10.5 month old DD has always had high sleep needs.
A typical day is:
8:30/9:00 WU
E
A
E
A
11:30/12:00 nap (though this is where it gets messy)
1:30/2:00 wake up
E
A
4:30 nap (sometimes)
5:30 wake up
E
7:30 bedtime/bath/bottle
She is doing a weird 2-1 nap transition these days (some days she has 2 naps and some days she has 1). I posted on the NW forum because her night sleep went crazy in the last month. They suggested I work on extending her A times. I have been trying, but the outcome is all over the map. Most days she is acting tired 2.5 hours after wake up, but I try to keep her up for 3.5 hours. Then when she is really droopy around the 3.5 hour mark, I decide to give in to the nap and finally try to put her down. Suddenly she gets a burst of energy and is giddy. Then I spend the next 30-45 minutes going in, putting her back down, telling her it is time for a nap and repeating the process over and over. Then she falls asleep out of exhaustion, not in a great position and not always for a long sleep at about the 4/4.25 hour mark after she wakes up (which is the goal ultimately, I think). I just can't figure out if I should only try to put her down at 3.5 hours or not. It is so hard to keep her up that long (if we are driving, she will zonk out for example).
Then depending on how long the 1st nap was, we either get a 2nd nap or not, based on the how late it is relative to bedtime. So for example, if she wakes from her 1st nap at 1:30, I try to put her down for a nap at 5:00 or so, but it only works 50% of the time. If I try to put her down at 4:00, often she will sleep, but not if I aim for 4 hour A times. For example, yesterday I went out and DH was home. I told him to wait 3.5 hours after she woke to put her down for a 2nd nap. He decided she was tired at 2.5 hours, and she fell asleep with zero effort on his part, not even a peep from her and she never even tried to stand up so he didn't have to go and resettle her (this was from 4:00-5:00 after she napped from 11:30-1:30 earlier). Yesterday her night sleep was fine as well.
So now I am confused - if I let her nap at the time she first exhibits sleepiness, she would be napping at 2.5 hours from wakeup, and she would fall asleep with little effort. If I wait 3.5+ hours, it is a mess and takes a long time to get her to sleep. Plus, when she only falls asleep 4 hours after wake up, there is limited time for a 2nd nap, which makes her cranky around dinner time and we have to put her to bed by 6:30. The ladies on the NW forum suggested I aim for a short and a long nap (so 1.5 hours in the morning and 45 minutes in the afternoon for example). I am not sure if that will work as by the time she falls asleep FINALLY after the 4 hour mark, she can sometimes pull off a 2.5 hour nap from being so tired.
