Napping mystery...

[Tdotbaby]

Hello ladies,

My husband and I have just started our 7 month old girl (born 8lbs, 15 oz) on a new 4-hour schedule a couple of days ago to get her eating more during feedings and sleeping through the night.  Prior to this, she was a formula snacker and picky solids eater, and woke frequently through the night.  We got some help from the Bottlefeeding Forum and came up with the following schedule.  There are definate improvements already.  She is eating slightly more each day, and sleeping longer through the night (but still needs pu/pd around 5:00am to make it to 7:00am).  Also, she is a VERY sprited baby;)

Two problems:
1) It is very difficult (almost impossible) to put her down for the morning and afternoon naps.  She is noticebly tired but is not responding to things we did around 4/5 months (before teething).  So I've had to take her for a stroller walk or car ride to get her to sleep.  

2) It was mentioned in the bottlefeeding forum that the 4:00pm to 7:00pm time frame may be too long of activity time and cause her to be overtired.  However, for two days in a row she is falling asleep much easier around 6:30pm than the previous two scheduled nap times. She is very cranky (most likely overtired) starting around 5:00pm.  


Is there something we can do after feedings to get her down for her morning and afternoon naps?
Should we change our schedule to help avoid her late afternoon crash around 5:00pm?
Napping is hard for her and hard for us.  How can we teach her to calm down and drift to sleep with our support?  We don't know what we're doing wrong, and when she does sleep/nap we don't know what is was that made it successful .

Any help would be gladly appreciated.

* 7:00am --- formula
* 8:00am --- solids
* 9/9:30am --- morning nap

* 11:00am --- formula
* 12:00pm --- solids
* 1/1:30pm --- afternoon nap

* 3:00pm --- formula
* 4:00pm --- solids
* 6:00pm --- bath/massage

* 7:00pm --- bedtime
* 11:00am --- dreamfeed

[ZacsMumme]

I think your LO is in need of an increase in A. Most 6-7 month olds are able to do close to or more than 3 hour A times. Yours look around 2.5 hours with a long A to bed. I suspect she is UT at nap time, does she fight you like she doesn't want to go to bed?

Around this age LOs show tired signs for lots of reasons including OS, US (Bored), need a change of scene. (makes it hard for us right!) Also if she has been going to sleep at this time for a long period her body will be telling her it is nap time,even though she is not necessarily tired. When we were stuck in a situation like this I tried changing the scene ie going outside to see if the tired signs disappear.

I would try keeping her up an additional 10-15mins for that first or second A and see if this helps her to go down for her nap? After a few days then you can increase again if you need too. I would only do 1 A time at a time unless you are confident you will get good naps regardless. Eventually your day will look more like this.

WU 7am
Nap 10am-11.30
Nap 2.30-4
BT 7

What do you think?

[Tdotbaby]

I think you are right, my baby is probably UT.  I've tweeked the schedule a bit.  It's a 4-hour 7am to 7pm. We're hoping she gets enough nap time during the morning and afternoon.  At 7 months, we're trying to do some tummy time, the jolly jumper, active sing alongs, interactive story books, and going for a walk.  But we try to calm the environment down 20 minutes before nap time.  At home we play twinkle twinkle little star on the monitor, when out we sing songs softly, and in the car we play jazz classical (soft music).  She burrows her head into chest and rubs and scrathes her face/head. 

I will try your suggestion of increasing activity time. I guess we could try stimulating her more.

Thanks:)
 
* 7:00am --- formula
* 7:45am --- solids
* 8:00am --- activity
* 9:30am --- morning nap

* 11:00am --- formula
* 11:45am --- solids
* 12:00pm --- activity
* 1:30pm --- afternoon nap

* 3:00pm --- formula
* 3:45pm --- solids
* 4:00pm --- activity
* 5:00pm --- tank-up feed
* 6:00pm --- bath/massage
* 7:00pm --- formula/bedtime

* 11:00pm --- dreamfeed

[ZacsMumme]

But we try to calm the environment down 20 minutes before nap time.

This is perfect When I say stimulate it doesn't have to be loud toys, sometimes they just want a change of scene, or are OS and want a break.

Just increase those As gently, say 15 mins at a time and hold for a few days. You sounds like you know your LO well and that a wee tweak may be all she needs

[Tdotbaby]

Thanks,

She seems to be adapting to the new routine very well, and has made huge changes in a short time:)  The napping is frustrating but she goes down easily in a stroller ride or car ride. 

The hard part is getting her to eat more during feedings.  She only eats about 3 to 5oz of formula, then has her solids after.  The main problem is she is popping up at 5/5:30am ready for the day

My husband says give her food, but I think if we can just get more food into her during the day it would help her through the night.  She's a spirited baby so she is distracted easily during feedings.  Her teething has seemed to settle down a bit. 

[ZacsMumme]

I think your E looks great but you may want to drop the 5pm feed as your LO will hopefully have a full feed at 7 then Given you are still doing a DF as well I dont think she is waking hungry, just ready to hang out (My LO went through the EW too!) Do you think she is distracted while feeding? If so you can try feeding on WU in her dark room without distractions, this may help her have more