6 month old - help

[my_tribe]

We are facing the 3:2 transition. My boy is showing all the signs. messy naps. night wakings. early mornings. I've increased A-Time from 2hrs to 3 over the past couple of weeks It's helped the first nap of the day and the night wakings but nap #2 has been short. I've tried adding in a catnap again or pushing up bedtime depending on how the day goes. LO is has been waking up at 5am and won't go back to sleep and isn't ready to take a full feeding until 6:30 or 7am. Any suggestions?

Here's what the last couple of days have looked like:

A: 5am wake (Normally won't go back to sleep or is in and out)
E: 6:30 - 7am
S: 8:30 - 10:30am (have to wake LO. Would keep sleeping if I let him)
E: 10:30 - 11am
S: 1:30pm (Normally wakes up at about an hour)
E: 3pm
Bedtime routine/nurse 6pm
Dreamfeed 10:30pm

Side note: Buddy has always slept around 11 hrs a night. With bringing up bedtime I can't seem to get our of the 5am cycle. Help?

[ginger428]

Since 8:30 is probably the latest am nap time you want with a 5am wakeup, I think you have a couple options.

1. Let him sleep until 11AM so that you could push his pm nap to 2, 2:15 even, and BT at 6:30/6:45.
2. Do a hard push for pm nap at 2, BT 6:30/6:45.
3. Split the extra time between PM nap time and BT- NAP 2 at 1:45, BT at 6:15 and add 5-10 mins every few days to get closer to a 7pm BT.

He actually might be a little UT for his pm nap, and 10-15 mins later kight help him. We won't know for aure until we try of course. Which do u think he would handle the best? And remember, if something doesn't work after 2-3days, we can always try another method. I realize you'll be exhausted in the meantime but we'll getthere!

Once his morning wake up time moves out, you can start pushing out the morning nap for a goal of 9:30 (from my experience reading/hearing others' lo at this stage).

[my_tribe]

Thank you for your help!

We will try option #1 first. Since I don't think he will have trouble having a longer morning nap and I have been waking up at 2h or 2h 15 min mark.

He woke at 5:20am today. Nursed at 6:45am. So nap at 8:30-11?

[my_tribe]

Ok we had some progress! 5:55 wake up. Moving in the right direction!

Yesterday:
A: 5:20am
E: 6:45am
S: 8:30-11am
E: 11am
S: Messy nap. LO was showing sleep cues at 1:40pm I wasn't able to get home on time for nap He fell asleep in the carseat at 2pm. Slept 30mins until 2:30pm. I got home and transferred him to crib. LO didn't fall back asleep until 3:30. Slept from 3:30-4:30pm.
E: 4:30pm
Bedtime routine. Nursed & asleep 7pm
Dream feed 10:30pm

Woke at 5:55am

He seems to do well with the 3h morning awake time and the long nap. I'll try it again today. What are your thoughts with the PM nap?

[ginger428]

Great to hear about the 5:55 wake up! How was the past week?

For the PM nap, I would shoot for 2pm most days if he is waking at 11am from the first nap.  As his mornings shift later, you can adjust accordingly.

Let us know how it's been going!