Hello,
2 questions for you all:
1) Which is more likely to cause early waking: long stretches of A time the day before, or a nap that is too late in the day?
2) Is it better to be flexible, bouncing back and forth between 1 or 2 nap days for a 14 month old, or just stick with something to try to develop some consistency?
My lo started transitioning to one nap at 11+ months. She does well on it most of the time, but sometimes wakes up really early and then makes it hard to do one nap that day, so I offer 2. However, I go back and forth so much that I don't know what the true cause of her early wakings is now that they have become more consistent. She used to wake pretty regularly between 6:40-7:00, but lately it's more like 6:00-6:15. It's not a huge difference, but since this girl used to be a 5ish type of girl, I don't want to go there again. Also, she used to wake happy most of the time, and lately she cries about half of the time and is content and quiet the others. I just feel like things are not quite right, and would love any input you may have on how to proceed...
Here is an example schedule of 1 nap days:
6:45am awake
11:45am nap
1:15pm- 2:00 awake (her naps are most often 1:30 for a few days, then a 2 hr+ for one day, repeat)
7:30 asleep for the night (sometimes 7:00 if need be)
Here is an example schedule of 2 nap days:
6:00am awake
10:00am nap #1
11:30 awake
3:45 nap #2
4:30 awake
7:30 asleep for the night
She is happy all day long, not irritable or grumpy or anything.
I've tried doing shush/pat in the mornings when she wakes early, and she is receptive to it, but doesn't always go to sleep. I try to get her to stay in her crib until 7am, if possible, or I try to keep things mellow at least until 7.
I'm 5 months pregnant, and doing shush/pat over the edge of the crib is only going to get more uncomfortable, so I'm trying to resolve this before I get absolutely giant!
sorry for the long post, just wanted to give you any relevant information!
thank you!
katemom