3/2 causing nap issues

[Mandy.kamal]

I'm back...so things were perfect at 2hr15/20 min A time. She was doing 2, 2hr naps and a CN. She was STTN and waking around 5/6:00 to nurse then b2s until I woke her around 7:00/7:30am.

Then recently she started with having more NW again. Waking up crying but easily resettled with paci. I started feeding her around the 3:00/3:30am NW and she would do a full feeding. But the past 2 days she's been EW around 5:45/6:00am and happy and awake. That's after having a BT of 8:00/8:15pm so a short night.

I know it's the 3/2 business mixed in with the 6 month growth spurt (and developmental leap!) but I'm trying to nip the NWs and EW before it gets out of control. I'm assuming A push is needed.

My main question is regarding the long days. She's having a 13 hour day now or 14 hour if you count her waking at 6:00am but I don't 'start' her day and get her until 7:00am. The issue is that she will easily go to sleep whenever I want her to really- so my A times have to be spot on. I extended the time before BT but that made her days super long. And she's still having NW and EW.

I'm recording her days now and will post them soon. I just wanted to get some feedback if you ladies have any so far

[Lindsay27]

I think essentially the problem is too much day sleep and the CN needs to phase out.  By 6 months I was capping day sleep at 3hrs max and out A times were near 3hrs.  I'd start by pushing the first A out if possible and if you get a good nap then try to keep the second A the same which will eventually phase out the CN.  It might mean you need to bring BT forward as the A to bed might end up being too long.

[Mandy.kamal]

Thank you Lindsay!

Last night she didn't have any NW and just woke at 5:00am to eat and went right back to sleep. Hoping for a 7:00am wake up so we can start her day at a normal time and I'll push that first A time as close to 3 hours as I can.

Update- she woke right at 6:00am. Ugh. So I'll shoot for a 9:00am first nap and if I get a good nap, try another 3 hour A time. And no CN and will just have to do an EBT to keep her day closer to 12 hours, correct?

[Lindsay27]

Yes exactly . Do anticipate some OT during the transition, I found that my DD would sometimes wake 30mins into the first nap but I was usually able to resettle her.

[Mandy.kamal]

I'm going to try this for a few days and see if it fixes her EW. She still woke at 5:45am this morning. Ugh.

Yesterday went pretty good for pushing the A time. She did 2 hours 50 mins for all A times and did good naps.

She was happy and talking for 40 mins after the dreamfeed and now happy and talking after her 5:00am feed and won't go back to sleep. I'll still plan on the 9:00am first nap and hope she's not too OT

[Lindsay27]

Yes I agree try for the 9am nap. It may just take some time to sort itself out.  My DD still often wakes at 5:30/45am but chats away and it able to fall back asleep (sometimes not though).  We did have a while when we went through the 3-2 where the EW did correct, we kind of had to get over the OT hump first. 

[Mandy.kamal]

She did end up falling back to sleep at 6:00am and I woke her up at 7:00!! Hooray!

I put her down at 10:00 and she went straight to sleep and just woke at 11:50. So far so good!

So if she keeps doing good on this A push then will her days be:
7:00
10:00-12:00
3:00-5:00
8:00

Give or take of course!

[Lindsay27]

Yes if an 8pm BT works for you, however I think I'd be reluctant to let her have 4hrs of day sleep, I think that is going to contribute to NW and/or EW.  We often have a 2hr nap in the morning and then I cap the afternoon nap to 1hr.

So you could do:

WU 7am
Nap 10-12
Nap 3-4
BT 7

That is a 12hr day and 3hra day sleep which I think is ideal.

[Mandy.kamal]

Thank you so much. She seems more tired today as the day progresses. I pushed her to 2 naps pretty quick so I'm trying not to make her too OT. Her second nap today was only 1.5 hours. She's pretty fussy and seems ready for bed. Aiming for 7pm

Hoping for a good night. Maybe she will be in a nice groove by next week!

[Lindsay27]

Yes absolutely, some give and take is always necessary during these transitions!

[Mandy.kamal]

Another EW of 5:45am. Bleh.

I'll keep tracking her days and nights and give it a few days. I'll be back on then and post her routine to see if I'm missing anything

Hope everyone has a nice weekend

[Lindsay27]

Yes keep track for a few days and we may be able to spot the culprit!

[Mandy.kamal]

Lindsay!!!!! Ugh!!

Do the 3 hour A time is great. But tried solids again and get sleep has gone all crazy!! Like 5-7 NWs, EW and waking from naps screaming.

Which is now causing day sleep issues because our whole day is whacky

[Lindsay27]

Ahhhh! Oh no!!

Have you tired 1 food at a time to see if it is something specific? Or just plain rice cereal?

[Mandy.kamal]

I was offering one every 3 days. Rice was okay if it's really runny with breastmilk. Sweet potatoes
Seemed okay but honestly everything throws her off.

I didn't give her any today so I'm hoping she will sleep better tonight. Once I get this sorted then I will see if anything during the day could be causing NWs.

Today went great otherwise- 2, 2 hour naps and BT of 7:00pm. I let her do full 2 hour naps because she couldn't resettle after 5:45am so I wanted to push her day forward a bit to make it to 7:00pm