4 hour Easy gone wrong...way wrong!

[Jiinx]

I'm glad she had good naps..

Her last A time was nearly 4 hours...my lo can't even do that long for her first A time! However, she may be fine! Let's see how her night turns out.

[Intransit]

Yes, I know--was 3.5 hours...not intentional but something had come up...and I couldn't get her down for a catnap. She was in the stroller being calm/quiet though.
Bed time was easy...right to sleep after her bath.
I will update in the am!

[Intransit]

So, last night was fairly OK.....
She was unsettled from bed time @ 630 till 10pm-but no DF again-and no problem at all!
She woke near4/430--then went back to sleep till 530.
It might be that she was overtired and therefore had a bit of a restless sleep--so tonight
I am going to give her a cat nap around 445/500 and put her to bed around 715 I think...
how does that sound Jiinx?

[Jiinx]

It sounds like OT last night..

if she wakes at 5:30 after a 30 minute..2 hours of A time may be too little for her BUT I'd rather put her down UT then OT watch her cues closely as she approaches bedtime..if she wants more A time you can always increase it by 5 minutes. Hopefully she'll just play in her crib when you put her down and go to sleep when she's ready.

keep us posted!

[Intransit]

hey Jiinx, just wanted to clarify....she woke @ 530 am for the day this morning...you're saying overtired? If so, I def agree.
today went like this:
wake 530
eat 6am

sleep 755
wake 955

sleep 1150
wake 130

sleep 340
wake 415

bed 615ish

She was quite tired by the time bed time rolled around...but i did watch her q's and she went to bed a bit earlier than normal.
Also, unlike last night she has not made a sound since she went down...def overtired last night..hoping tonight goes better.
What do you think of feeding at 530 and then trying to put her right back down? Or is it better to just start the day at that ungodly hour?
tks!

[tarakay]

I'm still listening here... just been too busy to post until now!

I've found that my LO will go to bed less than 2 hours after the CN if her other naps in the day have been short.  I'm making a little progress on naps - see my other post for details.

Sjeb - your LO's A times still seem a little short?  I didn't think my LO was capable of more A time, but she's consistently pushing been 3 hours lately - just something to keep in mind?

[Intransit]

Tarakay: Yeah, Im trying to extend, but when she gets up so early she can't seem to make it past 2 hrs, maybe 2 hrs 15 minutes. I find the night before dictates how the day will be as far as A times go.
Its 452 am..shes been up since 4.................

[Jiinx]

hi there sjeb!
 I think your lo is falling into a Ut/OT loop..yesterday, she had really good naps but I think she got too much sleep. I know it's hard with the long day so you're thinking, well what else can I do to make sure she gets enough sleep. I agree. However, it's quite common for los to have a max of 4 hours of sleep around this age. At her age, she should be comfortably approaching 3 hours yet.

4 am is tough Did you try feeding her and putting her back to sleep? This was happening to me quite often at 6 and half months as well.

What I did was if she got up at 5am..I left her there until 6 and started my "A" when I got her. I was risking HUGE OT but I needed to push her day out somehow and this was the only way I could. Their sleepy cues can be a little unpredictable at this age. For the first few days she gave me short naps, but her body adjusted to an 8:30 sleep time. I was trying to go for 9 am but sometimes I didn't make it and I would put her down at 8:45.

What do you think? It's a really difficult age. Dropping the catnap and figuring out the perfect balance of sleep/A time.

[Intransit]

I think you are right about her being OT/UT--it's hard to know for sure.....you think she can go 3 hours of A time at this age? We can typically do 2.5 for the first A time--but the second and third seem not to last so long. Might be because of the early morning. I suppose if she rises before 6, I will feed her (do I consider this her morning feed, or a night feed?)We stopped the DF as well, but the early wakings continue!
So, should I aim for 1hr15 min to 1hr30 min of sleep for each nap? And really concentrate on stretching the A time to 3 hours (eventually)?
Im luckY in that I can really concentrate on her routine..not too much in the way at the moment...so if you think thats the way to go........
I shall try (Im willing to try anything!)
xxx

[tarakay]

Sarah-
I'm not an expert.... and we haven't really dealt with EW's here, but from what I've read, sometimes the EW's are a result of our LO's not getting ENOUGH A time during the day.  It's a delicate balance between keeping them up long enough so they sleep well (both during the day and at night) and not so long that they get OT.

I've been tweaking my LO's A-times for the past few weeks, and we've finally seen a bit of success this weekend.  She can do 2:55-3:10 in the morning (depending on when she gets up and how long she stays in her crib).  Her second A time is right in that range too, possibly a little shorter if her nap was short.  We've skipped the CN the past few days too.  Now, my LO sleeps less during the day (1.25-1.5 hrs per nap - so less than 3 hours of day sleep total) but typically sleeps around 12 hours at night. 

I don't know if any of what I just typed was really helpful?!    My gut says you need to keep slowly, gradually pushing out her A-times to 2.75/3 hours.

GOOD LUCK!

[Intransit]

Tarakay: yes! i think you are right...It's just the getting there that is the problem!!! And..I can't leave her in the crib for more than 5 minutes after waking she gets annoyed(yelling louder and louder) if she doesn't see someone. Our home has very thin walls and with my DS having to go to school, I can't allow her to yell (not cry) for too long, for fear of her waking him up.
I will work on getting to 3 hour A times this week for sure..and shorter naps.
I do watch her q's in terms of tiredness..if she is rubbing her eyes at 2hr15 min should I still try to keep her up? I don't want it to be an overtired situation--but MAYBE that's what I need to do for now..if it comes to that.
Thanks Tarakay...

[Jiinx]

sorry I'm a bit late to join the conversation! seems like you guys are sorted though..

I couldn't have said it better myself. Often times, their body is stuck in a habitual A time and they have their sleepy cues due to habit. Does that make sense? Even today, my lo acts so tired after an hour and half of being up. However, if I put her down I often get short naps at 3 hours. So I gently nudge her..

Of course, if they're sick, teething, growth spurts..they will need that sleep and the A time will need to be cut down.

Like tarakay said..there IS a fine balance. EWs can also occur due to the first A being too short and being like an add on to the night. Does that make sense? I understand that your lo doesn't like being left in the crib too long. Could you take her out and rock her in her room, with it still being dark in there? Or you could do an extra long wind down.

Don't go overboard with the increase in A time as you don't want her to get OT..she's getting to the age where 5 minutes here or there won't make a big difference but that at 7 months it still may cause OT.

Also, don't forget to only work on one A

Keep us posted!

[Intransit]

Hey Sarah--thanks for your post.
What you said about q's makes sense yes..it's like habit...but she could do more--and like I had posted earlier last week--she went 3 hours some days!
I will work on extending the morning A time to 3 hours.
I just want to clarify something....since we have dropped the DF cold turkey...if she wakes at 4, or 5 --I should feed her(as a NW) an then just put her back down, hoping to get to 630/7am? and then when she wakes...do solids? or should I offer another feed? I'm not sure how to approach that side of things..
Thanks again

[Jiinx]

what I did if my lo woke up early ..i.e. between 4-5 ..I would give her 30-60 seconds on my breast after I felt my letdown.

If she protested after I took her off, then I put her back on for 30-60 seconds. Then put her back down in her crib and she fell asleep.

When she wakes up, you can finish her feed. Essentially you want her to just get enough so she can sleep for the extra couple of hours.

That's how I approached it

[Intransit]

Ah ok, so Im bottle feeding...so Ill do 3 ounces and see how that goes. I gave her 4 the other morning and she downed it no problem--but made it to just past 630. We shall see..I'll update in the am..
thanks Sarah