2nd nap very short - Help with judging A time?

[Maura928]

We are new to E.A.S.Y., but it has been going well for the most part.  When I first realized my daughter's A time needed to be extended it made a world of difference in her naps.  She went from doing a 30 minute first nap to one hour and twenty minutes.  She also had great second naps for about three days (almost two hours), but yesterday and today, she is suddenly back to doing really short naps in the afternoon again.  Yesterday her second nap was only thirty eight minutes and today only 26 minutes!  I'm so confused because just a few days ago, the A time worked perfectly.  Does anyone have any ideas/tips??

Also, if her awake time is about 2 hrs, 15 - 20 minutes, when exactly do I put her in the crib to go back to sleep?  For the first nap, she usually goes to sleep fairly quickly, but for the second nap it is taking about 10-15 minutes of SH/PAT and PU/PD.. 

Thank you in advance for your help!
(she will be 6 months on Sept. 2, so about 5.5 months old)

Here is our schedule the last two days...
Thurs -
Awake - 6:10
E - 6:20-6:40 (BF)
A - 6:40 - 8:20 (Solids at 7:15)
S - 8:20 - 9:40
E - 9:45 (Bottle of expressed milk - 6oz)
A - 9:55 - 11:55 (10 mins of PU/PD)
S - 12:05 - 12:43 (only 38 minutes) 
E - 1:15 - 1:30 (BF)
A - 1:30 - 3:00
S - 3:00 - 4:15 - Stroller
E - 4:30 - 4:45
A - 4:45 - 6:15
6:15 - bath, bedtime ritual
E - 6:30
7 - asleep 
We drifted from the four hour E.A.S.Y. - I don't do a dream feed, so I stick an extra feeding in in the late afternoon.  She woke up once to eat at 4:15am last night.

Today
Awake 6:45
E - 6:55 - 7:10
A - 7:15 - 8:55
S - back in crib at 8:55 (she rolled from back to stomach for the first time while trying to fall asleep, had to do some PU/PD - finally fell asleep at 9:20 - 10:40
E - 10:45 - 10:55 (7oz expressed milk)
A - 11:00 - 12:55
S - PU/PD - until 1:15
S - 1:15 - 1:40!  only 25 minutes 
Is she under tired, over tired?  Any advice is greatly appreciated! 

Thank you!!

[Maura928]

I'm so confused - I put her down at 2 hrs 15 this morning like I've been doing the last few days and it took her 10 minutes of PU/PD to go to sleep and then she woke up after 37 minutes.  She did 1 hr 20 the last four days - I honestly feel like crying - I thought I finally has this figured out.

[jessmum46]

Hugs Maura - this was such a hard age for us

I think she's probably UT to be honest - 37 min naps for us often are - especially if she was doing 1h20 for the previous few days on the same A time.  A times can really rocket up at this age!  She may also need a slightly longer second A than first one - why not try adding 10 mins and see if she goes down easier?  If you get a short first nap however you'll need to shorten the next A time so she doesn't get OT.

The other thing you could try is a slightly earlier bedtime if possible on short nap days - Thursday was quite a long day from 6.10am to 7pm on short naps.  If you're lucky she may make up for the lost day sleep by sleeping a bit longer overnight.

Hope that helps x

[Maura928]

Thank you very much for the advice. I will try increasing the A time by 10.  Is 6pm too early for bed?  I'm nervous she will be up by 4am if I put her down too early..
If she takes a cat nap, is the A time shorter than usual after that? I wasn't really clear on that after reading the book - I should probably go reread.
Thank you again!

[jessmum46]

Yes the A time is shorter after the catnap

To give you an idea - when DD was around your LOs age she was on 2h15-30 A, and by 6.5m was on 3h+, now pushing 3h30 at 7.5m so it really can change very quickly.

The only way to know how your LO will react to EBT is to try it really.  I've put DD to bed by 6pm before and she hasn't woken any earlier - in fact later than normal on some occasions.  Remember OT from being late to bed can cause EW too - in my mind it's worth trying EBT for the chance of a good night, rather than a definitely bad one!