How do you KNOW when he's ready to STAY UP LONGER? I cannot find any information that gives a target age to go on past the the 4 hour EASY... what follows the 4/4 ? and when?
DS (a touchy baby, happy-chucker/refluxer) is just over 5 months old. We switched to the 4 hour EASY when he was 3 months old. So he is always awake for 2 hours. He starts to get tired after 1hr+10-15mins, which is when we start our 15 min wind down ritual. At the end of 2 hours, I am placing him in his crib and he usually is happy to drift off to sleep within minutes of me leaving the room.
HOWEVER, lately he has been fighting going to sleep after I leave him in the crib (fighting sleep for 15 to 45 mins). The problem is, he's still getting tired at the same time or earlier. I've tried to tone down the amount of stimulation at activity time and that has helped some, but not all. He has also started waking at 3 and/or 5 to PLAY! this has never been a problem before he learned how to roll! He'll play by himself for the first 1/2 hour, but after that does not want to be alone. It's almost more infuriating and harder to get them back to sleep than if they woke up crying. I'm trying to think of any other insights I can offer to give clues that might help YOU girls to help ME... feel free to ask questions...
anyways, because we are fighting naps, DH and DM keep asking if I should try to keep him up longer... but how can I ignore his sleep cues? sometimes even after 1 hour of being awake he is rubbing his cereal into his eyes! I've been pouring over the books and the forum entries and can't find anything about the next step...
