Back Again

[AP]

Have another question, about going down for naps independently? Does that mean, you do your wind down etc, put her in bed, you leave, and they fall asleep by themselves?
Bc when she is not teething I think I might get there, bc when I put her down, she mostly closes her eyes, but I just pat her till she's asleep, one min or so, just to make sure I don't have to do it all over again. But is this the point where I would walk out, and hope she does it herself? What if she plays for a while and just doesn't go to sleep?
Anyway, there she just woke up all happy, talking to herself after 40min? 5min longer. And that after a relaxed morning, longer wake time, going down good, what else can I do? Extend her A time even more?

[dtrias]

Hey Ap
I've got a spirited one here too who has been 30 min since 8 weeks. Location also doesnt matter.  She'll sleep 30 mins in the car, stroller at the mall where ever.   I've try to extend every nap for the last 4 months and like you spent hours by the bed patting or shushing or listening to screaming when pu/pd was the only avenue left.  I know that they appear happy after a 30 min snooze but mom of claire is right.  I've learned sleep deprivation is cumulative and a few good days in a row are need to combat it.  Have you considered skipping the cat nap and putting her down for the night at 5:30 for a couple of days so she can catch up on some sleep.  This helps my lo on bad days.  Spirited ones are hard work but they are so fun also.  Mines walking at 8 1/2 months and active babies are a joy to watch(when they are not screaming)  As for the night waking.  I had to tough it out for over 1 week with pu/pd (i also had a paci addict so believe me I know about the screaming).  Now she sleeps 6pm to 5:30 without waking but it took almost a month with many relapses.  Its very hard but worth it when you finally get some sleep.  I dont nap during the day either because of the short naps.  There is an interesting post on looking at the type of activities your lo does before naps.  I have been trying this our for the  last week and it seems to be helping.  Spirited babies are sooooooo easy to over stim.  The world really is a cave of wonders for them.  I cant really help with your problem but would love to keep chatting about the joys and pains of raising spirited ones.  Email me if youd like and we can talk further.
Good luck and hang in there

[AP]

Thanks dtrais. Where is the post for wind down activities? She did sleep from 7 till 4:30 and then till 7again for the last 2 nights!!! Hope it lasts, her one tooth is not through yet though. I don't know that she will actually go down for the night at 5:30, I suppose I can try. She naps now at 4, so she doesn't take a catnap at 5? Do I skip the 4pm nap? Does your LO wake up at 5:30 for the day? Don't know If I can handle that? I'll email

[AP]

Hi, something amazing happened! Saturday her morning nap was 90min! The funny thing was that I had a ladies tea that morning, usually I don't do stuff in the morning. It started at 9:30 when she goes down for nap, so I thought, Ok I'll just be 30min late, bc she doesn't nap much longer. Lo and behold, she never woke up, no help! So I missed everything, but I was sooo happy, yest she napped for an hour, so I'm holding my breath for today!!! She also started sleeping later in the mornings, (still drinks 5ish). 7:30ish, this morning 8? I did not want to wake her, do I just addapt her schedule? Can you please also reply on my previous post no 30?

[momofclaire]

AP, That is great news.

Going to sleep independently means that you would do windown, put her in bed awake and she would settle herself to sleep.   If she plays for a while, I would leave her be and let her figure out how to put herself to sleep. 
Hope that helps
Myia

[AP]

Hi, well the longer nap bliss only lasted for 3 glorious days, was so exited. It is really sad!!!!!!!   What could have caused it, and what could have caused it to stop. I did not do anything different. And stayed home for a week, to try and be very consistent.
She is sleeping through consistently in the night though, until about 4:30 then till 7. So I'll leave it at that for now and not try to get rid of the 4:30 drink.
When I wind her down now( we go into the room, put on music, and I rock(not rock to sleep) her on my hip to soft music and we sing a song together) she started putting her head on my shoulder! then I put her down and just pat a little and she is gone. So this week I want to leave her and see what she does.
Still don't know what to do about longer naps!?
Another question, when do you start giving water?

[momofclaire]

I didn't really start giving water until Claire could walk.  There were exceptions to this however, like when we were at the beach, or outside in hot temps. 

What has her sch been like the last few days?  Have you tried w2s for that early morning wake?  It could have become a habit that can be broken.