45m nap but still OT

[AmberM]

Hi,
I'm having challenges with naps. We just started more strictly following EASY one week ago. My LO is 24weeks (5.5 months). Her A time was about 1-1.5h, but we've moved it to 2h over the past week.  Our schedule is:
A/E: 7:00
S:9:00 (1.5h nap, consistently)
A: 10:30
E: 11:00
S: 12:30 <- this is the nap we're having trouble with
E: 3:00
S: 4:00 (45m CN)
E: 5:30
E: 6:30
BT: 7:00
NW: 11:30ish and/or 5:00 (we generally have 2 wakings, but in the last week she's started only waking once on occasion, and slept the full night once)

The first 4 days, I had 2 X1.5h naps, and 1 45m CN. Then the last 3 days she's consistently started only napping 45m for the 2nd nap (the 12:30 nap). I've tried to get her back to sleep, but she's wide awake. But then she's irritable and cranky within an hour. Overall she's been quite OT in the past week, but her night sleeping has seen improvements, and her naps were ALL only about 45m before last week. Today  her A time before that 12:30 nap ended up being 2.5h (we were out running errands and got caught in Christmas shopping traffic), and still, only a 45m nap. I'm just not sure where to go from here....she's definitely cranky and showing signs of being tired after the short nap, but I can't seem to extended it, and I'm worried it'll become a pattern, since we've had a very consistent 3 days with her times. Any suggestions?

Thanks!!

[AmberM]

I've been reading some of the other posts about an UT/OT loop..could this be what we're in? Or are we still just settling into the routine, since we're just 8 days in now? She has also taken a solid hour to get to bed the last 2 nights...the first night took that long when we started, but since then, it's been no time at all. Bedtime routine, place her in her crib, leave the room, and not a peep. So I'm wondering if naps and/or A time are impacting this?

Any help and advice would be appreciated! We saw such great improvement in the first week with the help I've received through the book and these forums, but I'm terrified of slipping back to our old dysfunctional sleeping patterns. We've gone from only 45m naps, and only sleeping in her swing for naps AND night time sleep. So I've been incredibly pleased (amazed!) with the change. I just want to make sure I'm doing it right. I realize I'm playing catchup, since she's 5.5 months and we've gone from such a short A time to 2h....I jumped her right up to the 2h mark last week...looking back, I likely should have done it in increments. Should I peel back some of the A time since she's so cranky, maybe to 1h40 for a couple days, let her settle in, and then start increasing it again in 10m increments? But if I do that, will she still be UT and have that short afternoon nap?

Sorry I have so many questions!! 

[Layla]

Hi there,

Now that you've made a jump to 2hrs, probably not a good idea to go backwards... she is probably still getting used to it. To be honest, our morning nap was almost always the reliable one and the afternoon was short until I pushed right to 3hrs A time and ditched the catnap! At 5.5months, we were down to 2 naps but I wouldn't suggest you do that just yet - it is quiet a jump.. and my dd was quiet good at handling longer than av A times. Generally if she's up and happy, that means she needs even more A time (to be tired enough to sleep more) so you could try an extra 15mins over a couple of days to see if it will make a difference? (I wouldn't mess with the morning A for now since you're getting a good nap on 2hrs).

Does she go to sleep independently? I used to leave my DD in the cot for up to an hour from when the nap started (so another 15mins if the nap was 45mins short) and sometimes she would put herself back to sleep .

What do you think?

[AmberM]

Not for naps, she doesn't go back to sleep independently, but at night she does about 50% of the time (the other 50% I nurse, but she either leaves me empty or takes a solid 4oz if my husband has gotten up with her, so I think she's legitimately hungry). Maybe I'm running in to quickly during the day though...I find it harder to hear her cry when I'm sitting on the sofa than when I'm warm in my bed at 4am. ;P I'll try  not running to the rescue quite so quickly for a couple days and see if that helps.

That makes sense for the A time prior to nap2. And maybe that would help balance things out with the CN too? She isn't tired enough for a long nap2, wakes at the 45m mark and is so tired that she tries to take a longer CN on us?

Thanks! I'll start tweaking tomorrow and see how we make out!