5.5 month old nap time too long, awake time too short.

[lro]

Hi,
My 5.5 month old daughter has been on EASY since she was about 3 weeks old. She thrives on it and of course, so do we. She has always been a big napper, but now that she is almost 6 months old, her naps seem to be too long and her ability to stay awake long enough to have her feedings every 4 hours is limited. She begins to really get cranky when I try to keep her up longer than 1 hour 15 mins. I know that she can go 4 hours between feedings (she is breastfed) but usually by the time we reach 3 or 3.5 hours, she is so tired from being awake for only an hour, that she gets cranky and wants sleep so then I have to feed her early. I have no idea how to remedy this problem: I do not want to keep her up when she is screaming for a nap, and once she goes down, I do not want to wake her from sleep. She only has one night waking, but it is just a ritual feeding. I have never been strict with her on exact times for feeding and sleeping, rather I have always worked with her natural rhythm, so depending on when she wakes up each day, then I do the EASY around that. One thing that I do is feed her everyday around 7 am and put her to bed at around 7:30.
Any ideas on what to do to get her a bit more regulated, so that she can stay awake longer??

Here's a sample of her schedule...It looks a bit messy because it changes day by day a little depending on her wake up and eating times

Wake up 6:30-7:00
E 7:00 or 7:15
S 7:45 or 8:00- usually only 1 hour after waking up. This nap is at least 2 hours
A  10:00 or 10:30
E 10:45 or 11:00
S 12:00- this nap is between 1.5-2 hours
A 1:30 or 2:00
E 2:30 or 2:45  - here is where she begins to really have a hard time stretching everything
S between 3:15 and 3:45 - this nap is usually only 1 hour
A 5:00 or 5:15
E 5:00 or 5:30
7 - bath and final nurse
7:30 Bed

Thank you so much for the help!!!

[* Paula *]

Hi,

Welcome to the boards.

I think that your routine looks great.  Some lo's are not able to stay awake long enough to make the 4 hour easy at this age.

The great thing about EASY is that it is not about clock watching, it is about getting your lo into a routine of E A S.  At 6 months my DS would not make 1.5 hours of Activity, but as he got older he was able to stretch it out himself.

I think that you are doing great, and would not try to fix what is not broke.

Have you tried the DF to see if this helps with the night waking?  I can tell you that it is not uncommon to have a night waking at this age.

HTH's
Paula x

[lro]

Thanks for that Paula,

I have not tried the DF since I did not want to interrupt her sleeping pattern and also I usually go to sleep at 9 myself. I am not too concerned with the night waking yet. Your advice is good, I will just let things flow the way they should and take her cues as to when to nap, play, etc.
Again, thanks for the reassurance
-Lauren

[* Paula *]

Keep us posted on how you get on Lauren.

Paula x