8.5 month old - Possibly need some E.A.S.Y. tweaking

[Jiinx]

So with increasing her A time, we're hoping that will solve the early wakings...


So yes, her bedtime may be pushed to 7:30..but we're hoping with the increase in A time she'll wake at 6:30 or so, ykwim? If she's still waking happy and babbling then she may be in the 2-1 transition...

there are babies on here that are okay with 10.5 hours of sleep. Average seems to be around 11-12 ...

If she is okay with the amount of sleep she's getting without getting tired throughout the day then there would be nothing to change,  yk?

[deckchariot]

And that's why people start shifting towards 1 nap - because you just can't fit two long ones in with a decent day anymore.  That was our first clue that it was time to start shifting things - to 1 shorter nap and 1 longer nap  Check out this link:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=95670.0  It's super gradual though - you'll start by just shaving 15 or so min off one nap, which will then shift the timing of the other nap, which will then allow bedtime to be earlier and the night to be longer. 

[chartal]

OK, interesting. That helps a lot. Yesterday she took a 30 minute nap at 9:30am and I thought, oh lord this is going to suck until next nap. But instead, she was up happy for 4 hours straight until her next nap at 2pm, at which point she took a 1.25 hour nap and was happy until bedtime at 7:30pm. Up at 4am, though, but I got her back down after an hour of crying and PD.

I'll experiment with this. She's still only 9 mos, but I do seem big changes happening in the sleep/A-time department. Thank you!

[chartal]

Just a word to let you know your advice helped! I've reduced her nap times during the day a bit, give her a short, later afternoon nap and she goes down at 7:30pm. AND SHE'S BEEN SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT UNTIL 5:30AM! This is Big News, and a huge improvement! Thank you a million!

[Jiinx]

yipee Fantastic news hun. *hugs*

[deckchariot]

YAY!!!!  That's fantastic!

[chartal]

Oy, just when it gets good, it goes bad again. Nothing seems to be long-lived with this one! Each time I post a success, one or two days later things go wonky. I feel like I'm hitting my head against the wall with her schedule.

I did read the 2-1 switch post on the forum but I'm not sure it applies perfectly. Still, I'm going to start making her morning nap slightly later each week to see if we can lengthen it, and then give her a smaller afternoon nap (which she's taking anyhow..today it was 15 mins).

Issues:

-3am NW reinstated, and sometimes waking earlier (like 4:30am)
-Back to two 30 min. naps per day...canNOT get her to sleep longer.

Now I'm pushing for a 1.5 hour morning nap and a 1 hour afternoon nap. One issue is that b/c her waking in the morning varies, it's hard to keep the rest of the day on a true schedule. But I just reread the forum and it talks about not following the clock exactly, but rather a general routine.

Currently she's pretty happy staying up at least 4 hours at a time. I'm testing out if she can go for 4.5 hours, but it seems that at that point she's really tired.

If she's ready for the 2-1 switch, is it just going to be wonky for a while? 

I have her at a care provider M,T,W mornings and I need her to be more consistent so that I can rely on her getting the rest she needs no matter where she is. My care provider can't do the PD routine.

Thanks for your help.

[Jiinx]

Hi there,
 I would see what kind of nap she gives you with a 4.5 hour A time. What A time in the morning does she do now? 4 hours? And does that give you a 30 minute nap? Does she cry when she wakes? Could it be -anything- else like teeth (sorry..we've been teething forever...and naps are not predictable as they used to be!)?