need help with "a" time for 5.5 month old

[aselby]

hey all.....I was getting help finding my perfect a time about a month ago....with GREAT experimenting, time, tears and loads of OT perhaps i have found it. sigh....anyway, i have been spending this week trying to get my 5..5 month old caught up on lost sleep...putting him to bed SUPER early (5pm) and he's been doing a fantastic job. his day sleep is still poor...he naps 3xday of about 30-50 mins a piece. he has been waking up between 4-5 every morning (i know, i have been putting him to bed EARLY  so what do i expect, right?) but i think he is a bit recharged now.so, i put him down for nap number one this morning after 2.5 "a" time...just on a whim. I had been working so hard trying to crack the code on my sons awake times...i was doing 2.15 time and time again getting a 1.5h nap one day and a 40 min one the next...ugh..what to do...so, this morning i just went for it...2.5 a time...and he's STILL ASLEEP after an hour.....(thank you nap gods) so...anyone else thats reading this....what do i do about his next "a" time? i am still so new to EASY b/c its never been easy for us in both theory and routine. thanks for the help ! we really appreciate it!

amanda

[aselby]

just wanted to add and update...after a first 2.5 a time he slept for 1h20mins...

[aselby]

ok..so , we did 2.45 before the 2nd nap and it ended up in a 37 min nap....and he's a bit cranky...so, OT i'm guessing?

[aselby]

anyone?

[aselby]

well, i guess we're on our own for this one.

[Jiinx]

Hi Amanda,
Sorry you've been having difficulty with your naps.

Would you like to post your EASY for the last couple of days so we can take a look at it?

[*Jo*]

Hi AManda, sorry no one had answered your posts, sometimes we get caught up with the things going on in our own lives and dont get a chance to get online much. Please dont feel you are on your own with things, its just that there are alot of people posting and because you had already posted a few times it looked like someone else had already answered your posts so people may have already thought you were getting help.

please post your EASY and we will take a look

[aselby]

hey...thanks for responding...our easy is way off track so it doesnt look so easy....heres how its gone for the past 2 days:

550am wake up
700 eat
820 sleep
940 wake up
1030 eat
1220 pd for nap
1224 asleep
100 awake
230eat
300pd for nap
310 asleep
350awake
515 bath
545 eat
600 asleep
1200eat
315 awake...mantra until 340
350 eat


today:

600 awake
630 got him up
715eat
850asleep...i tried for earlier but he wasnt having it
925awake
1030eat
1145asleep

1225awake

215eat

255 pd for nap
300asleep
338awake

530bath

600eat
615 pd for bed

625asleep

and thats where we are up until now....any ideas? last week  from wed-sat i put him down at 5pm for bedtime b/c he doesnt nap so well....he started waking up anywhere between 4-5 am starting 3 weeks ago so he was getting super OT by last week hence the early bedtimes to help him get caught up...he is still waking early, but i think its more due to the fact that he was going down for the night early.....i def need some help

[*Jo*]

hmmm, is it possible he is teething? I thought you got a good nap after that A time of 2.5 hours on the first day but then he refused to go to sleep that time the next day so thats a bit inconsistant to try adn figure out.

also another thing, if he does do a short nap, shorten his next A time otherwise he will end up OT which could be what causing your EW;s

how close to 6 months old is he?

[aselby]

he is exactly 24 weeks today....i think he is teething...not 100% positive, but i have a feeling he might be....we out him down at 2.5 yesterday and he went out like a dream.;...this morning, i tried and he really faught it hard...i tried and tried again until he finally went down at the 2h45 min mark...

how much should i shorten the a after a short nap?

[*Jo*]

I would bring it back to around 2 hours, if you get a 30min nap after that then you know you need to shorten it further

[aselby]

thanks, jo....i just want him to get the sleep that he needs....do you think that a later bedtime would help him to sleep a bit later in the morning ? i have heard that if you put them down early they will sleep later, but that hasnt been the case with us...

[*Jo*]

it all depends on the day hun, he needs to have adequate sleep for that tto happen. lets keep trying to get that A time right and then we can focus on getting the bedtime/wakeup time issue sorted because most times that just wont get sorted unmtil the A is right.
make sense?

[aselby]

thanks....jo, i'm about to admit defeat...he went to bed last night at 630 but he woke up at 315 this morning and didnt return to sleep....i am running on 4 hrs of sleep and its been that way for 3 weeks now. i just dont know what to do anymore....i got him up at 615 and gave him some pain med incase he is teething...as soon as i got him he calmed down and started smilimg, so i just dont know what to think anymore. i do know that i am miserable ...if you're up and reading this....what should i do with this day? he's been up for over 3 hrs...

[aselby]

ok/....so i put him down at 715 after a feed..he slept for 45 mins on the nose.....i guess i really dont know what happened in the wee hours this morning..maybe he snuck in a catnap somewhere b/t 315-when i got him up at 615...but i do know that he was up at 530 for sure,....i guess i will try putting him down again in 2 hrs?