Good am nap, 45 min pm nap

[hatshetsut]

Kate has been doing better with her naps since we switched to the 3 hr awake time. However, her PM nap is still troublesome. She does a great 1.5 hr am nap but always wakes after 45 min for her PM nap and is a BEAR to get back to sleep. Our EASY is:

7 wake/BF
830 baby food
945 or 10 nap
1115 - 1130 wake
215 - 230 sleep (here is where it falls apart)
If she only does 45 min nap them we either cat nap her or just make an early bed time at 6
I'd like to make it to 7

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Holly

[~Sara~]

Do you think she's undertired for that 2nd nap?  That would be my guess if it's 45 minutes long and she's happy upon waking.

[hatshetsut]

Hi Sara,
I wondered that too. I even tried some AP today and nursed her and she still did not go back to sleep. Should I up her A time by 30 min or so and see how that goes? Or should I shorten the AM nap to an hour and try to get a 2 hr PM nap?

Today our EASY was:
7 wake BF (but I think she was awake on and off from 630 - 7)
945 - 1115 nap
220 - 315 nap
Tried PUPD and AP and we are still awake playing....

Thanks for the lightning fast response!

[~Sara~]

I'd leave the first A time and first nap alone--if it ain't broke, no need to fix it

For the second A time, I'd increase by 10-15 minutes every 2-3 days, stopping when she naps longer.  If that nap suddenly drops to 30 minutes and she's completely miserable upon waking, then we know we've crossed over into OT territory.

[Farigiss]

I have a similar mess going on now that my LO is getting back into her routine.

Our day looks like this...

E: 7:00 am (breastfed)
A: til breakfast @ 8:00am then back to A
S: 9:30 to ~11:30
E: When she got up from her nap breastfed, then lunch at 12:00
A: After lunch
S: ~2:30 (things have continued to be wonky here, waking up after 30-60 mins and no interest in napping)
E: Breastfed when she awoke from her nap
A: Until supper time at about 5:30 pm then some more play
S: Bathtime is at 6:30, breastfed at 7, and quiet time until she falls asleep at 7:30
 - she gets a dream feed at 10:30

I have tried pu/pd, I extended her A time from 2:00 slowly over a 2 week and now we are at 2:30 - still no change.

Maybe we can band together and boot this in the butt? I'm up for suggestions. I have thought about waking her 15 min early from her morning nap but because it is so good, I am unsure. Also, how do you adjust the day so her A time in the evening isn't messed up if we keep having to move her A time even later?

[hatshetsut]

I'm all for group ideas! I was going to kick Kate's nap back to 2:30 and hope to make it until 4. Then We should have a good 3 hr window till bed time.

Have you also found that your LO wakes 40 min after you put her to bed? That is something else we are battling right now....

Good luck Farigiss, let me know how it goes!

[~Sara~]

Have you also found that your LO wakes 40 min after you put her to bed? That is something else we are battling right now....

That's normally an indicator of OT at bedtime.  Night sleep is different than daytime sleep, and that first 2-3h is supposed to be a deep sleep (which is why the DF works so well).  So, if LO is OT, they can't settle into that deep sleep and wake up.

I think that once you figure out that 2nd A time, things will fall into place at night, too

[hatshetsut]

That is what I think too. My DD1 did the same thing and things really started clicking when she turned 8-9 months. I'm hoping the same thing happens this time 'round.

[Farigiss]

My LO will wake mustiple times during the first 3 hours - but puts herself to sleep and I am SURE it is because she is OT. I keep knocking back her bedtime trying to counter it a little.

I keep hoping she will make it to 4 as well... 2 hours in the morning... 1.5 hours in the evening sounds perfect... but no go. So I am going to move her up to 2:45 and see how she takes it today. I'll let her sleep until 4:15 is she stays asleep and we will see what happens tonight.

[hatshetsut]

Sounds like a plan. Today is Thanksgiving so I'm not sure what will happen here, but I'm going to try something similar. Good luck!

[hatshetsut]

It seems like we have a good week, then go back to a rough week. What K did yesterday was:

745 wake
10:30 sleep
12:00 wake
3:00 sleep
340 wake, extended for about 20-30 minutes
4:10 up for good

Do you think I should shorten the 2nd A time to 2.5 hours or shorten the AM nap to 1 hr to try and extend the PM nap to 1.5-2 hrs?