Do we need to change 8mo. old's schedule?

[Livingmom]

Hello all! Here is the story--my lo, Zoey, is an angel baby and since she was just about 3 months old she has been on a wonderful 4-hour schedule. In the true fashion of babies that are growing, she has decided that she needs to get up in the middle of the night (about 3-4 times a night between midnight and 4am) to be resettled. Yes--she does eventually go back to sleep--but sometimes it takes a little while. Both my DH and I work full time and we have to wake her up around 6am in the morning--so here is a typically good day in the life of Zoey:

6am wake up
6:30--drop off at daycare
7:00--bottle (typically about 6oz.of formula)
Activity
8:00--breakfast (solids--oatmeal and fruit--Gerber stage 1/2)
Activity
9:00-11:00--nap
11:00--Bottle (about 6 oz.)
Activity
12:00--Lunch (rice cereal and vegetable)
Activity
1:30-3:30--Nap
3:30--Bottle (about 6 oz.)
Activity
4:30--picked up from daycare
5:00--Dinner (Gerber Stage 1/2 foods)
Activity
6:00--Bath
Quiet/winddown activity
6:45--bottle
7:00--Bedtime

Within the last week though she is taking short afternoon naps--like only an hour. My daycare person is unable to get her back to sleep. I am not successful when I offer a catnap in the evening. And she shows her tired signs earlier and earlier in the evening--and is cranky in the evening.

Do you think it may be time to tweak the routine? Would shortening the morning nap do anything for the afternoon nap? (looking ahead to the future--it is the afternoon nap that we will want to keep). Are we waiting to long to put her to bed at night? I noticed when reading the sample EASY schedules that when babies wake up at 7am they go to bed at 7pm.

Just looking for some suggestions. . . THANK YOU!!!

[Noelle]

Hello

First off...love your dd's name

Just have a few questions....does she go to sleep independently? 
When she wakes, what does she do and what do you do?  Does she fuss? Cry?  Do you go to her right away or wait a little bit?

Not knowing the answers to the above, it sounds like it may be separation anxiety.  I don't think it has anything to do with naps as sleep begets sleep. 

Let us know!  {{HUGS}}

[HeatherC]

I had posted a response yesterday, but the server logged me out and it didn't go through. My first thought was to shorten the morning nap to 1.5 hrs so that she has more A time before the second nap.  She could possibly have 3 hrs (or more since she can do 3 hrs in the am) of A time here.  I have a feeling she's cranky in the evening b/c of the short nap.  An hour nap isn't really that bad except that means she's up from 2:30 till bedtime, and that can make for a cranky lo.  Therefore, if she can return to a 1.5-2 hr pm nap, she should be able to make it through the evening better.  I think your bedtime is good.  The nightwakings could be due to sep. anx. like Noelle mentioned, or the overtiredness from the short nap.  Has she recently become more mobile in her crib causing her to get out of "sleep position"?  If she justs seems to need a quick cuddle, it could become a habit, so make sure you're giving her a chance to resettle on her own.

[Livingmom]

Hello

First off...love your dd's name   (THANK YOU!!! your avitar is adorable!)
Just have a few questions....does she go to sleep independently? 
When she wakes, what does she do and what do you do?  Does she fuss? Cry?  Do you go to her right away or wait a little bit?

Not knowing the answers to the above, it sounds like it may be separation anxiety.  I don't think it has anything to do with naps as sleep begets sleep.

Let us know!  {{HUGS}}

YES! She goes to sleep independently--we worked very hard to do that--as long as we catch the tired cues early enough it is as easy as putting her in the crib and she will put herself to sleep. She never wakes up at the same time--it is all over the board. When I hear her start to fuss, I lay in my room for a few minutes and try to decide if she is just trying to put herself to sleep or really fussing. Lately I can tell that she is fussing and trying to pull herself up in the crib. So I finally go into her room--never turning on the light or even talking to her, I lay her back down in the crib--put the pacifer back in her mouth and just pat her back for a few moments--MOST of the time this is enough. Sometimes she will go back to bed and then wake up in 15 minutes and go through the routine again. Then my DH takes his turn to do the same thing.  Is that right? Or is that too much helping?

I was thinking about the idea of shortening the morning nap--although--that is mostly my daycare lady's deal. She follows our lead most of the time--but when I mentioned that idea--she kind of insisted that Zoey is too young for that to work (I still disagree and am going to try it this weekend if her afternoon naps are still bad this week.)

We have put her down to sleep at around 6:30 the last two nights and this has helped a little bit. One night she slept all the way through and the other she just needed her pacifer back. So we are making progress.

Thank you so much for your replies. It has really helped!

[HeatherC]

Sorry, I can't really help with the night wakings as I've not had experience with that.  As far as shortening the morning nap, if you feel it could help (which I think it could) I would strongly urge/insist that your care provider do so.  It is for the benefit of your child, and 30 minutes shouldn't hamper with the care providers schedule.  I would assume that she has normally done what you've asked, so this should be no different.  I hope you can get it worked out.  Sounds like you are on the road to some great progress.  Keep us posted.