Help Needed Please !!!!

[sonimusical]

I'm a first time mom and getting very stressed about my baby's naps. Everyone I talk to, tell me to calm down and not stress but I really feel that we need some help here. My daughter will be 6 months old tomorrow and I plan to start solids.

We are on the 4 hr EASY schedule :

8am  - Awake and Drinks 5 ozs of formula ( She cannot do more than 5 ozs as she spits up alot if its anymore than that ) and then plays for two hours - play mat and swing mostly and exersaucer for a limited time.
10am - Nap - Goes down very easily problem is staying asleep. ( we have a routine of going upstairs, closing the blinds, turning on the white noise )
10.30am- Wakes up very happy/smiling as always and plays in her crib for a while
12noon - Drinks 5 ozs of formula
12:30pm - Nap time after being awake for 2 hours
1:pm - Wakes up happy and plays until next nap time
2:30pm - Nap time after being awake for 2 hours
3pm - Wakes up happy and plays until next nap time
4pm - Drinks 5 ozs of formula
4:30pm - Nap time again !!!
5pm - Awake until 8pm
7.15pm - Wind down routine starts with massage, bath, story time, bottle ( 5 ozs of formula )
8pm - Sleeping

5am- NW - Wakes up for the bottle ( 5 ozs ) and goes back to sleep rightaway until 8am.

She only gets 20 ozs in the day time so I figure its perfectly fine for me to feed her at 5am esp since she always finishes the bottle and goes back to sleep.

P.S. Today I tried a wake time of 2.15 mins for the first nap and she woke up in 30 mins again so no change. She went down in 5 mins of taking her upstairs so I figured she must tired...but again, no fussiness/crying and woke up happy babbling away.

Can you please suggest how I might be able to increase her nap time or if I even need to as she's very happy and lasts the 2 hours with no fussiness. Would really appreciate your help.

Thank you !

[marensmama]

Hi there and welcome to BW!  30 minute naps usually indicate that the LO is OT.  I wonder if she's ready for more A time in that first morning block and is having a short nap because she's UT, then the next block of A time is too long (A time following a short nap needs to be shortened or else the LO becomes OT).  Here's a couple of good links that I like to reference: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.msg476652#msg476652  and  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=128419.0  It sounds like your LO is an angel babe, waking happy with not near enough sleep.  That does make the cues hard to read sometimes (my touchy/spirited LO was quite easy to read, because boy did she get mad!  )

So what I would do is stretch that first block of A time to 2.5 hours or thereabouts.  If she has a short nap, try putting her down at 1.75 or even 1.5 hrs of A time during the next EASY block to compensate for the short nap.  If she has a good nap, keep the next A time to about 2.25 hours. 

Hope that makes sense!  Let me know what you think! 

[sonimusical]

Thank you so much for your reply..a couple more questions

So since the first nap was just 30 mins, the second nap I put her down at exactly 2 hr and she slept for 1.5 hrs For her next nap now, I should put her to sleep at 2.25 hrs ? If she wakes up early then would need another nap before bedtime which would get really close to bedtime. How to tackle that one ? She does a 3hr awake time usually before bedtime and goes down easily so should I stick to 3 hrs or put her to bed earlier ?

Thanks once again...

[marensmama]

I'd try her at 2.25 hrs of A time, since she is well rested from a good nap (well done, BTW!).  If she wakes up early, could you move bedtime early?  3 hours of A time before bed seems like a bit much for her age group... that may be contributing to her OT during the day.  I'd try an earlier bedtime for sure.

[sonimusical]

Ok..so I put her for her nap with an awake time of 2hr20 mins...the wind down took a few mins extra..and she's up at 45 mins on the dot. What do you think went wrong this time ?

Its 4.30pm, what time should I put her to bed tonight ? If I went by her normal schedule, I would be putting her down at 7:30pm....

[sonimusical]

Also, in your previous post, you mentioned that 3 hrs of A time is too much and that may contribute to OT during the day ? If she's OT during the day, would that not interfere with her night sleep ?? From which, after sleeping 12 hours, she should be well rested, no ?

[JayLeigh]

I will just throw in my experience, I had a bad (short) napper as well (we have since beaten that for the most part). But he really had great night sleep around that age. He was sleeping 12 hours and feeding once around the same time as yours. THEN nights got worse and worse, as he hits milestone and teethes, he slept worse and worse at night, and I was at the same time trying to get his A time right for good naps.

I agree that the first A time should slowly be extended, and it was actually 5 1/2mos that we started phasing out the last nap, however I wouldnt attempt that until you get the nap length worked out.

What is your LOs type?

[sonimusical]

I think she's Textbook with a touch of Angel.....

[marensmama]

Ok..so I put her for her nap with an awake time of 2hr20 mins...the wind down took a few mins extra..and she's up at 45 mins on the dot. What do you think went wrong this time ?

Its 4.30pm, what time should I put her to bed tonight ? If I went by her normal schedule, I would be putting her down at 7:30pm....

45 minutes on the dot after a previously good nap would most likely be UT, so you could have given her more A time then.  I would try bedtime at 7 and see how that goes (probably too late now!)

[sonimusical]

I aimed for her to be sleeping by 7pm, but she fell asleep close to 7:30pm...

For the naps tomorrow, I guess I should try 2.5 hrs of A time  ?

Appreciate your help !!!

[marensmama]

Yup, unless there's a 30 minute nap, then shorten it up! 

[sonimusical]

Will keep you posted

[sonimusical]

Hi there - I have a quick question..why do babies get up an hour earlier..Last night she went to bed around 7:30pm and this morning woke up around 6:30am..this time she went back to sleep and woke up around 7am however there are days in which she gets up an hour earlier and wont go back to sleep...Is there something I can do to fix this ?

Also, is 11 hrs of sleep considered restful, so I put her down for her first nap earlier than 2.5 hrs or at 2.5 hrs as we discussed yesterday ?

Thanks

[marensmama]

10-12 hours of sleep at night is considered a good sleep at this age.  If she seems well rested and has woken an hour earlier, I'd just get her up.  It's rare that we sleep consistently to the minute every single night, so although there's a pattern to baby sleep, you have to allow for some variance.

I'd do the 2.5 hours of A time this morning.  She's had a good night's sleep, so I would think that less than 2.5 and she'll be UT and have a short nap on you.

[sonimusical]

She got up in 30 mins from her first nap !!!

I put her down after 2.5 hrs of A time this morning......help !