6 month old was doing great, now is all over the place.

[~*Nicole*~]

Hi, my 6 month old daughter was doing really well. She was on a really good schedule and now for the past week she has been waking up earlier than usual which wouldn't be too much of a problem, but she is also not napping well and then getting tired for bed early which is why she is probably waking up early.

Her "great" schedule was:

7 am-bottle (8 oz)
7:30/8-breakfast (cereal or fruit)
play a bit
9-11-nap (which had recently been getting shorter....like an hour to an hour and a half)
11-bottle (8oz)
11:30/12-lunch (vegetable)
play a bit
12-2 or 1-3-nap (again, recently has been getting shorter--also between 5 and 6 months she was fluctuating how long she would stay awake for....we were trying to get to the 1-3)
3-bottle (8 oz--sometimes she took less for this one though--6oz)
4:30/5 (depending on the time of the afternoon nap) she'd do a catnap for 30 mins ish.
5:30-dinner
6:30-bottle (8oz)
7:00-bed

Recently, she's been up a few days at 5 am (but has gone back off to sleep if I give her a pacifier and reposition her as she is moving all over the place now)....but then she is up at 6 or 6:30 as her wake up time. Then she is falling asleep early for her morning nap, but not sleeping as long and consequently doing the same thing for the afternoon nap. She has started refusing the catnap for the past few days and like tonight for example, was exhausted by 6:00 and getting cranky/overtired so I gave her the night bottle early and put her down around 6:30 when she was done with the bottle.

Not sure if I should be trying to extend naps, or eliminating the catnap or giving her a slightly later bedtime at around 7:30/8??

Any ideas to get her on a more consistent schedule again would be great!

[~Alexa~]

Hi there!! Sorry you're having a tough time!!
I think your lo may be ready for having longer A times and dropping the catnap.  The catnap may be causing the EW.  I just went through the same thing.  My lo is 5.5 months and 2 weeks ago, he started waking up at 5:30 a.m, then 6 a.m, and so on.  Sometimes, he would have a crib party and then go back to sleep, but sometimes he would stay awake until I got him. 
So, first of all, if your lo wakes up early, but doesn't cry, then ignore her.  Don't go to her, we don't want to encourage the EW so that it becomes a habit.  If your lo cries, then go to her, and try to put her back to sleep.  If she is hungry, feed her, but if she is not hungry, then don't feed her.

By having an EW, she is making up the extra A time she is not getting during the day, so we need to give her that A time in the day and not in the early morning.    

If her naps have been getting shorter too, then I think she may be UT.  She may be ready for more A time.  Try to increase it by 15 min and see what happens.  If this doesn't help, we can increase it even more.  But let's do it little by little.  Does this make sense?

Once you drop the catnap, then you'll get rid of the EW.  In the meantime, let your DD take the catnap, but then move bedtime a bit later so that we give her extra A time.  IYKWIM?

Hope this helps,
Alexa

[~*Nicole*~]

Thank you.....that's sort of what I was thinking might be the problem, but I wasn't sure.

And, yes I know not to get her if she is not crying...she is becoming a fan of the crib party. If she cries I do go in and try to get her back into a position where she can resettle herself so she is pretty good at falling asleep so long as she is tired. My husband is actually home with her during the day so I am going to try to get him to keep her awake times longer.

I'll see what we can accomplish tomorrow!

[~Alexa~]

Crib parties are adorable!!  She definitely needs more A time!!

Keep me posted
Alexa

[~*Nicole*~]

Well today my husband told me she took her morning nap from 9:30-11:15 and her afternoon nap from 1:45-2:30. The morning nap was closer to where I would like it to be, but I think it threw her off for the afternoon. Then she napped from around 5-5:30 since she didn't last long for the afternoon nap. I put her to bed around 7 and she took about a half an hour to fall asleep but was quiet and playing with her lovey the whole time. To get her to 9:30 this morning he took her to the park, which I think kept her interest until naptime (it's right across the street from our house!!!), but it's usually been too cold to do much outdoor time.

Have any good/engaging activities for her age? We do sitting time in her room and play with toys, tummy time, exercauser time and of course cuddly mommy and daddy times.

[~Alexa~]

Congratulations on that long nap!! That is great!!  Now, we need to get the second nap right!

I think the second nap (from 1:15 p.m - 2:30 p.m.) was an UT nap.  So we need to increase that A time.  But, first I'd like to know two things: 
At what time did she wake up today? How long was her first A time (the one before the long nap)?

Here are some great ideas for toys and activities.   http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=52865.0

Alexa

[~*Nicole*~]

I think she was up this morning at about 6:30/45. It's hard to tell because like I said, if she doesn't cry, I don't go in, I just let her play or do whatever she wants to do, and I heard her stirring around 6:30, but I don't know if she was awake yet or just moving a bit. In any event, I went in at 7 and got her up and she had her bottle shortly after. I do think she needed to stay awake a bit longer after that morning nap, but we'll have to work on getting her used to it. I am going to go read the activity page you posted now and see what things I can tell him to try! (I am so glad she has such a good daddy)

[~Alexa~]

It is great that you have such a good hubby who helps you so much!! 

So definitely try increasing that second A time and let me know how it goes.

Good luck
Alexa

[~*Nicole*~]

UGH.....yesterday the morning nap was so good....now today....she made it to 9:20, I put her down for a nap and she slept maybe 20 mins and has been awake since. I rewrapped her and left, she is just stirring and playing in her crib right now as I am listening on the monitor, but she was CLEARLY tired and displaying all her sleepy cues when I put her down for the nap. She is starting to fuss now, but it's mixed with her tired noise (is that the mantra cry??). So of course now I will have no idea how the rest of the day will go and what I should do about her later nap, if she doesn't fall back asleep now.

*sigh*

[~Alexa~]

If she doesn't go back to sleep, then reduce the next A time by 30 min to avoid OT. 

If the fist nap doesn't go well, I usually get all day messed up, but I always like to think that tomorrow I will get another chance for getting it right.  So today, just follow your lo's cues and put her down whenever she looks tired.

Keep me posted
Alexa

[~*Nicole*~]

Well yesterday she did 9:30 to maybe 9:50 and then was up for 30 or 40 mins or so in her crib playing....after a few attempts during that time to resettle her and her being bright eyed and bushy tailed the whole time, I took her out. Then she got cranky right away,so I actually put her back down and she fell asleep around 11 for another 20 mins or so. Her afternoon nap was around 1:20 and she slept a little better, I think til about 2:00 or so, but it's still too short. Then she needed a nap again which at the moment I can't remember what time she slept. She went to bed really well and slept pretty well with only a couple disruptions that were short and no big deal.

Today, so far, she has done the same type of thing. She started with the tired cues early, so I thought maybe she is waking up a lot earlier than I am realizing and she is tired earlier than I think she is. I put her down for her nap closer to 9 and she fell right asleep. She slept for about 45 mins again. (Long enough for me to clean the bathroom) and then was up and playing. I peeked in and she was staring off to one side kind of like she does before she nods off so I left her be. She hadn't moved around much and still had her lovey. But she never nodded off. She became more and more awake and babbling and cooing until she got bored and cried out for someone to get her. Then she did that cranky after only a little bit thing and I put her back down, she seemed tired but she didn't fall asleep. Now it's almost 11, when she'll get a bottle, so I am going to get her soon for that.

I wouldn't care if she decided to stop taking the long naps.....IF she was content and happy and seemed like that was all she needed, but she is getting cranky and obviously needs more sleep.


Sorry I am totally rambling.

[~*Nicole*~]

Just a thought.....do you think now that she is more "awake" in the sense that she is older and notices more.....do you think I should try to get black out curtains or hang something up to block more light...that is pretty much the only difference between naps and bedtime.

Maybe I'll try that later.

[~Alexa~]

I would definitely try the black out curtains.  She may be having trouble to transition from one sleep stage to the next, so if there is no visual stimulation, that may help her. 

I think she is having UT naps, but this can become a cycle, because if they have an UT nap, bubs cannot handle a long A time afterwards, so then, they want to go down for another nap too soon and they are still not tired enough, so they get another UT nap, and at the end, they may become OT. So we need to keep her awake longer so that she is tired enough for taking a long nap. Does this make sense?

I would try to change her scenery before putting her down.  May be she is getting bored too early and that's why she gets sleepy.  Or if she seems tired, extend her A time by walking around the house, or looking through the window, or just by having quiet time with her in her room. 

Hope this helps
Alexa

[~*Nicole*~]

I have done a lot of the A time extenders. We play downstairs and either do tummy time or exercauser. Yesterday I took her to my mother's house. The other day to the store. We come up to her room to do more quiet play time in her room. She plays on our bed with us for cuddle morning time. I let her look in the bathroom mirror. I am actually even considering overstimulation as an issue now that I think of it. I will try the curtains and perhaps a longer nap routine so she knows what is coming and can settle a bit better.

[~Alexa~]

The chatting and babbling makes me think she has been taking UT naps, which may develop into an OT cycle, but before we continue with the A time increments.  How long were her naps before he started extending A times? How long was her A time?