Almost seven months old and short naps

[ros85]

Hello.

My DD has been following EASY from about three months old and we never used to have a problem- until recently.  Her day would generally look like this:

Awake: 6.30am
E 7am
A
S 9-9.30am (was always short but rest of naps seemed okay so went with it)
E 11am
A
S 12- 1pm
E 3pm
A
S 3.30-4.30pm
E 6pm

Sleep: 6.30pm

DF 11pm

So A time was roughly 2.5 hours. But recently she has started to nap for about 20-30 minutes: once in the morning and once in the afternoon then refusing catnap so I have been having to put her down a little earlier to bed at about 6pm. We have tried stretching A time and have gone all the way up towards 4 hours (in small increments every few days) but still getting these short naps. W2S not working either.

This morning DD woke up at 6.15am and didn't put down for a nap until 10am. She slept from about 10.05-10.35 then I heard her so went to check and she laid in her cot wide awake for about 10 minutes, had a bit of a whinge for 10 minutes and then went back to sleep. The time is now 11.25am and she is still sleeping. Could this mean that she needs even longer A time? Or could this be overtired?

Please help. 

[empowered mama]

hi there and welcome to the boards

It is seeming like that nap was OT to me.  Sometimes my LO will do that if he is really OT - will wake around 30/35 min and then get back to sleep for another portion of the nap.  Does your LO wake really upset from that first 30 min nap?  Does she give you any sleepy cues prior to?

Also, I remember 1 hr naps at this age for us were always UT and meant I needed to tack on about 10-15 minutes.  Your extension of A times up to 4 hours might not have been effective, as it will take around 3-5 days on a consistent time before their body clock gets used to a new A time - make sense?

[ros85]

Thanks for your help, empowered mama.

Generally, DD wakes from her nap and whinges for a bit, then lays still for about ten minutes quite happily before shouting for me to go and get her. Even on a short nap, she isn't grumpy. If it was up to her, she'd quite happily have two short naps each day.

DD's sleepy cues seem quite inconsitent, to be honest. When she was younger, she'd yawn when she was tired. But now she'll do it when she is nowhere near tired. So I tend to clock watch, or wait until she is really grumpy. Perhaps she is over-tired when I put her down??

We seem to be completely out of routine now- always with a short nap in the morning and, if we're lucky, an hour in the afternoon. Maybes I should try 3.5hr for a few days and see how she gets on?? Really not sure, to be honest.