Confused re number of naps and EASY schedule

[llirette]

Hi!

Wow!  This is my first time ever in a message board environment.  I guess I am desperate.

Our Matéo is just over 4 months old.  He is a breastfed baby who loves to sleep.  He had been sleeping through the night for the past few weeks and waking at 7:30am every morning like clockwork.  His typical day was:
- a first feeding at 7:30am, then a nap from 8:20 to 10:50am
- a second feeding at 11am, nap from 12:45 to 2:30pm
- a 3rd feeding at 2:30pm, nap from 3:45 to 5:00pm
- a 4th feeding at 5:30pm followed by a bath and then in bed by 6:45pm until...
- one last feeding at 8:30pm (right back to bed for the rest of the night until
7:30 am the next morning)!!!
This schedule was a dream!!!
Having looked at the Baby Whisperer book as a reference guide, I saw that Matéo could probably do without a 3rd nap at this age once in a while.  Therefore every so often (maybe once or twice a week), I would go out with Matéo and not worry about his 3rd nap as much.  The nap I tended to cut short was the second one.  Matéo seemed to be doing OK with this scenario as long as it wasn't every single day.
However, late last week, his late afternoon nap started getting longer,  Had I understood at the time that this would eventually interfere with his night sleep, I would have intervened.  But I didn't see that coming. I now realize that I should have probably taken Matéo out on excursions late in the afternoon instead of early afternoon. 
After a few days in a row of long napping in the late afternoon, Matéo has now gone to a schedule whereby he wakes at 6am (for the past three days).  I guess he took his late afternoon longer naps as being an earlier bedtime which has generated an earlier wake time.  Am I assuming wrong?
His new schedule now looks like:
- a first feeding at 6am, then a nap from 7:20 to 9:20am
- a second feeding at 9:30am, nap from 11:00 to 12:30pm
- a 3rd feeding at 12:45pm, nap from 2pm to 3:40pm
- a 4th feeding at 3:45pm, nap 5:15pm to 6:30pm
- a 5th feeding at 6:30pm followed by a bath...
This earlier start/new schedule has in turn created another problem.  Matéo now has a harder time falling asleep for the night since he has been sleeping so much during the day (I assume).  Last night he only feel asleep at 9:35pm after a final feeding at 9pm.  The problem, I think, is that he is now taking a 4th nap.  I try to stretch out his activity time as much as possible but he gets so tired if he doesn't nap within every 3 to 3.5 hour cycle.
So, considering the EASY schedule, I am confused as to how to get your child to nap 2 or 3 times a day only when he is still taking in 6 feedings.  HELP!  Is he sleeping too much during the day?  Am I wrong in my assumption?
Matéo has always been an easy baby.  No major fussing when it comes to nap time.  He loves to sleep.  Finally, how do I get him back on track to his earlier schedule, if possible?  With a 6am start, it is hard to limit his naptime since it makes for such a long day.
Help!

Lyne

[Meg's Mom]

Hi and welcome - i thought the same thing when i posted for the first time here and quickly found this is a wonderful place for support and advice.

I guess he took his late afternoon longer naps as being an earlier bedtime which has generated an earlier wake time.  Am I assuming wrong?

I am not sure if he took it as an earlier bedtime, but having the last nap end at 6.30 is causing a problem for bedtime IMO (your's too  )  It looks like he is napping approx the same amount of time as before 5.5hrs - it is just the earlier wake up.  You might try moving bed time up to 6pm, this usually brings wake time later, sounds backward i know.

Regarding taking 2 o 3 naps - Which book do you have?  In the second one Tracy recommends moving to 4hr EASY 4mos of age.  She also outlines in detail how to do this.  I have also seen info in the EASY forum on how to make the move.  If you move to 4hr EASY he will take less feeds but get more volume in per feed. 

Gradually, extending his A time is the only way i know how drop a nap.

I have given you some info to digest, let me know if you have any questions.  I hope this helps, let us know how you get on.

[Idahomom]

llirette-
My ds is also just over 4 mo.  We are having the opposite problem, though.  Sleeps very good at night, problems with daytime napping.  I am beginning his transition to 4 hour easy tomorrow (wish me luck!)  In my reading before making this transition, I find that babies at this age are going through some changes that can throw things "off".  This is the signal to extend A time and change the routine.  They are more mobile and alert.  For example, my lo just started sitting on his own in the past 2 days, exactly when the napping problem started.  I suggest you get the 2nd book (got mine at Amazon.com) and read about moving to 4 hour EASY.  my email is in my profile if you want to check in with each other, I am also fairly new to the boards and have had my son on EASY for 1 month.

[llirette]

Hi again!

Things are back on track!

Thanks to everyone for their replies.  Definetely helped!

Matéo is back to his 7:30am start.  And it only took two days of intervention.  Here is what I did:

Matéo would wake up at 6am, hungry.  I would start by trying the pick up/put down strategy but if this didn't work, I fed him and put him right back to bed.  At 7:30am (which was his usual wakeup time), I woke him (I hated doing this!!!!), fed him again and started his day as usual.  I thought for sure that he would not take the breast at 7:30 since he had eaten just after 6am.  But he did with a little encouragement and it worked like a charm.  Within two days, Matéo slept right through until 7:30am as he had in the past and has continued since.

Bravo Matéo!