What in the world?!

[krumley428]

Hello,

I have been posting on NW boards for nearly a month where board users and moderators have helped me TREMENDOUSLY in getting 7 1/2 month old down to 1-4 NW versus 15+.  I posted this reply today to my thread on that board but considering that it is purely concerning naps, I am posting it here also hoping that someone might help me to understand what is going on.  Thank you!

(Posted on NW board this morning)

I am completely baffled ...

Two days ago, (as explained in previous posts), we had the worst day ever as far as naps and trying to keep on EASY.  With only a little over an hour of sleep all day long, Lily only woke ONE time that night.  Something that has not happened since she was only 3 months old!

Then yesterday, the no-nap monster struck again as it took me an hour and a half to get Lily to sleep for 30 minutes in a.m.  After a VERY long day and a half of no naps and hours of PU/PD, I gave in yesterday afternoon and took Lily to run errands with Grandma and I hoping that she might sleep a little bit in the car.  Luckily, for all parties involved, she slept for an hour in the car during her typical afternoon nap time.  Took very little effort to get to sleep last night and again, with practically no naps, she woke only twice last night!

Why is she sleeping better at night with little/no naps?!  That seems to contradict everything!  Don't get me wrong, I am VERY happy having two good night's rest!  But, I am also very frustrated with not knowing how or what to tweak during the day before we lose out schedule and naps all together! 

This morning, it again took over an hour to get Lily to even think about settling for nap.  She woke this morning at 6:00 (she has been waking at 6 versus 6:30 past two mornings, I assume because of such a good night's sleep), so by 8:15, I was carefully watching for signs of sleepiness.  By 8:45, I caught a glimpse of a yawn so we headed upstairs for wind-down.  Then, just like the past two days, the minute she hit the crib mattress, she started jumping around, sitting up, pulling up to standing and practically "swinging" on rails of crib!  I don't understand how she can go from yawning and snuggling during wind-down to bouncing off the walls in a matter of thirty seconds of being put down in crib! 

And I guess I am STILL having trouble understanding what I am supposed to do at that time.  Yesterday, I sat in the chair about three feet away from her crib and did not make eye-contact or talk while Lily played in her crib.  After 35 minutes, it was obvious that she was getting tired/OT because she was falling from standing position, banging her head against the crib while she tried to manuever back up, etc. etc.  but she WOULD NOT lay down.  I waited another 5-10 minutes but she was getting so frustrated that I finally intervened and helped her settle down by repositioning her and keeping a hand on her to keep her legs and hands from flailing all over.  After all that, she only slept 30 minutes.  This morning was a carbon copy of this situation (except I am praying for more than 30 minutes nap!).  I know that I am not supposed to intervene but after yesterday's antics, she has bruises on her forehead, elbows, knees, etc. from being OT and still trying to stand, crawl, etc. in crib. 

I really think that after playing for SO long after going into crib that Lily is getting OT.  It seems to be exactly how BW described OT in spirited babies - even though it is obvious that she is tired, she can't seem to close her eyes (they are WIDE open!) or keep her body from flailing about. 

So, here I am for what seems like the hundreth time, wondering what I am supposed to do ... I know that I am not supposed to do PU/PD unless Lily is upset ... but ... letting her go for too long while waiting for her to tire/settle on her own is making her OT, leading to an even more difficult time actually getting her to settle.  Not to mention the bruises!

And how much A-time? Still can't figure that one out either!

And less NW with less nap? What in the world?!

Kim

[brenda2]

hi
sounds like you have a spirited baby who needs perhaps lees sleep than the average 7.5 mo.  NWs are often caused by OT, but they can also be caused by too much daytime sleep.  perhaps this is why she's sleeping better at night with fewer naps.  Ot can be cumulative though, so if she continues with no naps she may start NW more, just keep an eye on it.

at about 7.5 to 8 mo most LOs are on 2 naps and have A times of about 3 hours, maybe more.  spirited LOs do better with short winddowns.  so it may be that you are putting her down too soon when she's not tired enough and she then plays and gets frustrated and by the time she settles down she's way OT.  you may do better to keep her up a bit longer until she's tired enough and do a short winddown.

also, yawns at this age don't mean much.  after about 6 mo sleep cues get unreliable, so it may be that she yawned at 2 hours 45 min but wasn't really tired and that's why she was playing happily 30 sec later. happens all the time with my LO too.

this is what i'd aim for in terms of routine:

6 awake and milk
7:30 solids
9 to 9:15 - 11 sleep
11 milk
12:30 solids
2:30-4 sleep
4 milk
5 solids
6:45 milk
7 bed

what do you think?

[krumley428]

That looks like a great schedule to aim for.  Folks on the NW boards have said the same regarding spirited babies, sleep signs, shorter wind-down, etc.  Thank you very much for your response! 

Kim

[krumley428]

While we are logging sleep times and trying to figure this all out, is it safe to assume that as long as Lily is napping for over 45 minutes at a time to not "fight" with her to get her back to sleep?  We used to use PU/PD to put her back down if she woke earlier than 1 hour 15 minutes as was suggested in BW plan for 4-month-old+ EASY "training."  I think that it would be better to just see how long she actually sleeps for naps after certain amounts of A-time and hours slept at night (and vice versa) so that we can start to see the patterns, yes?


Thank you!

Kim

[brenda2]

i think a 1 hour 15 min nap is great and i would just get her up.  if she wakes crying and looks tired still you could try to get her back down, but if she wakes happy regardless of nap length just get her up.

i think your plan is good.  if she's waking up after a nap that's slightly longer than 45 min it's likely because she was UT before the nap (so needed longer A time before the nap), so if she wakes happy and this is the case you won't be successful at getting her back down. kwim?  best thing to do is note it, get her up, reduce the following A time slightly and get onwith your day