Hi Ladies,
I posted this on the EASY Forum (not sure if that was the right place) and didn't get any responses. I posted there because I need some advice on sleeping and eating routine. Ella will be 10 months on the 25th of this month. For the past week or so, she has been more tired and cranky and wanting to sleep earlier than her normal nap times. Before this started happening, 90% of the time I would have to wake her at 7:30 am to start the day. Now as soon as I go in her room, she pops right up. She often does this when she has woken earlier and then was just resting. She has always tended to rob night time sleep for day when she needs more A time or a shorter am nap. The problem with this is that she needs her 11.5 - 12 hours of night time sleep (really closer to 11.75 - 12 hrs) each night or she tends to start out the day tired and then it continues this way and she wants to nap earlier. My thought is she is waking earlier in the am and using her am nap as an extension of her night time sleep. I am thinking that I need to shorten her am nap a bit. Her routine was:
7:30: wake up
8:00: Breakfast
10:00: Snack
10:30 - 12:00: nap
12:15: Lunch
2:30: bottle
3:00 - 4:30: nap
6:00: Dinner
7:00: bottle
7:30: bed
She has started fighting when we are trying to wind down and just wants in her crib. Today I did her wind down out of her room and then went in her room with no lights, patted her back for a minute, put her in her crib and walked out and I didn't hear a peep. Also, today I am going to try doing the same thing before her pm nap. I don't know if having a snack in the kitchen before her am nap and bottle in her room before pm nap and bedtime is confusing her because at bottle times all she wants is the bottle. I think she now associates her room, wind down, and bottle which I don't want. I know she doesn't need the bottle to fall asleep because she doesn't fall asleep at at and doesn't even have one in the am. She loves everything extremely consistent so I'm wondering if I should replace pm bottle with a snack and just keep bedtime bottle. I don't know if she is ready for only 1 bottle. She drinks formula with all meals and snacks in a sippy. If I shorten am nap, should I make pm nap sooner? Sorry for so many questions, I just feel like our routine may need to change in more ways than one and I'm not sure where to start. I really appreciate any advice and insights and I hope I posted in the right spot this time!!!!
Shannon
