Habit Forming - 7.5 month

[Madeleine & Dexter's Mummy]

Hi there

Can anyone suggest something that I can do with my LO as I think we have a habit forming?  She is now consistently waking after 30 minutes during her 2nd nap of the day. She wakes crying so I know she is still tired and if I leave her, she gets hysterical. If I go in and intervene and try to ssh/pat her back to sleep, she just turns so she can see me. What else can I try as she needs this sleep?  What now ends up happening is that I have to get her up. Do I then have her go to sleep really early or try to sneak in a cat nap?  She hasn't had a catnap since she was less than 6 months as she had normally napped from 1-3pm and in bed by 6.30, well no more!!!

I should also say that she is not great at independent sleep generally. She had to have the dummy weaned twice as she was such an addict. I try to put her in her cot drowsy after some rocking, but still awake. I then leave her, but eventually (around the 30 min mark) she starts crying hysterically and than I have to rub her back to get her to go to sleep. I would say that 25% of the time, she can fall asleep on her own by crying for about 10 minutes and then nods off. This is our routine generally:

7am - wake/bottle
8.30 - solids -
9.45-10.15 - nap
11am - bottle
12 - solids
1.30-3pm - nap
5 - solids
6 - bath
6.30 - bottle
7-7.30 - asleep

Where it's going wrong is that now she wakes at 2.15 from her 2nd nap. Mind you that I start putting her down for her nap at 1pm, rock her to help get her drowsy for about 10 minutes and then in the cot. Today she talked for 20 minutes and then cried, I eventually intervened at around 1.40pm by rubbing her back to get her to sleep. She then woke at 2.15 crying.

I should also add that she still wakes 3-4 times a night but often can just resettle herself. 50% of the time we have to go in once to help settle her, but that's getting less frequent.
Any advice please?

Kim

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

9.45-10.15 - nap

Can I just clarify your routine, please? Is she only getting 1/2 an hour for her morning nap? If that's the case, then she'll be seriously overtired by her pm nap, so you need to start working on this am nap first. If this is the case (not a typo ), let us know, and we'll help you out .

[Madeleine & Dexter's Mummy]

Hi there

Yes that's not a typo. Her first nap is rarely longer than 30-40 minutes. (It can be an hour and that's usually when she has been awake a lot in the night.) I had then always tried to keep her up for 3 hours from her 1st nap waking time to the start of her 2nd nap. Should I cut that down?

Thanks
Kim

[KathrynK]

hi Kim
at 7.5 months my dd could stay awake for 3 hours no problem- if she had a decent am nap. If she had a short nap I would have to reduce her A time before next nap otherwise she would get overtired, just as Caroline said. Also according to your routine she is awake 4 to 4.5 hours from 2nd nap until bedtime, which is long for her age. I think you might have accumulating overtiredness here which is why your naps are getting shorter. I would try extending the first nap, and also get in some early nights over the next few days to see if that helps.