6-month: trouble with EASY due to short naps

[hpling]

I'm trying to get my ds on 4-hour EASY, but he naps for only 30-45mins. I've been trying Wake-to-Sleep for the past 2weeks without any success. How do I use 4hr EASY if his naps are short?

[*Mona*]

hi

if he's 6 months old 4hrs routine will not work for him I think. he should be able to do way over 2 hrs of activity at the moment.

can you post your typical day?

thanks

[AnnaBenwell]

hpling, im having the same trouble, just thought i would say i know how it feels! My little 1 just won't sleep in the morning! Sending you big hugs. Anna

[hpling]

We just weaned him off the paci one week ago so his routine is all over the place. But a typical day would look like this:

E 7:30am (5oz bottle plus 1tbps rice cereal)
A
S 9:00am-9:30am

E 11am (bottle)
A
S 12pm - 12:45pm

E 2:30pm (bottle)
A
S 3:15pm (this is the toughest - LOTS OF SCREAMING)

E 5:30pm (2 tbps porridge with veg)
Bath
   6pm (bottle & winding down)
S 7pm
Dreamfeed 10pm

Anna - how old is your LO? Mine won't sleep without having a HUGE battle everytime. Don't know whether it's because of the paci-weaning or because he's still really on 3.5hrs EASY

[AnnaBenwell]

I moved my 6 month old onto a 4 hour easy and everything seemed to be going fine! Then he got poorly and it all has gone out of the window. Its a huge battle for me getting him to sleep in the morning and have given up on the catnap because he was just never getting to sleep. i have just posted our routine on this board under 4.5/5hour easy! If you wanted to have a look?Just a thought maybe you should try moving the catnap just 15 minutes later and see how that works. Anna

[*Mona*]

hm... don't you think your Lo is actually asking for longer A time before naps?
1st- 1,5 hrs
2nd- 2,5 hrs
3rd- 2,5 hrs

you can't really expect him to nap long after 1,5hrs of activity at the age of 6 months...

and him being on 3,5hrs easy is not good enough for his age too IMO.

here are some links for you:
A times https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.msg689373#msg689373
typical routines https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=10386.0

[hpling]

Anna - if I had your routine, I would be over the moon!!!! I'm grappling with a couple of issues here - EASY, short naps, night wakings, and up to 1 week ago, paci. Name it and I've got it!

Monika - do you mean I should extend his A time? But since he naps so little, he gets all cranky and grumpy (lots of eye-rubbing, ear-pulling) after just 1-1.5hr of activity. I'm worried that he will get over-tired if i stretch the A time any further.

[hpling]

I viewed the sample routines. Everyone seemed to be having a decent 1.5hr nap going. Seemed like a chicken & egg thing going on for me. Short naps resulting in short activity time, which in turn resulting in short naps. *SIGH*

[*Mona*]

at the moment I believe you're right in the middle of short naps-grumpy A times-short naps again vicious circle... SO I'd recommend spending a few days watching his cues VERY carefully and NOT putting him to bed too soon even if he's rubbing his eyes and getting grumpy etc. first of all- work on that first morning nap. it should be the best one actually...
trust me, 1,5 hrs of activity is NOT enough at his age...

[hpling]

Ok, I'll ask my mother-in-law (who takes care of ds during the day while I'm at work) to do so. Thanks for your suggestion. I'll let you know how it goes.

[hpling]

Oops, I just remembered something. Ds is actually staying up more than 1.5hrs because I'd forgotten that his naps are short, so there's actually additional A time after S, but before the next E. So looking back at the routine, ds actually has 2.5hrs of A time for all sets. I forgot to mention that he wakes up at 6:30am but we don't feed him till we get to my mother-in-law's place, which is by 7:30am.

I think 2.5hrs of A is reasonable? Hence, I don't understand why isn't he still napping longer than 45mins and why it is so difficult for him to sleep. For a while, I thought I saw a glimmer of hope!!

[*Mona*]

hm, ok that's makes a difference BUT still do try giving him 15 or 20 minutes of A time more and see if it helps him nap longer.

let us know how you're doing

Monika

[hpling]

Yesterday, MIL stretched his A time to 3 hours, and I don't know whether it is pure coincidence, but LO napped for 2 hours from 11am to 1pm!! I will try A times of 2.75-3 hrs and see how it goes. Thanks!

Another question that I have is, how much time to elapse between the last evening catnap and final bedtime?

[hpling]

Sorry, another question - if LO does not wake up for his df which is at 10pm, should I wake him up? The last time i didn't, he slept till 2am but I fed him as he was crying from hunger. I remember reading from somewhere that middle of the night can be discruptive to the LO's sleep at this age.

His last feed before bedtime is usually 6-6:30pm.

[*Mona*]

hi

at 6 months I'd say between 2 and 3~3,5 hrs from nap to bedtime. it really depends on each LO. my dd wasn't able to stay up longer than 2,5~3hrs at 6/7 months in the evening but I suggest you try following a routine with longer A times and then you'll see when he's tired in the evening and ready for bed.

and as for DF- you're NOT supposed to wake him for his DREAM feed... so if he doesn't wake, just feed him in his sleep. that's actually how it's supposed to work anyway.

keep us posted
Monika