3/2 causing nap issues

[Lindsay27]

Do you want to post your EAS and I can see if anything jumps out? NW earlier in the evening are usually OT.  Any teeth on the way?  Where are you with starting solids?

[Mandy.kamal]

I'm at my wits end. I really can't figure this out and she's so fussy and I can't read her cues. I keep feeding her and napping her and we are just going around in circles. She crying and fussing so much it's impossible to know what's, what anymore. Plus I haven't slept more than an hour straight in forever so it's all blurring together.

I only have the past 2 days charted. I was chatting all of them but lost that paper!! Here's the past 2 days and part of today. I know it's UT/OT loop but I can't get unstuck. Oh and yes teeth!!! Awful. But I'm medicating at night and giving her teething tablets before naps.

Up 7:15
Nap 9:55-11:17
Nap 2:05-2:26 (resettled her) 5:00
BT 7:30
NW 2:45, 3:00 (fed) 6:00, 6:45
(This day and night wasn't bad. I let her sleep as long as she needed that second nap to catch up on sleep)

Up 6:30
Nap 9:05-10:30
Nap 1:20-2:53
CN 5:00-5:30
BT 7:40
NW 9:47, 1:40, 4:00 (fed), 5:40, 6:00

Today
Up 6:00 (she laid in bed happy until 6:45)
Nap 9:09-9:58 (first happy wake up in a long time)

So obviously UT for today's first nap. She's been waking crying hard for all other naps and night wakings. Paci soothes her back to sleep. She used to fall back to sleep on her own but always needs the paci now bc she wakes up crying and so upset.

She's just laying in her crib now and looks like she's trying to go back to sleep so I'm going to leave her and cross my fingers. Just confused now because we had an EW and short nap so not sure how many naps to do and when. Seemed like those multiple days of 2 naps built up some serious OT and now she's caught up and UT and looking like we will just cycle back and forth for awhile.

The days I can't handle being messy. She's just SO grumpy and fussy. The nights are killing me. Worse than when she was a newborn.

Just to add- I know she can self soothe. All the NWs I'm paci plugging her bc she's so upset and I need her to go back to sleep quickly. Assuming that's OT behavior. Just now she's putting herself back to sleep from her UT nap without the paci being replugged so I know she can still do it. Just not at nights right now.

Oh and solids- I'm following the ped bc I don't know what else to do. Doing peas only for mid morning snack after nursing and only a little bit for a week. Then I'll add another food and try for 2 times a day. She loves, loves solids and finger foods but her tummy is just sensitive so I'm trying to go slow

[Lindsay27]

Hug hun!  I know I found this transition really awkward for my DD and we had a whole pile of back and forth and a whole pile of OT.  Poor Marta dealt with me and I probably drove her straight to the mad house! LOL

So, I think there are essentially 2 ways to go about this...one is to just stick with the 2 naps and push through the OT.  There will be lots of messy days and probably a whole lot of crying, but at a certain point you just kinda got to keep going ya know, otherwise you will be back and forth forever.  The other is to do a short/long/short routine.  So do a good 3hr first A but cap that nap to 1hr, do a shorter A (maybe 2.5hrs) followed by a long nap, and then a CN later in the day.  So let's say your WU was 6am, something like:

WU 6
Nap 9-10
Nap 12:30 - 2:30
Nap 4:30 - 4:50
BT 7

This essentially what I did, because 3 naps was too many but 2 wasn't enough.  I did this for less than a week and then we made the push to 2 naps.  The NW do sound a bit OT so maybe something like this would help?  Do follow your ped's advice re: solids, but I am wondering if hunger is playing a part in any of the NW as well if she's only eating 1 smallish snack of solids?

[Mandy.kamal]

Thank you again Lindsay....you're right. This nap transition has been way harder than the one before. The past 2 days I've offered a 15/20 min CN and last night she did so much better!! She woke up after the DF and was up happy chatting for 45 mins but out herself to sleep and woke at 4:45 to nurse- full feeding and went straight to sleep and slept until I woke her at 7:55am!!! I couldn't believe it!

Today would have been a perfect day to push for the 2 naps and 3 hour A time but I messed up and put her down too early for both naps so they were 1h 15 mins each so I did a 20 min CN but she went to bed happy and seemed tired.

Hoping for another good night and later WU and I'll push her for all 3 hour A times and try just 2 naps tomorrow.

I'm ready to add more solids- I'm sure she would drop that NF of she had more calories during the day. I'll probably try 2 small snacks- morning and afternoon for a couple days a see. I think the ped wanted me to go slow because it was messing with her nigh sleep bc she was grunting and squirming a bunch and was having a reflux flare up too. She seems to be handling it better with the peas so I'll try adding in another mild food

[Mandy.kamal]

Wanted to post our last few days while I have a second. Definitely UT/OT loop. Can't seem to figure it out.

Up 6:00am
Nap 9:09-9:57, she resettled and b2s at 10:13-10:58
Nap 1:47-3:35
CN 5:25-5:45
BT 7:30
Great night, just one NW at 4:40 and fed. She woke at 6:48am but I gave her the paci and she slept until I woke her at 7:55am

Up 7:55
Nap 10:15-11:22 (should have pushed A time here)
Nap 2:02 (she was crying for bed) 2:49 woke crying. Resettled herself and b2s at 2:58-3:37
CN 5:20-5:35
BT 7:45
NW 3:00 and was very hungry

Up 6:00am
Nap 9:07-11:05
Nap 2:10-3:30
BT 6:30- she seemed OT
NW 8:00pm, 2:40, 3:30 (fed), 5:45 crying, up at 6:10 happy

Today
Up 6:10
Nap 9:05(OT crying)- 9:38 crying. I just resettled her and she went right back to sleep. So she's OT again for sure.

Anything jump out? Any suggestions?

[Lindsay27]

It looks like the day you got the best nap was with a almost 3.10 A time so I'm wondering if that's your ticket (though looks like a lot of NW that night).  I honestly think you are doing okay even if it doesn't feel like it.  It's one of those things that just kind of eventually works itself out, yk?  If she's OT you have a few options - add a late afternoon 10/15min CN just to get to a 'normal' BT, do an EBT if you don't want to do a CN, or scale the As back slightly just for a bit of catch up (though I think that may result in other problems, the first 2 are your best options).  I think if you keep sticking with a roughly 3hr A that she's going to come around and eventually she won't be OT, that's kind of what happened to us, we just had to ride it out at a certain point.

[Mandy.kamal]

Xx Thank you so very much. I think I just needed reassurance from you that I'm not completely screwing things up! I feel like I'm the only one of my friends still struggling with NWs at 6.5 months...

Today she was horribly OT and I have no idea why honestly. She had a decent night and I did 3 hours first A time and she had an OT nap twice today with lots of crying so I did a CN on me around 5:30 and she was a dream afterwards! She went to bed great too so hoping I have a good night ahead for her.

I'll just keep on with what I'm doing and when I know she's not OT and caught up I'll push her A out a tad to try and move everything forward. She seems like she's needing more sleep than normal for her age but maybe that's just because we're cycling back and forth. Thanks to you I feel better and will just keep on until she can handle longer A times

[Lindsay27]

We did lots of cycling too, and you know her best, so if she seems really OT and needs a bit of a catch up with a CN, or shorter A or whatever, then do it, especially if naps that day haven't been great or she had a bad night.  We did a short/long/short for a few days and while it solved her EW she was horribly OT from capping her first nap, so I just let her sleep as long as she needed for a few days and she adjusted just fine!

I really think the transition took most of the 6th month and we didn't really settle into a full and consistent 2 nap routine (without OT) until 7 months, and it was a glorious month of lovely long naps!  You're doing fab hun, hang in there!!  I think we tried to stick to 3.15hr of day sleep at that point and then at 7 months it was more like 2:45/3hrs of day sleep.

[Mandy.kamal]

Thank you!!

So....another wake up of 5:45 happy. I'm afraid I'll have to drop the CN and have a BT of 6:00

Just to update- I decided to walk both kids to my sons preschool- 4 miles round trip- so giving me plenty of time to let her take a short nap this morning. But the stinker stayed up until 9:45 and then crashed as I was pulling into my driveway. I rushed her upstairs like a rag doll and she stayed asleep while I swaddled her haha!

So we shall see what this nap looks like with a 4 hour A time!! 

[Mandy.kamal]

So she's stuck with the EW so I'm just going to roll with you. You've given me the best advice and I'm just going to keep trying as best I can and hopefully another couple weeks and she will be past this.

I'm doing that short long short routine you posted for now and it's working great except she's still EW but no more crazy NWs at least for now...

I just wanted to thank you again for all your support and advice. Xx

[Scottishmummy]

Mandy - we got stuck in an UT/OT loop with the 3-2 too...we had to just stick with it and did get later wake ups once DD was able to do longer A times and be on 2 naps most days
Hang on in there xxx

[Mandy.kamal]

Thank you so much!!!! Xxxx

I can't help but feel like I'm doing something wrong or misreading her cues or A times but I think it is just going to take a little more time

I am so thankful for you all

[Lindsay27]

Not at all! It's a really long and awkward transition, a lot different than going from say 4 naps to 3 when they are smaller.  You are doing great, hang in there!!