3-2 transition too early for 5 months old?

[zissi]

Hi ladies, my lo is 5 months and 1 week and she seems to heading towards 2 naps only as the day is just not long enough for 3 naps. She has an a time of 2.5hrs, that's when she settles best for naps. So far I have a pop and cat nap in the sling but it was always a battle at night time to get her down. Also she is starting wake up earlier and earlier. She is not an independent sleeper, I'm planning to pupd at 6 months when I can introduce solids and bottles. At the moment she is breastfeed exclusively and pretty much feeds all night. That needs to change too but it's a prop and a story for another day... So will I try to get 2 good naps per day and maybe an a time of 3 hrs before bt?

[Kellyjs]

I'd be hesitant to try 3hrs before BT hun, but that's because I'm so wary of OT before BT. It can start sending things awry like OT NW's and even EW which won't help getting to 2 naps iykwim?

Will she do a 12 hour night normally? That's also something to factor into it. I'd personally add another 15mins onto each of the first 2 A's then you can reduce the last one back a little to 2.5hrs. But that's only if she'll do 12hrs ONS. Wdyt? Xx

[Martini~]

I also would firstly try 3 naps but would cap the first one so you still can fit 3. It was working for us from 4mo when 3 naps was too much and it was way too early for 2 naps and A of 3h+

[zissi]

thanks ladies, I will go with the advice of capping the first nap and keep the 3 naps for the time being. its suits me better anyway as the 2nd nap will go then together with my toddlers nap, so I can get a rest too. she probably is too young for only 2 naps. I tried it yesterday and the night wasn't good. OT suspect.

[ENMS]

My DD has been on 2 naps mostly for 2-3 weeks and we do 2.5h of A time and then 3-3.5 for the last A. She's been doing fine but she does not get OT easily and she has 13 hour noghts (with many NF so 12 hours of sleep total).

I did 't really have a choice because I just could not get her down for the CN, even with APOP. If she short naps one nap I do the CN but it can take close to an hour for her to fall asleep.

[lily_layne]

I did a very similar routine to ENMS but we started closer to 6 months. It lasted until 10 months and worked great.
WU 630/7
S 930-11 (I woke if needed)
S 130-3 (or later)
BT 645/7

At first, he still sometimes had a CN. If not, I did BT 3 hours after the last nap. A long last A worked well for us.

[zissi]

Just an update of our nap situation and seeking some ideas! We font have a 12 hr night unfortunately. My lo sleeps from 7.30 till 6.30am. In the last few days I found myself having to wake her from both naps so we could squeeze in a cat nap. So both naps were only between 1 he abd 1.5 hrs. If I were to skip the cat nap the day is too long as the second nap would need to be almost 3 hrs. She doesn't do well with a long a time before bed. And the other a times are already close to 2hrs 45 minutes. In the higher end for a 5 months old. I must add she isn't an independent sleeper yet. She naps well when I help her through the sleep cycles by placing a hand on her back and shh-ing. Any advice?

[Kellyjs]

Have you seen this hun? All about the 3-2 transition- 5/6 months

It is really helpful. Personally what I'd do is look to increase the A times slightly and reduce the CN slowly. Even just 15mins CN can help get to a reasonable BT. You do just have to remember to decrease the last A to BT though. Do you want to post what today/yesterday looked like and we can take it from there? We can do it slowly and try and find something that'll work for you for a couple of weeks or so. The longer we can delay the transition I think would be helpful so she's a tad older and atm you haven't mentioned any nap refusals or BT issues so it's a case of just running out of hours it seems? Xx

[zissi]

hi there thanks for your reply.
today was a bit strange but I will post it anyway:
WU 6am
1st nap 8.20-9.55
2nd nap 12.40-13.20
cat nap 15.45-16.20

many breastfeeds throughout the day, she is a bad feeder due to tongue tie issues and has always had short frequent feeds. so no proper EASY.

yesterday was like this:
wu 6.45
1st nap 9.15-10.30
2nd nap 1pm-2.35 (I capped nap)
cat nap 4.35-5.15pm
BT 7pm but took till 7.45 that she finally slept. She is fighting bedtime and has many night wakings but they are feeding related. again due to her poor feeds I would have fed her constantly at night and now it has become a prop. Im planning to do PUPD when she is 6 months, so we will be working on that then... she only does an 11 hr night and seems to need 14 hrs in total in sleep. she is very happy and alert during her A time and usually doesn't become fussy even before naps. only in the evenings she had enough and becomes fussy maybe an hour before bedtime...
thanks again for looking at this...

[zissi]

oh and another question, If I had a cat nap of 15 mins how long should the A time be then? her last A time before BT seems to be the shortest, isn't it usually the longest?

[JennVanessa1083]

Hello!
And <<<hugs>>>

I hope you don't mind but I am following this thread as I seem to be having similar issues with my 5 month old.

[lily_layne]

The A to bed after a 15 minute nap could be as short as 1h. It depends on the LO and takes a bit of trial and error to figure it out. For DS when he had a CN, the last A to bed was the shortest. Once we dropped the CN, the last A was his longest. When he was down to a very short CN, I found it easiest to do it in the stroller or the swing as he often woke on his own when it stopped moving.

[Martini~]

Totally second what lily_layne says! Did the same here.

[zissi]

thanks again will try the 15 mins naps. I think thats what I did with my DD1. so hard to figure out all those things sometimes...

[lily_layne]

so hard to figure out all those things sometimes...

It really can be. And what I hated the most is that just when you've got it, it all changes again!