how do you incorperate a scheduled activity into a 4.5 month olds week?

[jules_is_cute]

Hi I'm kind of silly and I went ahead and booked 2 weeks of swim or water baby classes for my DD (she'll be 5 days short of 5 months when we start).  It goes from 11:30 am- 12 pm MWF, for 2 weeks.  I'm wonderig if I goofed, because what if she's napping at that time.  How do I work it out so that this doesn't ruin her day sleep or can I?  I don't feel good waking her even for Doctors appointments, I can't imagine waking her for this, but it's only 6 meetings and I think it will really benefit her, as we live near water...very near...we live at the waters edge. 

Until I thought about this I wanted to keep signing her up all summer, but now I'm not sure how to schedule her day to make it work.  Any advice would be great.  Thanks.

BTW  I haven't ever been able to get her fully on EASY.  She's more on AESY. 

Her schedle is dictated by my work because she won't take a bottle I have to get her up to eat before I go and feed her immediately upon returning so that she can sleep.   

5:45 E (a dream feed really)
6:00 S
7:15 awake A w/ granny
8:30 mommy home E
9:00 S
10:00 awake
11:30 E
12:00 S
2:00-3:00 awake E (this is the only time she want to eat as soon as she wakes up and it's only because she takes a monster nap usually 3 hours long)
4:00 Try for sleep (if by 4:30 not acheived we go for a walk and she sleeps in the carrier)
5:30 awake E (small amount not a full feed it's to calm her right before bath)
5:45 bath
6:00 E
6:30 bed
1:00 am - 3 am E

Any advice woud be very helpful thanks

~Patty 

[Mom to M&M]

Are there any swim classes that are once a week instead of 3 times? It might be easier to start that way so it's not too extreme a change to her routine... Let us know and we'll see what we can come up with...

[jules_is_cute]

I wish, they're in another city and they are completely booked...the only good thing is that these classes are only 30 minutes long and it is less than 10 minuts from home.

[Mom to M&M]

It may be rough - I guess see how it goes - only problem is that if she's too tired and cranky she may not enjoy the class but you won't know until you try and since you've already booked them...

In the meantime, at her age, I think she can handle some more A time which may lead to longer naps and help ease the scheduling issue. If she's waking at 7:15, I would try to get her to 9:30 for a nap instead of 9:00. Or maybe at least start with 9:15. If you can get her to nap 1.5 hours instead of 1, say from 9:30-10:30, she might not need another nap until 12:45 or so!

[jules_is_cute]

gosh that just seems like so long when I take into account how soon she starts rubbing her eyes, but I'll give it a try.  Thanks.  I'll let you know how it goes.  I really wouldn't mind a  bit more A time.  It allows me to get more done out of the house. 

~Patty   

[Mom to M&M]

Just increase it gradually and she'll likely get used to it - keep it low key and relaxed and hopefully it works!

[jules_is_cute]

okay will do, so not play gym the last 20-40 minutes or so, that sort of low key?

[Mom to M&M]

Definitely no play gym, exersaucer, etc for last part of A time - instead focus for last 20 minutes or so on stuff like cuddling, reading, walking, etc.

[jules_is_cute]

okay, got it.  So am I trying ot keep her up even if she's a little fussy?  Or is it straight to bed as soon as she's hitting that point.  Because that would mean missing her supposed "window"  I try to put her down before she's rubbing her eyes and stuff otherwise she seems to have trouble falling asleep.  But I'll give it a try, like I said more time would be nice.

~Patty

[Mom to M&M]

It's tough at her age, if she were older I'd definitely say push her a little. You may have to try just pushing even 5 minutes and stay with that for 3-5 days and then 5 minutes more so she doesn't get too overtired. If she's a little fussy I'd try changing activities - maybe bring her into her dimmed bedroom and cuddle or sing a lullaby or read a story and try to stretch a few more minutes and see what happens.

[jules_is_cute]

okay thanks.

[jules_is_cute]

okay I've begun keeping her up for about 2 hours her first stretch, but then the nap is still only about 1 hour.  Also she seems a bit overtired, and is hard to settle for the first nap. 

So she's waking at about 7, I'm putting her down at 9, then she's up by 10 am.  She doesn't seem rested upon waking and is tired after only about 60 minutes of A time after the first nap, also not good.
 
If her schedule remains this way means she's very tired and due for the second nap by 11:30 - 12pm that's the time of the swim class, that's not good and we'll have to give up doing the class.
So in a last effort to make this thing work, should I try 90-110 minutes instead for a while, putting her down by 8:30-8:45 and then seeing if the overtiredness was the cause of the shorter nap?   OR

Should I try wake to sleep to extend the nap?  I think I have a good grasp on the wake to sleep method, I'm just wondering if this is the appropriate time to use it.

Thanks again.

~Patty