When Jasmine (very adorable little girl) was 6 mths. when she woke up at 6:30AM did you keep her up till 9AM for her first nap? What time would you put her to bed if she woke up at 6:30? Why aim for 9 no matter what time they wake up, what's the benefit? Did W2S completely fix your problem? No more short naps during the second nap?
See I had problems with her sleep until she was about 7 months. At 6 months, she was going to sleep at 5.30pm for the night, would wake up inconsistently anywhere from 5.30-6.30am and naps were really hard to figure out as well. Finally what I had to do was move her whole day forward and I started by pushing her 1st nap to 9am and not letting her go for the night until 6.30pm. She's always done 12 hrs at night.
It was recommended that I read "healthy sleep habits happy child" and I would also suggest if you get the chance to have a read through it. He basically looks at sleep from a scientific point of view - that is when/what times naps are most restorative, about sleep/wake biological rhythms and all that kind of stuff. Also the books looks at many sleeping problems, like short naps and early wake ups, and all other sorts of issues. The only thing is that he suggests cio as a means of sleep training (i hated reading that part of the book) but otherwise its a good read. My dh calls it my Bible.
Anyways, the whole 9am nap is because babies need to sleep when they are in a biological sleep mode and naps are most restorative when they are taken in mid-morning, early afternoon and early evening with bedtime between 6-8pm (this is all from the book, btw). This all of course considering that your lo wakes up from 6-7am. If mine woke up before 6 and not gone back to sleep, I'd aim at 8.30am nap. He uses adults as an analogy to describe the benefit of a nap being restorative in that if we take a nap, its best to take one in the middle of the day. With me, say if I take a nap in the morning (soon after I wake up), after that nap I feel worse than I would have if I didn't take it. I usually wake up with a headache and feel like i've been hit by a truck... So basically sleeping a certain amount of hours during the day is not the only thing to look at, its more to do with when that sleep was taken...
W2s did fix my problem and she no longer takes short afternoon naps. Believe me, I was very sceptical in the whole w2s thing but it did work for me. Absolutely no more short naps for me/her (fingers crossed). Try again tomorrow and in general they say 3 days in a row but if want maybe 5 days to be sure and if its not working, we can look at another strategy
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Great to hear that you lo took a long pm nap
. I think 6.10pm is too late for a 3rd nap. From 6 months, they can take 2 or 3 naps and it depends on what time they wake up from the afternoon nap. If mine would wake up at 2:45 and not asleep by 5pm for her catnap, I would have kept her awake until about 6:15 (or 6.30pm) and then to bed for the night.
Anyways, gotta go baby is crying
Let me know how it goes
Layla