early morning wakings....8,5 months old

[angelinagr]

I totally agree with you. I understand that babies should not have very long day. The only reason I read the book (here in my country is not popular and there is no translation for it) is because the writer recommends to put babies early in bed. That's also why I first wrote to the forum. All the advices I received are to put her later in bed.
 
It is not exhausted for me to get up early as long as we have a quite night.
I try to make sure that she is getting 2 naps during the day. My only problem is that when it is time to have her nap, it takes her to long to settle down herself and it finally comes time for her meal. This usually happens in the morning before fruits....
Today she slept for 1 hour (9.30-10.30am). I woke her up and now she is sleeping again (2.30pm....)

[Martini~]

This long settling makes me interested... How long does it take for her to settle? It's not normal to settle longer than 15min  if you are sleep training her for week or more right now and her routine is good. Is this problem with settling valid for all two naps and BT? Can you post your morning routine in very detail? Is her WU predictable right now? Can you think of setting time for a morning nap? I would also think of moving fruits to a better timing, so you are not stopping the settling process.

[angelinagr]

It usually takes her about 25-30 minutes especially in the morning. I train her for 13 days.... The morning nap is the problem. After her lunch (2.00-2.30) it is quite easy for her to sleep. Bedtime is my favorite. I just lay her down and she sleeps.
She usually gets up around 6.30 and I change her diaper.
7.00am I give her a bottle (220ml) and she plays alone for 25 minutes, while I am talking to her and cooking. She is in her playpen
8.15am my mother arrives and she gives her some cereals, we start playing.
Around 8.30am she starts yawning and I put her in bed at 9.30-9.45am. All this time we play. I don't know what else to do.If it takes to much time to settle herself down, I put her in the stroller. She has stopped crying when I put her in bed, but she continues to stand up so I have to put her down.
I am afraid there is no other time for the fruits during the day. I don't want to give her fruits close to bedtime.

[Martini~]

Ok honey, she is for sure UT here. Looking at A times, 8-10 months is 3-4h and some kiddos like the longest A in the morning
Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!

Regarding fruits and generally feeding times... At that age you should be much more flexible and play with her feeding times as naps are changing and moving though the day so you cannot force them to eat when they want to sleep and the opposite. I would be tempted to squeeze fruits earlier before the nap. How long does she need to eat them? You may offer them at 9:30 or 10:00 at put her down around 10:30. If she is not interested you may move the whole breakfast to 9/9:30 and mix fruits with cereals.  Would that be an option?

[angelinagr]

it usually takes her 15 minutes to eat the fruits. It depends on her mood. I know that I should be more flexible with the feedings.
I will try to give her fruits before nap. But I am not sure that she will be hungry to eat them.

[katie80]

I agree with all Marta has been advising you, hon. At this age, your E times really should be quite fluid and able to work around her naps rather than fitting the naps in around the E. The consistency and appropriateness of the sleep times become more important at this age than the E. As long as they're being fed regularly and at times to ensure they aren't getting hungry while sleeping, the E can move to where you need it to go.

A good example of this is when all three of my kids have first moved to one nap... the nap often starts at around 11:30 for awhile and that is right when lunch typically is. So, for a few months we break lunch up and do part of it before the nap and part afterward. Hope that makes sense.

[Martini~]

They usually self regulate Honey. It means that if they miss one meal here or eat less, they will take more on the next one. Just make sure you offer her something at least  every 3h and it will be fine:) she will not starve! With fruits it's quite easy as they are sweet and may be served as a top-up after some savoury meal.  Kiddos will refuse more soup/lunch but could happily eat some fruits. Hope that makes sense:).

[angelinagr]

So much thank you for the responses. Today I gave her the fruits at 10.15am. She slept at 10.45 and it took her 11 minutes to settle herself. Although the night was difficult.

[Martini~]

Very good news:) 11 minutes seems a normal time to settle!

[angelinagr]

I am confused. The A time counts since the time she wakes? ?For example she sleeps at 10.30am for 45 minutes, the A time (3-4 hours) counts from 10.30 or 11.15?
After her lunch she slept for 1.45h and it took her 12 minutes to settle down herself!!! I thought that it was a miracle!!!!

[katie80]

Wow, great news!!   It sounds like you're definitely on the right track with the new A times.  A time counts from when they wake to when they sleep.  So, after the morning nap, you'd count from 11:15 to whenever she fell asleep.  If she fell asleep at 3pm, the A time would be 3h45min (from 11:15-3pm).  Make sense?

[angelinagr]

It makes sense to me. So I count since the time she wakes.
 

[katie80]

Yep

[Martini~]

Happy for you Honey. A times means awake time so you count it from the moment they wake so in this case 11:15. So if she wakes at 7am and you put her at 10:30 and she settles at 10:45, her A time is 3:45. Settling is also a part of A. When you put her at 9:30 as you did counting from 7am wakeup. Even with "normal settling" time it means her A was 2:45 which is a bit short for a 8-10mo.

And now regarding routine and your naps. It's great that she did settle nicely and didn't fight long nap. Hopefully she is catching up for lost sleep.

Posted before Katie but post was somehow added later... sorry!

[angelinagr]

Now we have managed with the naps, but she started to waked up during the night (usually 2 times) and she finally wakes up around 5.30-5.45 the morning. I have tried to settle her down again, but she is totally awake. I thought that she was hungry, but she is not. She is sleeping now 1 hour in the morning and 1,5 hour after the lunch. I put her in bed 7.30pm.