A times increase= nap time increase?

[newyearsbabymomma]

My LO is 11 1/2 weeks and her A time is naturally increasing. She has been a great napper up to this point and I don't want to wreck that! should I still be getting her up at the same time to maintain a three hour routine, or is this a way to naturally progress toward 3 1/2hours? For example, she used to need her nap after 1hr15mins, and get a 1hr45min nap. But now she is staying awake for 1 1/2hrs so should I let her still get a 1hr 45min nap?

Also, as we progress toward a longer routine, what happens with bedtime? I really like to keep it at 7 but at some point this may mean only an hour between a feed and bedtime feed (I know the book calls this 'topping off' ) but I just don't understand how you can do this and still be on guard against 'snacking'

Thanks

[*Ali*]

I used to let mine go up to half an hour over their feed time if they were sleeping. As long as you get the same number of feeds in it really doesn't matter if some are 3hrs apart and some are 3hr15 or 3hr30.

You might need to watch her day sleep anyway as if she continues having the same long naps as she gets older then night sleep will suffer. If she is still sleeping well at night though then I'd let her sleep.

I used to pay most attention to the last nap and make sure they were up in time to have a reasonable A time to bed. That means the last nap will get shorter or eventually get dropped. Have a look at this FAQ to see how you can expect things to change. Time to Transition - 3hr, 3.5hr or 4hr EASY

Your LO is still very young to be making the move to a 4hr easy though so just watch out and make sure she is getting the 5 decent feeds in a day.

[newyearsbabymomma]

When you say that you wanted reasonable A time to bed, do you mean that you would wake her from the last nap (usually a catnap) a bit before the bedtime feed? If so, how much A time do you want prior to bed?

And I agree it is way too soon for a 4/4, but how will I know when it is time? Waking early from naps and night waking sound like a growth spurt! Which from what I can tell in "solves all your problems" means that I should feed MORE often during the day (breastfeeding) not extending toward a 4 hour... No matter how many times i re-read this I can't seem to squeeze a solution out lol

Thanks (and thanks for your previous answer!)

[*Ali*]

So say she is up at 7, does 1.5hr A then 1hr45 nap, eats at 10.15, 1.5hr A, 1hr45 nap, eats 1.30, 1.5hr A, 1hr45 nap and eats at 4.45. I'd probably try to get her down for a CN by 6pm but just let her have 20 mins and then do her BT milk at 7 and BT 7.20. That would be based on knowing that she would probably need about an hour of A time after a 20 min nap. I wouldn't let her sleep for 30 or 45 mins because I would know then that would push BT too late as I wouldn't expect her to go to bed less than an hour after she last woke.

It is a bit of trial and error really so if I found that wasn't working and she either needed longer awake before BT to be tired enough to sleep again or that she didn't want a CN at that time or she didn't want to eat again so soon after the 4.45 feed or that too much day sleep seemed to mean she didn't sleep well at night etc then I would probably start waking her after 1.5hrs for one or more of the naps to bring the feeds and A times forwards.

For us A times lengthened and that is how we moved feeds later. I never really worried about whether it was a 3 or 3.5 or 4hr EASY as such. When I got to a stage where my boys didn't want to take that last catnap of the day or it just got too late to fit it in before our desired BT then I knew we had to drop it and I started pushing the first A times and letting them sleep longer (if I had been waking them) so that the first few naps fell later in the day. It is all just a rough guide really. All babies are different and very few will do identical A times and nap lengths throughout the day. You might get 1.5hr A time at first and a 1hr45 nap but then the next nap is only 1.5hrs or less so those second and third feeds are only 3hrs apart. Just before they dropped a nap our day got longer and BT moved later. Then when that last nap was gone or moved to a CN I brought BT forward again to avoid a too long A time before BT.

The important thing about EASY is that it is a flexible routine that follows your baby's cues not a rigid schedule that dictates what time she can eat and sleep. It doesn't matter if every day is the same or not, it probably won't be.

If you think she is having a growth spurt and you think you need to actively work in 5 evenly spaced feeds to maximise the amount she takes then by all means wake her at the 3hr point to feed. If all is going well though then just stick with what you are doing