Six month old with napping issues... Mom at wits end...

[spartygirl]

I have been reading everything on this site and still find myself confused as to how it can be applied to my situation.   I have an older daughter who had no sleep issues whatsoever, so this is so new and frustrating to me.  If I had the time I would read Tracy's entire book, but I have devoted so much time on this issue already and feel more and more frustrated each day.

My six month old daughter takes two naps per day, with each nap lasting only 40 minutes each.   I guess you could say I follow a modified version of the EASY plan, but with a two year old things just don't always go according to plan. 

I do put my daughter into her crib awake and she is able to soothe herself to sleep without a problem.  Something (apparently this natural awakening) is causing her to wake up at the 40 minute mark and I am clueless as to how to handle this.  I have tried letting her fuss it out, cry a bit, etc., but it obviously isn't working. 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  I adore my daughter, but I am starting to get annoyed with her inability to stay asleep for any significant period of time.  While big sister is napping for hours at a time, little sister is wide awake and happy to be so.

[HJ's Mom]

You need to buy Tracy's book..it explains everything you are talking about. It's a bit too complicated to go into all of it. Don't get too annoyed..remember, every child is different. Sounds like you got spoiled with an Angel baby the first time around!
Good luck.

[spartygirl]

I have Tracy's book already and I do plan on reading it, but I was just hoping for a few tips to work on in the meantime.  With two kids ages 25 months and 6 months my spare time is pretty limited and I try to reserve evenings for my husband.

[LindseysMom]

Can you post her routine so we can see where some tweaking might be needed.  She may need longer awake times or she may need 3 naps still if she is a short napper.  Some babies just take several shorter naps a day instead of two longer ones.

[spartygirl]

Here is my daughter's daily routine.  This is a very rough estimation of what an average day is like in the house.    Again, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Activity doesn't necessarily mean active play, much of this time she is simply carried around in the Bjorn or sitting watching her sister play.

7:45-8:00   Wake up
8:15  Eat
8:30-9:45   Activity at home
9:45-10:30  Nap
10:30-11:30  Activity at home
11:30 Eat
11:45-2:00  Leave home to go out and about,  Eat
2:00-2:45  Nap
2:45-4:45  Activity
4:45  Eat
5:00-7:00  Activity, usually outside of the house
7:00-8:00  Eat, prepare for bed
8:00  Bedtime.  Sleeps through the night.

[LindseysMom]

You may want to try stretching her am awake time to about 10:00am and then put her to bed for her first nap or maybe even til 10:15.  Try 2.5 hours of awake time between wake up and am nap and then 3 hours between end of am nap and start of pm nap.  If she is putting herself to sleep it sounds like she needs a little more awake time to make sure she is tired enough. 

Megs Mom, what do you think?

[LindseysMom]

Another thing you may want to try is set nap times.  Say 10:00 for am nap and then 2:30 for pm nap, every day.  That way her body gets used to having naps at the same time every day.  But if it were me I would try to extend awake times first to see if that will help.

[Meg's Mom]

Yup, i agree completely Lynne.

Start extending her awake time 15min every 3 days until you get to the A times suggested.  She should start to lenghten her naps as she will be tired enough.  If she has been doing the 45min thing for a while then you may need to go in when she wakes and do shh/pat (for at least 20min) to get her back to sleep.

I also wanted to add, i can't imagine having 2 that young so my hat is off to you.  When you get time read Tracy's book in full, as it will soon become an owner's manual.  My baby didn't come w/ one  :wink: .  But in the meantime, read the chapter on sleep and you will get a better understanding of the tech. we are talking about. 

If you need ANY thing clarified, don't hesitate to ask   

[spartygirl]

I so appreciate the words of wisdom that have been given.  I really just wanted a couple of tips to work on while I am reading Tracy's book.  Thanks so much for the advice.   I will try to extend the wake times and will attempt to use the shh/pat technique.

[Meg's Mom]

Let us know how it goes.

If you need more support don't hesitate to post again.