Life interrupting transition to 4 hour EASY

[ladymugg]

Hi there

Baby is 4 months and currently on 3-3.5hr EASY, but keen to follow the transition plan in the book as I did for our now 2 year old daughter. 

Problem is baby's wake time for the day (which I'm happy with as it suits our family) is 6 am.  The 2 year old goes to preschool three days a week from 8.45 am.  This means that with a 2 hour A time I'd be looking at 8 am back to sleep for 40 minutes or making A time more like 3 hours on those days.

What would you do?  The preschool is only 2 minutes drive from our house but obviously he needs to come on the trip, and the trip isn't long enough for car sleeping.  In summer I might walk her to school with baby in the stroller but right now it's winter and always raining, not ideal!

Probably going to be a similar issue with the preschool pick up at around 12.30pm too but my husband sometimes does the pick up so not a massive issue, and if not the preschool is flexible on pick up time anyway.

[creations]

A couple of options I can think of:
- have the CN in the morning followed by 2 long naps (rather than 2 long naps then the CN).  With CN at 8-8.40 and a 2hr A time the long nap would sit at 10.40 - 12.10 which would mean school pick up is manageable at 12.30. Nap 3 would be around 2.10 - 3.40 so you might find you need another CN in there around 5 ish.  Initially the CN in the morning might need to come a bit earlier rather than after a full 2hr A time as A times around a CN are sometimes shorter.  I think it would work though.
or
- see if you can transfer LO from house to car to house for a long morning nap.  Some LOs are fine to be picked up and transferred to another sleeping place, others not. Mine would not resettle if moved until he was about 1yo+ but from then I could start a nap in the car and carry him indoors to put to bed.  Perhaps if you put LO to sleep in the stroller for the beginning of the nap it might make it easier to lift into the car seat, and again back into the stroller to come into the house and continue there?  If you are planning to use the stroller for naps through good weather it may even be preferable to get the naps established in there now so that LO is used to it otherwise you might find LO gets very used to cot naps and won't sleep at all in the stroller when the weather improves.

I would try to keep the routine generally the same each day even on the days your 2yo is not at pre-school, it just makes it all more predictable and easier for LO to settle into.
hope this helps

[ladymugg]

Thanks creations! 

I am not sure on the transferring - I have tried before and he definitely wakes up but I could give it a go as it would be handy.  He used to do this when he was quite little scrunchy newborn but now that 3 month alert button has been pushed, not so much  

But having a morning CN instead of an afternoon one makes a lot of sense.  Might start that one tomorrow.  Today I'm sick and he is still sleeping after breakfast so I'll just let him today!!!

Hey any thoughts/ideas on PU/PD when your baby is still swaddled?  Do you keep them swaddled while doing PU/PD or just have the wrap ready to go in the bed and swaddle them when they're drifting off to sleep? 

[creations]

I am not sure on the transferring

Yeah if he won't go for it then there isn't much put pushing for it.  When mine was older and accepted it I would tell him (whilst he was sleeping) that I was going to pick him up and he was to stay asleep and I talked him right through is soft tones "everything is okay, it's mummy, I'm taking you to bed, stay asleep..." and continue pretty much the whole way to his bed ending with "here's your bed now, go to sleep, call if you need me" and then leave him.  He did stir and was likely half awake but he stayed floppy and snuggly and barely made a noise and then settled into his bed for the rest of the nap.  No way could I do that in the early months though!

Hey any thoughts/ideas on PU/PD when your baby is still swaddled?  Do you keep them swaddled while doing PU/PD or just have the wrap ready to go in the bed and swaddle them when they're drifting off to sleep? 

Sorry I'm not sure I understand the question and I am also not all that up on all aspects of PUPD.  I wouldn't suggest it for a 4 month old though, it's a method of last resort, best to use shush/pat or adapted for most training really.
If you'd like to ask this as a new thread as it is a different question you might get a better answer

Sorry to hear you are not well. Get better x

[ladymugg]

Thank you!  Those are some good ideas.

I'll ask about the PU/PD in another thread.  I always feel a little guilty starting another thread, but maybe I'm just being silly.  This forum (and the book) have been life savers with both my LOs! 

[creations]

It's totally fine to start a new thread for a new question, don't worry about it one bit
We are only not keen on the same question from the same poster on numerous threads, it makes it harder for the community to keep up with the info and advice that's given and tbh it takes up way too much of Mum's time posting the same info to different threads when that time could be spent having a much needed cuppa/shower/nap

So no guilt about threads please   Us mums have enough Mummy guilt as it is without adding BW guilt to the pile 

FWIW I don't think you swaddle with PUPD but can't be 100% sure without checking so it's better someone else responds xx