Sorry, I've only just seen your messages so will have missed your bedtime. Hope it went ok.
Evening LovelyLilyandJack
thank you so much for coming back to me!
In the end my LO decided his own A time tonight...... which was 4 hours and 4 minutes
...... He was WIDE awake after his last BF (which was at just over 3hr A) which was absolutely unheard of until recently. So we ended up keeping him up a bit longer, which we've never done before and even when I felt he was sleepy, he still cried for 10 mins before finally falling asleep.
He has just woken up at 1hr 40 mins.... but his crying/screeching does sound a bit tired.... so thinking we hit OT maybe tonight? Although I really don't think i could have gotten him to sleep any earlier
WIll have to see how long it takes to settle him.
I don't know what anyone else thinks but the early evening wake ups and short naps out of the car seat sound OT to me. Jack can do awful nights like that after I've reduced his A times but usually only if there's something else going on. We had a lot the week he started crawling. Unless there's anything like that going on, I think I'd rule out OT before extending A's further.
This is where OT/UT confusion gets me, because I thought OT was easier to settle and so last night taking soooo long and him seeming so wide awake, I just thought it had to be UT? Also the fact that he slept so well after the extra time awake suggested the same thing to me - wouldnt OT have caused lots more NWs? Or am I way off?
His morning naps in cot have always been short, so in honesty I don't think these are a good indicator either way as when he was little I used to follow the first tired signs and now I follow the clock, so he must have experienced both UT & OT in the last few months and he's never stretched it - not even once.
How have you been getting on with extending that first A? How do you think it's going? Do you think he's any more or less tired for the rest of the day for pushing him here or no difference?
He is consistently showing lots of tired signs at around the 2hr 45m and pushing him to stay awake another half an hour is tough before his naps. Didn't manage it this morning, but then he was in the sling unfortunately, so i'm not surprised.
This afternoon I really felt I had to get him down a few mins earlier than I planned and he was asleep by 3hr 10 and I didn't hear a peep out of him for the whole 2hr nap, which is unusual... so does that suggest the A was about right? Or does the fact it was in the carseat make it more difficult to tell?
It is hard to tell if he is more or less tired in general to be honest, he is certainly fighting sleep from the 2hr 45 mark but he is better refreshed in the afternoons now he is getting a 2 hour car seat nap in the pm and is definitely more awake at bedtime, although he has always been pretty grizzly at this time. But he is quite demanding generally, so judging him overall is quite difficult.
WRT A time til bed I'd probably keep it fairly short for now. Generally you only work on extending one A at a time so I'd play about with that first A time and keep the others roughly as they were until you've got that first one sorted. I don't know, I was never very good at A time to bed but I'd keep it at something like 2hrs 30 - 2hrs 45 after a good PM nap if you can. Does he seem tired before bed most days or is he ok?
This is where i'm confused - I just couldn't put him down at 2hr 30 or 2hr 45 at the moment and be confident he'd be down for the night, I really do think he'd be UT. I'm feeling like the >2hr pm naps are causing an issue.
I honestly think his sleep would be better if he was taking x2 1.5 naps.... but with the rubbish am cot naps, that is just not possible
I am very disheartened and I feel like I am causing more problems than I am solving. Listening to him screaming having woken up after bedtime, once again, I just feel like I am getting it totally wrong & we're both suffering for it.
Perhaps I need to cut his As back to 2hr 45 and try and get 3 short naps in a day?
