3 month old refusing to nap

[Kimberly®]

OK So I have my LO on a basic routine. She's still on the 3 hour EASY beacuse I don't really understand how, or when to make it a four hour routine.
Her night time sleep is great. She'll sleep 7pm - 6 am (dream feed at 11pm) then sleep from 6:30ish - 10am

Thats when things don't work.
She just doesn't sleep and the odd time she does, she'll sleep 20-30 minutes then be up again.
Her wake time averages 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours with half hour naps. She's not cranky untill about 5:30 6pm if she gets cranky. She doesn't always get cranky.
her average routine is as follows...

10am eat
Activity
12pm shows tired signs and I lay her down, she usually just lays quietly in crib, or talking to her mobile. Finally falls asleep around 12:30 if she sleeps
1pm wakes and eats (cries if she's already awake)
Activity
2pm shows tired signs and I lay her down, she usually just lays quietly in crib, or talking to her mobile. Usually falls asleep about 2:30 if she sleeps/
3pm wakes and eats (cries if she's awake)
5pm shows tired signs and I lay her down, she usually just lays quietly in crib, or talking to her mobile. Usually falls asleep about 5:30 almost always sleeps here, sometimes right to 6:30 but I start her bedtime routine anyway and she still sleeps through the night.
6pm wakes and plays for a while.
6:30 start bedtime routine, Bath, songs.
6:45 eats
7pm Bedtime (usually asleep by 7:30 at the latest)

She usually eats 5-6oz at each feeding and another 6oz at dream feed and at 6am.

How can I help her to sleep longer and change her to the 4 hour EASY?? I'm almost afread to try because I'm afread it will mess up her nights.
What do you guys think?? Or am I just worrying over nothing?? What am I doing wrong here??

[Mom to M&M]

I think the problem is that you're letting her sleep too much in the morning. She's already sleeping a nice long stretch overnight and by feeding her at 6 and putting her right back to bed for 3.5 hours, she'd consolidating all her sleep overnight and early morning. So she's tired, but just doesn't need much more sleep the rest of the day.

I'd suggest that if she wakes at 6am, you start your day then. Feed her - turn on the lights, get her dressed, etc and keep her awake for about 1:15, put her in for a nap at 7:15 and let her sleep no more than 2 hours. Go from there.

At her age, 3 months, I'd suggest good awake times would be from 1:15 on the short end to 1:45 on the long end.

Hope that helps.

[Kimberly®]

the only problem with that is that I don't want to start my day at 6am  :shock:  I don't get to bed till 11:30 12 so it would be a REALLY long day..

I understand what you mean though, but I need sleep too...

[shabec]

My DS who is one week younger than your LO is on an almost identical routine, and I am also having similar issues with daytime napping.  His happy wake time generally only lasts about 1 hr 10-1hr 20 though, before he starts showing his tired signs and begins to get cranky.  Some daytime naps are much better than others, usually the morning ones, but not always.  He also usually wakes between 6-6.30am which I agree is really early to be starting the day (espec. since I am not a great morning person!!).  Just in the last week or so I have begun delegating the job of dreamfeeding (expressed bm topped up with formula) to my DH, which means I can get to bed earlier, and not feel like I've hit a brick wall by 3pm in the afternoon.

[mthyne]

My ds is now 17 weeks and had a very similar schedule to your daughter (max nap was 45 min during the day).  If you like sleeping in (which I did very much), you have to put up with the short naps because, like was said before, she's getting all the sleep she needs at night and in the morning.  However, enjoy it while you can because both of my kids grew out of that, and put themselves into a 2-nap plus catnap routine, where there days started at 7-7:30.  So, I guess I wouldn't worry about it too much since she does go down by herself and realize she will slowly correct the times on her own.  But if you're worried about being on the 4-hour EASY, you will have to gear her day starting at 6 am, or at least wake her by 7-7:30.  I still put my son back down after he wakes for his 6 am feeding; now he just wakes around 7:30-8 instead of 10.
I would look at her awake time, though.  Two hours may be a bit long for her age.
HTH
Melissa

[corrina01]

Karita

If you are worried about moving to a 4hr EASY, move to a 3.5hr EASY.  This is what my DD is currently on.  Her schedule looks like this

7am  Feed
8.30-8.45 Sleep
10.30  Feed
11.45-12noon  Sleep
2pm  Feed
3.30pm Sleep
5pm  Feed
6pm start bedtime routine
7pm bed

It works quite well for my DD.  She will have about 4.30 -  5hrs daytime sleep.  She wakes at 6.30am I leave her in her cot till 7am.