4 naps 5 feeds a day

[milleeb]

Was wondering if I could maybe start trying to get my lg to go less naps currently does 4 45 min naps a day she is 24 weeks old and has slept through the night from 10 weeks .
She wakes at 8 then bottle 7oz   awake till 10 nap 45 mins then up at 11 porridge and 4oz formula up till 1, 45 min nap puree and rusk and 4oz formula at 2 up till 4, 45 min nap dinner 4oz formula at 5 up till 7then yet another 45 min nap then up at 8 final bottle 7 oz and in bed by 9 or 9:30
Am I hoping for to much that she might sleep for longer at one nap and drop one or more nap completely.  I go back to work in mid may and would like to have ger in a better nap routine before then
Can anyone give me any ideas if this is possible or am I deluded?

[creations]

Hello and welcome to BW

You are not deluded. It's more than reasonable to work on getting a longer nap and your LO is at just the right age to be dropping a nap too (when the others are longer).

Here are a couple of links you can have a look at to get you started
Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!!
All about the 3-2 transition- 5/6 months
You'll see in that first link the average A time for a 6 month old is 2.5 to 3hrs.  As your DD is only active for roughly 2hrs this will be contributing to the short naps. We tend to refer to them as UT (under tired) as LO wakes at the end of one sleep cycle.

I would begin by increasing her A time gradually, first by 15 mins, hold there for 3 days then increase by another 15 mins and hold there. You should then be close to a 2.5hr A time and she has more chance of transitioning (with or without help) at the 45 min mark through to another sleep cycle.

Does she fall to sleep independently or do you help her?
Has she ever sleep longer than 45 mins in the day or has this always been the case?
This information will help us to understand where you and your DD need additional support to work towards the longer nap.

[milleeb]

We use ewan the dream sheep at naps and bedtime, she generally only sleeps for than 45 mins, she sometimes fights her 7 pm nap and then sleeps a bit longer but for tge most part its always 45mins. When she wakes shes always yawning and I think she could really use a longer sleep.
Can you step it out for me please as im a clueless ftm.

[creations]

Sorry I'm not familiar with the dream sheep if you want to expand?

So, in terms of independent sleep. If she is an independent sleeper you are able to do a wind down (a predictable routine eg change nappy, go to her room, cuddle, sing a song, do shush/pat etc) and lay her down when she is drowsy but awake, you will then be able to leave the room and she will self settle and go to sleep on her own. Does this describe your LO at this point?
If she is not independent your routine will look quite different, perhaps you hold her through naps, or feed to sleep then lay her down, perhaps you rock her to sleep in arms then lay her down when she is fully asleep.  Does this sound like your LO?

We can help you move towards independent sleeping if that's what you would like. It also help a LO to transition from one sleep cycle (usually 45 mins) to another if they are independent sleepers and know how to self settle without your assistance - during sleep training you would help her but be moving towards independence over a period of time.

most part its always 45mins. When she wakes shes always yawning and I think she could really use a longer sleep

This is quite normal for an UT nap. LO is still tired but not tired enough to transition into the next sleep cycle. Sleep works in cycles, light and deep, at 40/45 mins the cycle ends and to continue sleeping LO needs the confidence and ability to move into a new sleep cycle.  Gradually extending her A (activity) time will help with this. It is really quite difficult to extend and UT nap.

For now I would increase her A time by 15 mins so tomorrow and for 3 days keep her awake for 2hr 15 mins.  Count the time from morning WU, begin your wind down with enough time to do your usual routine with the aim for her to be asleep by 2hr 15 min after WU. Don't worry right now if she falls to sleep independently or not we can come to that later.

It would also help if you record your EAS times so you can post a full day here. This can help us to see what is happening.
Show it something like this
WU 8.00
E 8.00
A (2hr 15min) 8.00 - 10.15
S 10.15 - 11.00 tried to resettle with shush pat
A
E 12.00
E 12.30 solids
A 11.00 -1.15
S 1.15 - 2.00
...and continue for the full day and night to include any night waking.
You'll see above I put in milk and solids times, you do not need to follow the times I have given, this is just an example of how it might look when you post your EAS.

[milleeb]

The dream sheep is basically a white noise machine.
Shes us definitely an independent sleeper.
I will do up the wu s e a tomorrow and hopefully I will get her sleeping for longer.
Thanks for your help so far.
So to update todays routine is as follows
WU 7.40
E 8.00 (7oz formula)
A
S 10.20-11.10
E 11.10 -1130 (solids and formula)
A
S 1.28 - 2.10
E 2.20- 2-50 (solids and formula)
A
S 4.25-5.05
E 5.25-6.05 (solids and formula)
A
S 7.20 - 8.10
E 8.20-8.55 (meds and formula)
Bed 9.10
She was so wreaked at tge end of the day. When do you think I should aim for the big nap and how do I stil, fit in all her feeds?
Meds are antibiots to prevent any uti as she haskidney issues.
Im also worried that she will stop sleeping through then nigh when I have the new naps in place.

[creations]

Ah I see, a white noise machine, that's great
And an independent sleeper - also great

So really it's just a case of increasing the A time gradually over a few days and helping her to transition so she learns to sleep for longer.  This may not happen immediately but I'm here to hold your hand.
Let me know how your day goes.

[milleeb]

I have modified my previous post with details of today and a few questions
Hopefully you can point me in the right direction

[creations]

OK looks fine for day 1
I would hold at 2 hr 15 for another day or two then increase A to 2hr 30.

You can begin trying to help her transition tomorrow by using wake to sleep or by seeing if you can resettle her when she wakes (rather than getting her directly up when she wakes), although I usually feel getting the A time up a bit first helps so maybe read through the W2S and prepare yourself. There are two ways you can go forwards:
1. to try W2S and to try to resettle for a short period after she wakes but other wise to get her up and get on with the day, keeping the next A time 2hr 15 (and in a couple of days keeping to 2hr 30). This is a bit easier on you but can take a bit longer to get results
2. put in place a strict routine for a few days where you train her in to the routine. When she wakes early from a nap you keep the room dark and stay with her doing shush/pat or adapted (or PU/PD) to tell her to go back to sleep, this for up to 45 mins. If she doesn't go back to sleep you feed on time (or a little early as she may be more hungry from shouting and crying because you didn't get her up right away so she will fuss and be frustrated) and keep her up until the next planned nap time (this means a full A time after the nap should have ended rather than when it did end). This is much harder work all around but likely to get quicker results. She is more likely to cry, you will be spending a lot of time in a dark room trying to resettle. Being awake some of her nap time plus all her A time she will get OT, but the OT does help in the end as she will eventually sleep.

So really the choice is yours.  I've done both at different times for my DS (no matter how independent they are they can still need help to find a new routine which works for their age and sleep needs).
Here's some info on W2S, this is well worth a try whichever option you choose.
How do I address habitual wakings? (wake-to-sleep and other methods)

how do I stil, fit in all her feeds?

I see you are giving milk and solids at the same sitting. This would be unusual in the UK, I am assuming this is following the guides of your country.  It would be more common to see milk feeds roughly 4hrs apart with a solid feed roughly 1 hour after the milk. At 6 months it is unusual to have 3 solids meals already, usually just 1 or 2 at this age.  It is often seen that at 6 months+ the milk feeds might even move further apart, more like 5 hrs, as LO is having a solid meal between it means it is not a full 5 hrs without food or drink, LO is also able to properly fill up at a milk feed (when not given solids at the same time) which sustains them longer than solids.
Do you think you could separate the milk and solids for one or more meals per day so that you can work meal times around naps without her getting too hungry?

Are there any night feed? dream feed? night wakings?

I think I'd also be tempted to have her in bed for the night at that 7.20 nap rather than waiting until 9.10pm  What do you think?

[milleeb]

There are no night feeds, dream feeds or night wakings.
If she drinks while dropping off to sleep the bottle always comes back up.
She has been weaned since 18 weeks so this is probably why she is on 3 meals not 2 and the formula with the meals is only 3-4oz as she won't take much. Her solids are about 3oz each time perhaps 4 at 5pm.
The only big bottles she has are morning and night.
She is a slightlg in the 9 -25 centile and I dont want her dropping down.

[creations]

At this age they still get more calories from milk than they do solids, have you thought about separating the milk and solids milk so she can take more milk without being full on solids?  Although from the looks of how much milk she is taking I wouldn't say it is a problem.

Mine was also on 9 - 25th centile, petite.

What did you think about putting her down for the night at 7.30 ish instead of 9pm?

[milleeb]

I have spoken to my district nurse re her solids feeds followed by 3-4oz of formula and she said its fine so I will not be seperating them out. As my nurse said its like us having a glass of milk/water with our food.
I might consider the earlier bedtime but I don't think she would settle and I'd be worried that this would mean her wake up time being earlier. Her WU time this morning was 6.45 instead of her normal 7.30/40

[creations]

In that case I would just continue to increase the A time gradually, help her transition and see where the naps extend to, fit meals around.  Some people do split lunch for example with some before and some after a nap if needed.

I'll be here to help you work it out if you need me