Need help with a new schedule please! (newbie here)

[glabarbera]

I need schedule suggestions, please! My DD is 5.5 months old. We JUST started this, so please bear with me ;-) But!!! So far so good! This is a baby who was waking 2-3 times a night up until a week ago (when I started this)...now she's slept STRAIGHT through (7 pm to 7 am) for a few nights and a few nights with just one 3 am wake up. WOW!!    This is ALSO a baby who had the crappy 1 hour wake up after bedtime...FOR MONTHS!!! It drove me nuts! She's no longer doing that either! So happy that she's getting better rest at night!

So here's a VERY rough schedule so far... but what I'd like help with is this...
1) she NEVER wants to get up at 7 am, so if I wake her, she's cranky and usually just wants to go back to sleep. So do I stick with the 7 am wake up or move it back just a bit? She's been going to sleep around 7:30/8 pm every night. If I put her down at 7:30, seems like she falls asleep right at 8 pm anyway.
2) Second question (and this could be a growth spurt), she's BARELY lasting 2 hours between naps before super cranky and tired. She's not usually this fussy...in fact, she's generally a VERY happy (rarely cries) baby. So do you think she's just getting used to the new schedule? Or do I need to tweak it?
3) Okay, and lastly... (thanks for reading this far!)... her second nap has been 12:30-1:30, can't figure out where I'm dropping the ball, but she keeps taking a 1 hour nap for her second nap and wakes up CRABBY!!! This is a baby who LOVES to nap, usually naps 2-3 hours (if I let her) at a time. So this 1 hour nap is kooky and I'm suspecting something is off with my schedule. CAN ANYONE HELP OUT? Thanks!!

E: w/u 7 am
A: none, just eat, change diaper and back to bed
S: 8-11 am (we always nurse before nap too)

E: 11 am
A: 11:30
S: 12:30 (nurse and put down to nap) - 1:30 pm

E: 1:30 (she's usually not even hungry at this wake up)
A: 1:45-2 pm
S: 4 pm (if she makes it this long)-6 pm

Bed: 8 pm
Sleeps straight through or 1 wake up around 3 am. Nurses and goes right back to sleep.

SAMPLE SCHEDULES AND SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE AWESOME, THANKS!! 

[nevinsmama]

You are off to a great start! Sounds like she is a LO who really needs her sleep!

1) Have you tried letting her have an 8-8 day? Some LOs just seem to have a naturally more shifted forward day.

2) "Most" LOs are doing closer to 2.5-3 hours of A at this point but some can't handle quite that much. Other Mamas have found that A times go down a bit during a GS.

3) I suspect the early and long ( and lovely!) 1st nap is taking away from that 2nd nap. I would ride out the GS ( Or, it could be just adapting to new routine, as she is doing so well through the night....what do you think?) and then cap the first nap at 2 hours after pushing to at least 2 hour A.

I am impressed she is still doing such good nights after that much day sleep, but she may be a LO who needs THAT much sleep. A "typical" ( keeping in mind to respect your LOs sleep needs!) day would be 2 1.5-2 hour naps and a 30-45 minute catnap.

I think that letting her shift her day to a later wake up and pushing those A times, gently and gradually, maybe 15 minutes every 3 days, and then capping that 2nd nap may be the way to go. You are doing great! Keep us posted. Sample EASY Routines from 0 - 13mths+