Naps and routine change?

[MiloMatt]

Our litte man, Matthew who is 8 months is having trouble with naps in the day (crying going down and usually sleeping for 20 - 40 minutes, sometimes but rarely up to 2 hours).

He is sleeping well at night from 7am, but wakes at 4am. We think its habit, but he gets a breastfeed and then goes back to bed until around 7am. We would be fine with that if he didn't seem so tired during the day.

He breastfeeds 5 times a day, and has 3 solid meals a day. Up to now our routine has been wake, play, feed and sleep. After reading the Baby Whisperer book we are now considering changing to the E.A.S.Y routine. However, we are 3 weeks away from moving house (5 hour car ride away) and we're not sure if we should wait until after we've moved to start a new routine, or do it now.

Otherwise Matthew is very happy, content and thriving.

Any advice woud be greatly appreciated.
 :roll:

[Jaime]

what kind of temperment is your baby?  does he adjust well to change?

if he's more along the lines of angel/textbook, you could likely make all the routine changes when you move and he will be just fine.

if he's more at the touchy/spirited/grumpy end, you may want to consider changing the routine now.  these babies crave routines and familiarity, and to try and change both routine and surroundings may be too much for your lo.

the 4am waking is likely habit, but i would worry about that when you can get his routine and naps sorted out.  you may want to check out the nap boards for ideas on how to lengthen them.

HTH 

[MiloMatt]

Thanks
I really can't work out what temperament he is:
He rarely cries and it doen't take much to distract him. He was never a good sleeper, due to his reflux partly, but since 5 months when our doctor advised us to go "cold turkey" to break his 4 feeds per night he has slept from 7- about 4am. He has met most milestones early, yet his cues are really subtle. Slight noises disturb him but he isn't particularly shy. He loves stimulation and climbs incessantly. dressing him and chanding his nappies can be a challenge, he can be social but assesses new situations. Reading this I am leaning towards calling him spirited, but any advice would help.
We have tried and are using the PD technique and the first time it took 142 PD's and 1 1/2 hours. How soon should we see results?
If he sleeps fpr 20 minutes do I then spend the rest of the 1 1/2 trying to put him down again?

Thanks

[Jaime]

well, the best way to work out which temperment you have is to take the quiz in tracy's book.  if you don't have it, they are working on getting it posted on this site in the EASY forum (i believe), but i'm not sure when it will be up.

secondly, have a look at the sleep interview.  it has lots of details on extending naps, etc.  here's a link:
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/a-special-sleep-interview-with-tracy-hogg-vt451.html

finally, if you still have questions about pu/pd, i would check out that board.

HTH