EW affecting routine

[PaulsMom]

Unfortunately some bubs don't like to sleep in.  Do you have blackout blinds in her room?  If might help to block out any light that may be waking her up in the early am. 

[lyssie28]

Yeah we had to put one in from when she was born because if she woke she would just stare at the window. I thought maybe she was cold so i used extrs blankets or too hot so tried only one, theres no noise waking her at that time except maybe a few cars going past but the never bother her through the day with her naps.  She just finds it hard to sleep.  Sometimes shes still yawning but still wont go back to sleep. 

[PaulsMom]

I was looking back through your posts.  10-12 hrs of nt sleep is average.  How long are her As before bt?  I'm assuming she's still on three naps?  OT could be the reason or hunger.  If you fed her and put her back down, Will she go back to sleep? 

[lyssie28]

Her A before bt is generally around 2hrs.  Sometimes a bit shorter or longer depending on how she is.  Normally in the late afternoon she's very cranky even with her catnap its hard to keep her occupied until bed.  She has 2 long naps and a catnap but she's only been taking half hour naps.  One day this week she had 2 full 1hr and a half naps and her catnap and then she slept all night from 7pm until 6am but i dont know what was different for her to do that because she hasnt done it since! One morning i did feed her when woke at 5.30 and she went back to sleep until 7 but she hadnt fed for 4hrs.  I tried this morning when she woke at 5.20 but she wouldnt take any because she'd fed when she woke at 4.

[Layla]

How old is she now? If she's around 5 months, she's probably ready for more A time. My lo is actually down to 2 naps and we're doing 3 hrs across the day. She may be only doing 30 min naps because she isn't tired enough to sleep longer? I would try and aim for morning nap to be a set time - start with 8.30am and no earlier than that and go from there. Then slowly start to push it until its closer to say 9am (over weeks).

[lyssie28]

She is 6 months next week.  Does a half hour nap mean ut? I have been putting her down at around 8am because of her waking at 5.30-6.  Should her A time be 3 hours now? So if I do nap 8.30-10.00 and then 12.30 until 2.00? If she can go that A time and then like you say make the naps later gradually and then cut out the catnap?  I always put her down when she displays her tired signals which is usually crankiness first and then rubbing her eyes. 

[Layla]

Around this age, I stopped following cues with DD1 and 2 and applied pretty much the same thing with DD3. I think the 3-2 nap transition is something to think about as this would be the typical age where they would start to transition (and in our case as early as 5 months). If I were you, I would start to stretch her morning A time (add 15mins every 3-4 days) until you get to 8.30am and then hold it there. With regards to the rest of the A times, i would see how well she slept for her morning nap to determine whether she can do 2hrs or maybe even 2:15.

If your morning nap is 8:30-10 and pm nap is 12.30-2, you will probably be able to do a catnap from 4:30-5 and bedtime around 7am. She may still wake early though and this might have to do with the transition. But slowly over a couple of weeks as you stretch her A times closer to 3hrs, you will find that there won't be enough time for a CN and you would do an earlier bedtime on those days or if the CN is too late then you could wake her about 20mins into the nap to make sure she goes to bed on time.

Are her naps 30mins throughout the day?

What do you think?

[lyssie28]

Should I gradually increase A time over a couple of days or longer like say a week?  I think you are right about the transition.  She often really struggles with the catnap even if she's awake for her 2 hrs A time and then sometimes she seems even crankier afterwards as though maybe she's had too much sleep. 

Generally she wakes after half an hour for every nap.  I go into her room just before and watch her.  Sometimes she just rolls over and goes right back to sleep and sometimes she just rolls over onto her stomach and starts to play.  She is almost crawling and is always up on all fours when she plays on the floor getting frustrated that she's not going anywhere fast.  Could it be developmental at this stage?  She can go to sleep by herself through the night but most naps it just seems that she is wide awake.  Sometimes I might spend up to half an hour trying to get her back to sleep just to find that as soon as I walk away she rolls onto her front and is playing.  Is that because she wasn't really tired for her nap?

I forgot to mention that for her morning nap I have started putting her in her cot at 8.00am just recently so that she is asleep by 8.15-8.20 but again it depends on how tired she seems and what time she woke up. 

[Layla]

I would do an increase of 10-15 mins every 3 days, starting with her first A time until you get to 9am and then work on the other A times. Also at this age your presence may be interfering with her ability to get back to sleep. Honestly I would not enter the room...do you have a monitor? We're at 3 hrs across the day and I've noticed that when I put mine down just 15 mins earlier, she'll wake at 30mins and talk for 10mins or so before going back to sleep whereas at 3 hrs A time, she'll wake very briefly and go back to sleep so It could very well be that she isn't tired enough to want to sleep longer. Play around with the A times and see if it helps but don't rush to her aid too soon-she will have to get used to sleeping in different positions. I would go to her if she's crying but not if she's just laying there....but that's just what I'd do

[lyssie28]

Yeah I'll try to keep away as much as possible if she wakes up.  I've started to put her in her cot and shush for 5 minutes until she is sleepy and then leaving the room.  Sometimes I hear her rolling around, she is never still, but I'll just leave her to it unless she cries.  She does get herself stuck sometimes and I would go into her room place her on her back and shush until she was asleep but maybe I'm keeping her awake by doing this.  I'll just put her back and then leave the room again maybe that will help.  That's what I do through the night and she seems to settle ok.  We are still having problems with her waking early but I am coming to accept that until she is older maybe she just has had enough sleep by then.