacation to NYC (at 4.5 months). She actually slept well in terms of taking regular naps and being portable - we were really grateful. But I started to notice that her naps got gradually shorter. I didn't know if it was because we were out and about or if she was headed for new problems. We've been home a week, and things are a bit more back to normal. But her 2nd nap of the day has been 45 minutes almost every day this week despite my efforts to reposition her, hold through the jolts, shush/pat, etc. She's happy though, most of the time when she wakes up. But she has started to be more difficult to put down for a nap. She sort of whimpers upon entering the bedroom (this is what she started doing right before I made the switch to the 4 hour EASY a month ago). Anyway, here is my schedule, let me know if you have any suggestions:
Wakes up daily on and off from 5am to 7am, plays and puts herself back to sleep, or cries out and I roll her onto her side and she puts herself to sleep there. I get her up for the day at 7am.
7:00 Up
7:30 EAT
8:00 Activity
9:00 Sleep
10:45 Awake
11:00 EAT
11:15 Activity
12:45 Sleep
1:45 Awake (more often earlier, after 35-45 minutes)
2:00 EAT
2:30 Activity
4:00 Sleep
4:45 Awake
5:00 EAT
5:30 Activity
7:30 EAT
8:00 Sleep
*I realize she doesn't eat on a 4 hour rotation, which is because I wanted to keep her on 5 feedings a day, since she doesn't do a dreamfeed. I also realize there are some longer awake periods during the end of the day - which I would so love to avoid - but since her naps are short, I don't really know how to get around that! And I don't want to move her bedtime up any earlier because she already has difficulty sleeping in those wee hours of the morning! But I'm open to suggestions since I know she's capable of better sleep - only 2 weeks ago she was taking two 1.5-2 hour naps and a 30-45 minute catnap. It seems like she's dropped quite a bit for only 1 month after we made the 4 hour switch. Anyway, sorry it's long, I welcome your feedback...
kate's mom (kate is 5 months)