starting EASY

[zenmomof2]

Hello.  I want to put my daughter on a solid EASY routine but her naps are so erratic I am having a hard time figuring one out.  She will be 9 months on the 27th.  I assume I should follow the 4 hour:

7am wake & feed
7:30 A
9 or 9:30 S
11:15 E
11:30 A
1  E lunch/solids
1:20 A
2 or 3 S
4 E
4:15 A
5:30/6 E dinner/solids
7pm A + bedtime

We sort of do this but this morning she was up at 5:30 so it threw the day off.  Also for the past week she has been taking 30 minute naps so that is messing it up too!  I can't get a handle on it.  Luckily I was able to get her back to sleep for her morning nap so she is sleeping now (9:20am) and has been since 7:15am.  I know it's long but she has been up since 5 and my 3 year old has a gym class at 10:30 so I am letting her sleep as long as I can to make it through the class 

So how do I modify the EASY routine when short naps and early wake ups mess it up?

ALSO - I want to start PU/PD for naps.  I currently nurse her down but I need to change that and it doesn't always work.  I did pu/pd for bedtime and now she sleep through for the most part.  I assume this will interrupt the routine for a few days so I am also wondering how I roll with it?  Or should I post this in PU/PD?

THANKS!   

[sherry lynn]

Eventually you may need to post on the PU/PD board, but first lets see if we can get your routine straightened out.

9 months can be a really tricky age for a lot of little ones.
Things start to change a lot as they are gearing up to go to one nap.

The usually amount of A time at this age is about 3 hours in the morning.
Then this is where it differs a lot.
Some LO only need/want a short nap there. Around 1 hour, sometimes as little as 45 min. Somewhere in BWSAYP Tracy mentions this, but only sort of in passing. I think she says most babies will be on about 45 min in the morning, however, some babies will still happily have 2X 1.5 hour naps.

So, the place to start I think is to figure out what amount of A time is good for your daughter and how much sleep she needs/wants during the day.
Making sure she is on the right routine will go a long long way in sleep training.
Here are some links to help.

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=10386.0

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.msg476652#msg476652

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=95670.0

And just for future reference: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=41952.0

[zenmomof2]

Thanks!  I do have a post in the pu/pd forum too...

Thanks for the links I will read them tonight.  I thought they switched to 1 nap closer to 12 months?  I would love to be able to put the baby on a routine that goes along with my 3 year old. 

Well she has NO problem with 30-45 min naps that is her specialty lol!  It's good to know that the A time should be about 3 hours.  Maybe I will try to come up with something that will suit both kids.  Ideally I would love for her to wake around 6am and go back to sleep before I get my other daughter around 9...then take her 2nd nap around 1pm then bedtime at 7pm.  That would be wonderful. 

[sherry lynn]

They don't go to one nap until 12-18 months, but the transition (such as a shorter first nap) can start earlier for some LOs.

How about something like this
6 wake
9ish first nap  (45 min? may up to an hour, although that will throw off the second time)
9:45 wake
Sometime between 12:30-1:15 second nap  - this will vary on her needs.
Many find that 3 hours after a 45 min nap is good. But she is a tad young, so it might be a little less for her.

Or you could try
6 wake
9-10 nap
1-3 nap
Bedtime after her normal A time
Maybe between 6:30 and 7?

[sherry lynn]

Oh - I forgot to add.
It might be too much to jump her right to 3 hours. She might need to have an increase of 15 min for 3 days and see how she starts napping.
And then if that's not working, increase by 15 min again in 3 more days