Almost 5 mo and pu/pd--will it take ages?

[sunny90]

Okay so this morning he woke up at 705 so I aimed for a 9:35 nap, he seemed tired before then but I managed to stretch him til the time and he fell asleep almost immediately by 940. But he woke up completely at 1010 again. Is that OT or UT?

[becj86]

Quite probably - though 2:35 was a still UT, so maybe a touch more.

[sunny90]

So 2:45 maybe? He fell asleep at 2:40 and still was UT.
Also, yesterday he ended up having just a 45 min middle nap so slept from 430 to 5 and went to bed and slept very nicely. Woke up at 120 and 5. But if he has a decent length nap there's no way he gets the cat nap. Don't know what to do.

[becj86]

Drop the CN?

[sunny90]

When he doesn't cn he's severely ot at bedtime and takes ages to get to sleep but I can't put him to bed earlier way before my other kids because they're not to be trusted running around the house for an hour.
The thing is I'm confused. This morning for example it's been a 2 hr A time right now and he already seems tired and cranky. Other days he doesn't seem to be til 2.30. I'm not sure of he's chronically OT or not. I seem to remember my other kids having their first nap at 930 for a few months before moving to 10 am.

[becj86]

Can you write out your EASY again? As it is now? I know the CN can be tricky to fit in just before it goes.

[sunny90]

My question is is it better to cut his midday nap short to like 2 in order to for SURE get the CN in? So it'll be 2 shorter naps? Or to let it just go til 3 or 230 but then he's frantically OT at bedtime?
Today so far was
Wakeup and E 7
A 2:55
S 955-1025 (I felt like he might have stayed asleep if I'd gotten him through it but then I had to leave the house and all the bumping etc woke him up)
E 1055
A 2:45
S 110 and he's still sleeping. He stirred at 35 min or so but I rocked him a little and he stayed asleep.

Yesterday he slept from 110 to 2. CN from 430-5. Bedtime feed at 715 and was asleep by 740.

[becj86]

Ok, if he were to sleep longer naps, though, the CN could probably go - something like this:
7 - WU, E
10 (ish) - nap
11:30 - WU, E
2:30 (ish) - nap
4 - WU, E
7 - BT

[irinaandjacob]

hi
this is so so so similar to the problem i also have with my 4m1w baby - he's sleeping exactly 30 mins...3-4 tmes a day... until 4 months, he went to sleep with a pacifier and a soft blanket, which he really loves. and now, i've decided to give up the pacifier, and there is about a week since i started pu/pd, and it takes me from 20 to 60 mins to do it, and then he'd sleep 30 mins at maximum... i don t have a problem putting him to sleep for the night, especially if he eats after the bath. i am breastfeeding and he still eats at 3 hours...planning to increase the time between meals from next week...anyway, today, he slept, 10 mis at 9.45 (after 40 mins of pu/pd), then 30 mins at 12.20, then woke up crying at 13.00, ate very little. i wend for a walk, hoping it will calm him, but he cried until we came home, at 14.45. i put him on his play zone and just gave him his blanket to play with it...left him there as i was wasted and went to make a coffee...and...in 10 mins he was sleeping like an angel... slept like that for 45 mins

[sunny90]

Ok, if he were to sleep longer naps, though, the CN could probably go - something like this:
7 - WU, E
10 (ish) - nap
11:30 - WU, E
2:30 (ish) - nap
4 - WU, E
7 - BT

Yes I know but I don't think he's ready to go 3 hours yet...also I remember my other kids having a 2.5 hr first A time for at least a few months...or at least their first nap was at 9:30. Hm...
Its hard to keep him up so long for his first A time as it is.

[becj86]

Ok, so you don't have to go there - how long are his naps though? If you can get them slightly longer than 1.5hr, he would make it to a 12hr day even with 2:45 A time or so. CN just is a pain at this age, not really any getting around that, especially with other kids at home to be exciting

Ideally, you wouldn't cap two naps in a day, but you can if you have to to get the 3rd nap in - just IME, it usually leads to the OT at BT anyway because of the capping.

[sunny90]

 So...
Yesterday he had two crap naps (slept 20 min for the second one and I ended up feeding him at 2 and he dozed for like 10 min) so at 430 I just decided to sit and nurse him so he could rest. He fell asleep almost immediately and slept on me til 5. Then I fed him his dinner of solids (gave him a little extra because he wanted it) had his normal bedtime at 7 and was fast asleep by like 740. He then slept until 4:30!!!!! He has never done that! So basically what I learned is, CN or bust. Seriously, him not being OT at bedtime made such a huge difference!

This morning he woke at 7, and by 930 he was a basket case. I tried stretching him to 945, finally at 940 wrapped him stuck the dummy in and he fell asleep so fast it was almost comical. So I'm assuming he's pretty OT for this nap...
So should I keep to 2.5 hr A time? Maybe just for the first nap? I think I'm going to try the 430 feed and rest thing every day until he can last longer and drop the CN. Its the only thing that seems to work. Also, maybe it's helping tank him up for the night.

[becj86]

2.5hr may well be perfect for him at the moment. Stick with it if that's what works for him. I was just offering suggestions as o how to deal with the CN being an issue.

[sunny90]

So, update. Friday night I fed him at 715 he was asleep by about 8 and he woke up at FIVE FIFTEEN! Obviously he desperately needs that CN!
2.5 might be too short, I tried it today and he only slept 25 min. I'll try 2.45.
Last night though he CN unti 515 and then he had a hard time falling asleep and then woke up an hour later. I rocked him back to sleep and then he slept til 4:55 without a feed. So still doing pretty good.

[sunny90]

What I'm concerned about is that basically hes taking 3 short naps a day in order to fit them all in and I worry that he"ll get too accustomed to that and never take long naps.