6mo short nap, fighting sleep, roll over, please help!

[JackyXu]

Hello, we've been doing easy from week3. It's been good until 4.5mo when DD stopped giving sleep cue ! My DD has been having short naps since then. I have been adjust the A time since then. Recently she has got difficulty in falling asleep at night! She does not cry, but play with herself for more than 30min! Today even 1hour even with me holding her down otherwise she will keep rolling over!
There is the easy. Please help.
E 7am
A7:30-9:30 (still working on it sometimes 2h15m)
S 30 or 45 min (even wind down after the same A time!)
E11-11:30
A 2h15m depends when she woke up from last nap
S 1h15m (I will put my hand on her back otherwise she will roll over and wake up)
E 15:00-15:30
A 2h15m depends when she woke up from last nap
S usually 45m or 1h15m
A bath bedtime
E 19:00-19:30
S play with herself! Usually 20:00-7:00am (sttn) last night she won't sleep until 21:00!

I have tried not extending her nap, and she will have 3 short naps. She still won't sleep at night. Just playing with herself not crying! I really don't know what's wrong please help!

[~*Nicole*~]

Hi!

I also have a 6 month old. Here are some thoughts and you can see if any of them give you any ideas.

Could she be teething? My DD acts like she is teething on and off but no teeth have popped through yet. I think this causes her A time to fluctuate because she's more tired when the gums are more sore.

Does she get a lot of tummy time? My DD is really trying to learn how to crawl and she is rolling all over when she has time on the floor to play during the day. Though she does now roll over in her bed she is more apt to get comfy on her belly now and fall asleep. I sometimes think the playtime on her belly helps her not need to play so much in her bed.

Do you use white noise or a lovey? We use a paci, a lovey and white noise and that seems to really switch her into sleep mode when I put her in bed. Even more so if I put her in a sleep sack as it has become routine and sets the stage for her to realize sleep should be coming.

Have you ever changed your A time during the day? Some LOs like a shorter or longer A time in the morning and/or right before bed. My DD seems to want a bit shorter A time for the first one of the day and then longer midday and depending on her nap lengths I try to judge for the last one. We're still around that 2 hours 15 min. mark. I sometimes get her to 2.5 or so but she hasn't been handling more than that and sometimes at the 2 hour mark she is acting really tired which may or not be for a variety of reasons, like her not napping long enough earlier, her teething, or whatever.

The playing around does sound a bit like she isn't really tired yet. Especially if she does not start crying after awhile. I usually get crying if we are overtired here and I would think you'd probably get some crying if that were the case also. A lot of your LOs naps are around 45 minutes which is also a sign of being UNDER tired. It's those pesky 30 minute or less naps that are usually overtired. So I think if it were me I'd try to really let her play on the floor and get some time to roll around out of her system and increase that A time a bit and see if it helps.

I hope I've shared something that could give you some ideas.

[freewheelnat]

As Nicole said, it seems she may be UT. Have you considered dropping her third nap? My DS (now 7 months) had a week similar to what you describe at 5 1/2 months then she started refusing her third nap (just played and played, didn't fall asleep), so we dropped the 3rd nap after a week of her refusing it. We had a week of her being OT at bedtime (even though we brought bedtime forward) but since then, she's settled into 2 long naps and 12 hours nights, with her asleep within 10 minutes of her being put in her crib (with a dummy though, as she lost ability to self settle without dummy around time she started refusing her third nap).

[JackyXu]

Thank you!
Yes, we have white noise. DD has shown teething sign from a month ago, but nothing yet.
I have tried A time from 2h-2.5. All results in short naps,that's why I don't dare to skip the CN.
Since no sleep cue, it has been really difficult for me.
I have re-read BW book today. It shows a EASY for 6-9mo with only 2-2.5h A in the morning following by a very long A after first nap. Does this mean I could extend the second A instead of the first one? I think my DD need short first A bit longer second A as well, and I have been having short naps when I try to extend the first A. And do I need to hold DD still when she's trying to play around or just let her play until she's tired?

[~*Nicole*~]

I would let her play so she doesn't get used to needing your touch to fall asleep, if it were me.

[JackyXu]

DD played for 1 hour by herself yesterday. I walked in and held her down, then she fell asleep immediately. What should I do to let her fall asleep sooner? Should I also let her play when nap or hold her down?

[~*Nicole*~]

How long did she sleep for after that?
I think this will be a phase and she will find a way to soothe herself to sleep eventually. It's probably the timing and a bit of novelty.

[JackyXu]

Once she fell asleep, she won't be up until 5:30 or 6:00 when I will feed her.
Today is a disaster!
E 7:25
A-9:40 tried to extend to 2.5h
S too tired to sleep! Only 10 minutes.
E11:30
A
S12:30wind down 12:50 -14:50 I put my hand on her for whole 2 hours so she could have some rest
E15:15
A
S16:50 wind down 17:00-17:30 woken up by me
A18:00 bath bed time
E18:40-19:15
S: played until 20:30 then cried, and I walked in settled her to sleep

It's so tired today! I even missed my lunch. I thought that she won't settle at night might due to OT
But She had CN today, and we had bedtime quite early.

[trimbler]

Hi there, I wonder whether she might need a stretch in A time elsewhere in the day, sometimes LOs can act OT before BT due to a long last A time but haven't quite had enough A time earlier in the day to be tired enough to settle down well. Just a thought - my DS was like this before he dropped the CN. How's it been going the last couple of days?

[JackyXu]

I tried to increase A time up to 2.5h yesterday.
E 7:05-7:30
A
S9:30-10:55 I helped extend nap
E11-11:30
A
S13:00 wind down , 13:30-15:20 extend nap
E15:30-15:45
A bath bedtime 18:00
E18:30 very tired and fuzzy
S19:15-4:30 cry , soothe until6:00-7:30

Today I left her alone at nap time, and surprisingly DD was amazing!I didn't need to extend nap!And she dropped CN by herself.
E7:30-8:00
A
Swind down at9:30(in case A is 2h15), play with herself. 11:00-12:30
E 12:30
A
Swind down at 14:30 ,play .15:30-17:00
E 17:00
A 18:00 bath bedtime
E18:40-19:00
S play and cry very soon until 19:30-

I used to help DD stay calm at nap time, and she does fall asleep within 15mins. However, I realise that DD could fall asleep and nap a long time without any help.Today's EASY isn't like those chronological samples. Since I nursed her at17:00, she didn't take much at bedtime. Hopefully DD won't wake up tonight. Do I follow her lead too much? Is this accident parent?

[~*Nicole*~]

I think it sounds like following her lead is doing the trick. She appears to be working out how to get rid of that catnap and increase her A times by herself. I'm glad she had a better day!