Early nap causing ews

[jcsmom]

I started tracking my lo's sleep on-line so I could see if there was a pattern (OCD for sure!) and I have noticed that after 11 hours of nightsleep she wakes and feeds then goes back to sleep for 45 mins if I let her, on me or in bed with me. So her nights are fragmented and it effects her first nap almost getting her into an UT/OT loop.
Here are some examples from the last 4 days. She does this everyday
wake 5:55 sleep 6:30-7:15
wake 5:15 sleep 5:57-6:45
wake 4:10 sleep 4:30-5:40 sleep 6-6:40
today wake 4:15 sleep 4:30-5:40 6:15-7:15

how do I get her to stop doing this? She has OT NWs early in the evening and some long happy NWs around midnight and 4 am. But we won't discuss those. Her bedtime is usually between 6 and 7 depending on day's naps but usually 6:30 because even when apoping her naps aren't great. We get a week of excellent naps and then it all falls apart. She is 5 months and does 2-2.25 A time. I think she is ready for more but we keep getting these fragmented nights making her OT which in turn effect her naps and I shorten her A again and we spiral out of control most days. She is pretty much an 11 hour a night sleeper (even with wakes) and then you add this early morning nap so it seems like a 12-13 hour night but really it isn't.

Any suggestions? Do I just get her up and start her day after 11 hours and hope that she just adds that sleep on to her naps? She's not a huge sleeper 11 at night plus this "nap" and 3ish in the day if I am lucky.

[*Becky*]

Do I just get her up and start her day after 11 hours and hope that she just adds that sleep on to her naps?

I would start the day after 11 hours yes as like you say the short going back to sleeps could be affecting the day.
What did yesterday look like?

[jcsmom]

We're all over the place. Still. She has NWs, UT short naps then is OT by bedtime and we get OT NWs. She has always had a longer than normal A time but I keep changing it due to bad nights then we get into an UT/OT loop that I can't seem to get out of. We seem to have a few good days of good naps and she gets caught up and then does these weird UT wakings at 4-5 am so I shorten her A to compensate. Ugh. No point in showing you our day as it is never the same. We try for:
6 am wake
8ish nap for 1-2 hours
12ish nap for 1-2 hours
4ish catnap for however  long shedoes
7pm bedtime

[*Becky*]

ok well I would try to push that first A out a touch to more like 8.15am and see how she does. Then if she does a good nap i.e. 1.5-2 hours she may well be able to handle 2.5 hours of A time. The CN I would cap to max 30 mins even if you need to bring BT forward a touch.

[jcsmom]

I think we are caught in a major ut/ot loop. She has bad nights due to short naps due to short A times. We can't seem to win. I keep scaling back her A becasue she is so OT and then she short naps in the AM and things spiral down. She has always needed higher than A and I have always shortened it for fear of OT. Now she is OT and we can't seem to escape. Should I just bite the bullet and lengthen her A's? She is giving me 45-1 hour or hour 10 on 2 hours A. Then her PM nap is short due to UT as I shorten her A again due to a short first nap. Then her catnap is 30 mins due to OT from her last nap then she is OT at BT and now we have her fighting at BT and EWs. I can't seem to win with her. We are working with 2 hour A sometimes shorter. I know I need to push it to get past this. Re-read my old posts. Things go well for a few days then not. The best day we had was over a week ago with 2 hour 30 A times. But we can't seem to get back there as she is now OT.

[jcsmom]

We were doing 2 hours at 4 months and things were going well. Then I think she needed a major jump and we got ews and I panicked OT. Now she really is OT from being UT.
Today she woke at 5:40 her normal time but didn't fall asleep until 7:40 last night due to OT from too long last A (or UT from short A then OT from long last A) so I let her sleep until 6:45 albiet fitfully. AM nap was at 2 hrs A and she slept an hour (ut nap here).
I think we are in the throws of the 3-2 and are caught in an UT/OT cycle. I think perhaps I need to do something drastic to get out of it. I really think this has been our problem for ages.
How would this work?
6 am wake
8:30-10 nap
12:30-2 nap
4:30-5 nap
7pm bedtime?
We have tried bedtime 1.75 2 2.25 up to 3 and if she is ut or ot she battles. I have tried EBT on crap nap days and she wakes 11 hours later.

[*Becky*]

I think it is probably best to just stick with 2.5 A time like you said and see if after 4-5 days of consistency she comes out of the OT...I would still keep the CN at 30 mins and BT no more than 2 hours after, maybe a smidge earlier.

[jcsmom]

I have another thread in GS so you can lock this one if you want. Thanks for your help!