My DD is 8.5 months old (corrected age is 7.5mo). We’ve been on EASY since she was 5 mos, but we’ve had our battles with short naps, OT, and habitual waking. After taking the Baby Type Quiz, she is a combo of spirited and textbook, with a bit of touchy. Isn’t it the best of all worlds? She is breastfed and started solids at 6.5mo. We sleep trained her at 5 months using PU/PD. We have also adapted it to her age. I try to put her down drowsy, and let her drift off. But half the time she is a little restless, and I have to pick her up once or twice. On a bad day, it’s more. And she loves to whimper and wrestle a bit even before I put her down. For her naps, if she wakes up between a cycle, she usually can’t resettle. And at night, we usually have had to go into her room 1-2 times a night to resettle her. But on good nights, we hear her cry out and then resettle herself.
About 3 weeks ago, we were doing well. She was sleeping through her morning nap for 1hr-1.5hrs with 3-3.5hr A time. Though her afternoon nap was always a bit tricker. Sometimes she would make it through, and sometimes she wouldn’t. They were anywhere from 30mins or 1hr+PU/PD.
But these past two weeks have been insane. She hasn’t slept through her morning nap in 2 weeks nor her afternoon nap. I’ve always had to do PU/PD. And sometimes, she just wouldn’t go back to sleep. On average, it’s been about 2 hrs of day sleep a day. At night we’ve had to resettle her anywhere from 2-4 times a night.
I’ve been fiddling with her A time, but I can’t tell if it’s working. During the good weeks she had an A time of 3-3.5 hrs and she would sleep through them. But the other day with an A time of 3.5 hrs, she woke up 30 mins later. Doesn’t that mean she’s overtired? And though I was able to put her down again, she woke up 10 mins later, wide awake. I’m really confused! And today, she had an A time of 4 hours, and she woke up 30 mins later again. Yet, I was still able to resettle her.
I know it might be teething, but we give her medication for it before bed, whenever we see all the signs. And it might even be a wonder week. And there’s definitely separation anxiety, because she’s clingier than usual even though she’s a really good independent play baby. And she is still trying to master crawling. It is ALL these things.
This was our happy EASY:
A time of 3-3.5hrs (some days a bit more w/o problems)
Two naps; avg 2 hrs
Total daytime sleep: 2 hours
Total nighttime sleep: 11hr30
WU at 6-6:30am (She wakes us up)
E 6:30-7am Breastfeed
E 8:30 Cereal and fruit
S 10-11:30am Nap 1.5hrs
E 11:30pm Breastfeed
E 1pm Lunch
S 2-4pm Nap 30-45 mins
E 4pm Dinner
A 6pm Bath
E 6:30pm Breastfeed
S 7pm Bedtime
E 10:30 Dreamfeed
I still give her a dreamfeed because she is a small and active baby. But will probably cut it out around 9 months.
Our unhappy EASY:
WU at 5:30-6
E 6:30 BF
E 7:45 Breakfast
S 9-10:30/11 Usually has to be resettled once
E 11 BF
E 12:30 Lunch
S 2:30-4 Usually has to be resettled once
E 4:30 Dinner
A 6 Bath
E 6:30 BF
S 7/7:30 Bedtime
E 10:30 Dreamfeed
I really don’t know how to proceed. She seems to be okay, even if a bit OT now and then. But maybe she just needs little sleep? It’s an average of a little more than 2 hours of day sleep. She has only slept through a quarter of her naps in 2 weeks! There have also been more night wakings for us as well. Though we're trying for one long nap and one short, either in the morning or in the afternoon at this point, how will I know if that's too little sleep for her? Or if she slept through both her naps if it's too much? Should I start capping her morning nap? But I don’t really understand, how to or why cap naps. Even if this all passes, I’m not quite sure how to get back on track. Any advice, suggestions, or general support would be very helpful! Thank you, if you’ve just read this far. I’m exhausted just writing it all.
