Any secrets to help with naps?

[AvaMadeline]

You are awesome! Thanks so much for everthing! Now she woke up at 5am and fed but went back to sleep until 9am, what time should her 12 hour day end? I think 5pm would be too early, what do you think? Am I making you crazy yet, lol!

[AvaMadeline]

Ohh an also, Ava went down at 4pm and is still sleeping but she fought me this time. Think it may be because we went for the walk when she should have been sleeping. That also I find hard. What do we do when we have things do do or family/friends to visit? It totally ruins the routine! Any suggestions in that department? I have friends to visit tomorrow and my parents Monday and am not wanting to leave the house and that is not good either  But on a positive note today has been very good. Ava only fought me this last time and she is nor waking up after I put her down. She sometimes cries after 5 min and I have to go in and re-soothe her but not today at all  success!!!!

[~Alexa~]

If she wakes up at 5 a.m to eat, then I would treat that as a night feed with no lights, no talking...Just feed her and put her right back to sleep! (Just as you did!!)

Then, her actual wake up would be 9 a.m., so her bedtime "should" be at 9 p.m, which is waaaaay tooo late.  Babies have a natural ideal bedtime somewhere between 7 p.m - 8 p.m. Personally, I hated waking my lo up because I loved to sleep in So what I did was that I started a 7:30 p.m. bedtime and he started waking up at around 7:30 a.m. all by himself!! If we had a bad night, then I didn't wake him up because I was exhausted!!

If you think 6:30 am is a good time to start the day, then keep having a 6:30 p.m bedtime, but if you are like me, you'll think it is too early , so I think you should try to push bedtime a bit later, may be 7 p.m. and hopefully he'll wake up at 7 a.m.  IYKWIM?

Your lo needs to learn that the day lasts 12 hrs, and the night lasts 12 hrs too.  So if she keeps waking up at 9 a.m. and going to bed at 6:30 p.m. she is getting the wrong message.  And this may backfire you in some way in the future.

xxx
Alexa

[~Alexa~]

I answered before I read your last post!!
We cannot stay at home all day long because our los need to sleep!! 

When I started sleep training, I took one whole week for this, and I didn't go anywhere, so my lo took all his naps in his crib.  The problem that we had was that he would only sleep if he was rocked or held, so I really needed to stay home for getting this right.  That's why I took a whole week for doing this.  But then, of course, we had to go back to real life, so when I am out and about, I always try to have my lo take at least one good nap a day in his crib. 
During the weekends, my dh is at home, and we tend to go out a lot, so I don't care what hubby thinks about it, that's my rule! Always have one nap at home! heehee

Hope this helps
Alexa

[AvaMadeline]

An update  Ava went down at 7pm, woke up at 10pm just as I was going to give her the DF  woke up at 2am and then 5am. She took all 4 oz. and more for the 2am feeding and at 5am I did the sh/pat until she fell alseep and woke up an hour later, fed at 6am, back to sleep until 7:30am. She ate again at 8:30 and was alseep by 9am! Are you proud of me lol lol. and Ava I guess  She is still sleeping although I think I heard a sound.... but either way it's 45 min and that again is such an improvement from the day before you advised me. Now I get to go in a check on her and I'll bet she is going to greet me with a huge smile and laugh as she always does which makes me morning. I am out for a few hours (there go our naps) but as you said one good nap in the crib  I can't stay in all day, I'll go crazy. Too many soaps and talk shows, lol.

[~Alexa~]

Great news!! So if you lo woke up at 5 a.m, and then at 6 a.m, I'm sure she was hungry at 5 a.m. and that's why she woke up!!

When your lo wakes from naps and she seems ok and happy, I would try leaving her in the cot for about 30 min, sometimes, they go back to sleep.  When my lo started taking 45 min naps, I used to go to get him as soon as he woke up, even though he was happy, but then, one day, I decided to leave him there until he cried, and he didn't cry, he just stopped chatting and fell asleep.  Sometimes, he goes back to sleep, and sometimes he doesn't, so try it, may be your lo will surprise you and go back to sleep by herself. 

Hugs,
Alexa

[AvaMadeline]

Our day was crazyyyy and I am exhausted!! Our 2 hour douting ruined everything that is for sure. Ava would not down today once we got home. First of all she naped before we left the house for almost an hour. Once we arrived she was due to eat in r mark about 30 min so I fed her right at the 3 hour mark and she fell sleep during the feed!!!! Took only 2 oz. There were many kids there so I think tired her fast  So once we got home I put her down as she fell asleep in the car seat and she slepy for 15 min. We carried on with our afternoon and the 2 naps that followed she fought for just over an hour. Not happy!! She would give in. She was rubbing her eyes, she was clearly very tired ot for sure but would not go down. After the 2nd attempt I put her down in her crib and she stayed, laughing, cooing to everything in our room At least she does not get grumpy because I sure do lol. Later at her 6pm feeding she fell alseep again after 3 oz. so I put her down and she woke in minutes...I eventually took her out and we had our usual bath and story. She went down well but she cried after 30min but has now been asleep for almost 2 hours! What a day!!!!!! I will try the DF "I think". For some reason not convinced about waking her up or fearful that she will wake-up but I do want to try it as I really want the sleep IF this works! Well now I know that if I leave the house I am definitely in for a tough day, which upsets me but what can I do, just want her to sleep well but need to get out there too! How is your lo doing?

[~Alexa~]

Going out can mess up the routine!! But as you said, we cannot say home everyday all day long, so it is normal for them to have some trouble with naps if we go out!
I didn't start a DF until my lo was 4 months, and it worked pretty well for us.  So, may be you can try it for a week or so and see what happens.  Try to do it carefully so you don't wake her up.  They are usually so alseep that they don't even open their eyes, but if your lo does, don't worry, just feed her and put her right back to sleep. 

My lo is fine, but since it is the weekend, all his routine gets messed up!! My hubby is at home, so at 5 a.m. ds usually makes some noises; I never go to him, I just let him be and he goes back to sleep by himself, but this morning, DH went in and fed him, so my ds slept until 9 a.m. I didn't wake him up because we also wanted to sleep in!! heeeheee So he started his day at 9 a.m which is too late.  Now, I'll have to figure something out to have him in bed at 8 p.m and not at 9 p.m. 
But I really enjoyed waking up "late"!! 

Keep me posted
Alexa

[AvaMadeline]

Well, I can't believe it has been almost a month since my last posting...where does time go? Ava has just turned 4 months  and I am wondering a few things... we have been doing really well with naps since Alexa`s advice on cutting back the A time. She naps fairly well as long as her A times are about an hour or an hour and 15 min. The thing that I am fighting with is what time she should go down for the night. She usually wakes up at 6 or 7am, sometimes plays for 30 min or so and then I feed her. I am thinking that if she went down later in the evening she may not wake up as she does now at night. I will also post this in nw. Usually her last nap is about 4pm and she often fights me on that one and only sleeps for 30min half of what she usually does. I know we should aim for 12 hour days but.... so for example, if she goes down at 7pm she usually wakes anywhere from 11-1am takes 4-5 oz at that feeding and then again at 4-5am and feeds again. I know this seems to tie into three categories so forgive me. Any suggestions on the time for bed, and what I can do to stop that one 11-1am feeding. I tried the df once but I swear she would not take it. I tried so hard not to wake her by my laugter but she would not and I was so worried about waking her so I have not tried again... I can`t seem to get more than 4 hours sleep at once and I am begging for a 6 hour stretch! 

[~Alexa~]

HI there!!
Could you post your routine please? Your lo is 4 mo now, so I imagine things have changed a lot.  So can you post the routine you are doing right now? Please include A times, feeding times, amount of oz, nap legths, and wake up from naps. 

I think you should try the DF again!! I started doing the DF when my lo was 4 mo, and it worked very very well. We dropped the 2 am feed.  So my lo went from waking at 2 am and then at 5 am to only waking around 4 am, and then no more night wakings to feed.  So I would give it a try.  If your lo is soooo asleep, then try again in 10 min. 

Alexa

[AvaMadeline]

Hey Alexa! Thanks so much for replying and for all your advice last month! Okay, although I keep track it always confuses me to type it out like that... here goes:

7am - wake - feed 3 oz.
8am - nap (1 hour)
9:30am - feed 5 oz.
10:15-11am - sleep (45min)
12:15 feed 3oz.
1:30 nap (in the stroller 1 hour)
2:45 - feed 5 oz.
4pm - nap (30min)
5pm - feed 4 oz.
6pm - sleep....
(usually we have a bath and another small feed before bed but tonight I tried something different. I wanted to try and have her sleep later like maybe 8pm so I tried for another nap at 6pm thinking she would wake at 6:30 but she ended up staying asleep, lol)

That was our day from waking up this morning!

I maybe should add that last night she woke up at 10:30pm after going down at 7pm. Usually she wakes from 11-12 for a feeding and takes 4-5 oz. anf then woke again at 3:30 for another full feed    Hope this makes sense.

You are awesome, thanks!! Can`t wait to hear from you!

[~Alexa~]

Hi there!! I'm sorry I couldn't get online during the weekend, so I didn't see your routine !!
How is it going now?

I think some of your lo's As need to be extended, but I don't know how you are doing right now...after the weekend? How is it going?  I would try 1.5 hr A time and see how your lo takes it. 

Did you try the DF? Did it work?

I just want to tell you that having NW due to hunger are very very common and normal at this age.  Your lo will start STTN very soon!! But right now, she may need the extra calories!

Alexa