3 to 4 hour easy cold turkey?

[Scrapbooker]

I am trying to transition my 6 month old DD to a four hour EASY.  It may be long overdue, but she has always been a little behind with her A time and given earlier sleepy cues (now that she has them)-but I think I let it go too long.  Anyway, we have problems with some (not all) 45 minute naps, refusing to nap at all, early AM wake-ups and some night wakings at times.  The reason I ask if cold turkey may be better for her is because of how my best efforts at getting her to sleep are failing and she ends up staying up way longer than intended even when not trying to extend her.  Also, because she only sleeps 8-9+ hours at night and doesn't take proper naps, she is probably chronically overtired to a degree even though she seems happy usually (maybe she's just one that needs less sleep).  I think the first nap is really an extension of her night sleep and was going to try W2S this AM at 4:15-30ish but she woke earlier, so I turned off my alarm.  I need to get her wakeup time later, but figure they'll automatically be "later" once the time change occurs this weekend and then I'll just have to gradually put bedtime earlier (as I've been trying to do, but taking a while to get to sleep all this week).  We used to have a 7PM bedtime and she was having 1-2 night wakings and so I tried putting it gradually earlier and earlier especially if she skipped her catnap (which she usually did), but they didn't get better.  So, one night it happened to go pretty late due to a late catnap and she finally slept through the night again after 1-2 months of not.  To give an example, here are the last two days:

Tuesday:
E-5:45AM-wake up and fed (BF) at 5:56AM (after sleeping 9'10" overnight after taking 1 hour to get her to sleep)
A-until showed sleepy signs at 6:55 AM and tried to put her down for nap-refused until I fed her again at...
E-8:30AM (BF)
A-until put down for nap at...
S-9:15AM and slept for 2'15"
E-11:45AM BF then solids afterward
A-until 12:59-put down for nap and again at 1:14 PM...
S-1:34PM (45 minute nap)
E-2:46PM-BF
A-until put her down at 3:30 with sleepy cues and she refused nap until fed again at...
E-4:15 PM (BF)
A-changed diaper then put into crib after winddown (knowing she must be tired) at 4:30+4:58
S-5:06 (slept 1 1/2 hours, used W2S-held through jolts) to get her more sleep so she wouldn't be overtired thru night even though it's a really late nap
E-solids then A of bath, book then BF
S at 8:30PM (after 1 hour of trying to get her down after seeing distinct sleepy signs)-slept 8'20" with a 10 minute wake up around midnight (stroked head and went back to sleep).

Wednesday:
E-wakeup at 5:05AM, BF at 5:20 AM
A-until put to crib at 6:34 (trying to extend her 10-15 minutes, but she fell asleep faster than normal)
S-6:40AM-8:00
E-solids then BF at 8:40 AM
A-until in crib at 9:32
S-9:40-11:14 (held her thru jolts to ensure longer nap)
E-11:20-BF
A-until put to crib at 1:09
S-1:13 PM-1:55
E-2:01-BF
A-until put down at 3:06 and she refused nap until...
E-4:35 PM BF
S-4:56 PM-6:33PM (late nap again with hold thru jolts-?same as W2S)
E-solids
A-bath, book
E-7:25 PM-BF, put in crib at 7:36PM
S-7:55-1:55AM when DH tried to get her back to sleep to no avail.  Since she was crying when she woke up which she usually doesn't and had been having longer feeds the previous day, I fed her at 2:35 AM-took full feed and fed to sleep at 2:45-3:05ish and awoke at 5:50AM.

Lots of detail here, but I figured someone would ask for/want it.  I have been trying to extend her first nap by 15 minutes the past two days and follow the transition described in the book, but am not sure it is the best way to go here.  She can sleep independently sometimes if I put her to sleep at exactly the right time (harder to do).  Sometimes she'll do it every nap and at bedtime, sometimes only once per day.  When she doesn't she still falls asleep in crib but with stroking her head or holding down legs, etc.  Did PU/PD a few weeks ago to get her back after my in-laws visited for >2 weeks.  No other props.  We always try to keep A time low key because she's easily overstimulated, but I almost feel bad that I don't let her enjoy the toys she really seems to enjoy (e.g. exersaucer), but she just gets too keyed up and doesn't sleep well).  We do other things like going out side, etc. to help relax her before bedtime and do nap ritual of walking into rm, adjusting light as needed, turn on white noise, lay her on changing table to put on sleeper and rock in chair for ~2 minutes until more sleep cues come and then place her in crib (with open swaddle under her for after she falls asleep and with wedges under blanket so she cannot roll over).  Then we swaddle her ~15-20 minutes after she falls asleep or else she does 45 minute naps without fail.  FYI-when she takes 2 hours to get to sleep for nap, she doesn't cry the whole time.  She cries, I cpomfort her in the bed and then she starts to smile and play in the bed with me so I tell her night-night and leave again.  She plays alone for a while and then we start all over again.  Is there a better way?  I hear (and agree) that you can't do PU/PD with a happy, smiling baby.  Can't think of any other details to add, but just ask.  What is best?

[* Paula *]

From the looks of what you are saying, it definitely looks like your lo is ready to transition.

Yes you can go cold turkey, but you do need to watch your lo's cues really closely to ensure that she does not get overtired.

If she enjoys stimulating activity, I would be inclided to let her have that in the first hour of her A time and then after that, keep it more low key to help her wind down, so that she is not too stimulated before nap time.

When she starts showing her sleepy cues early, you can take a lower key of A time perhaps sitting in her room quite reading a short story.

If you find that your lo is not quite ready for the 4 hour EASY and that she does get overtired, then you can always transition to the 3.5 hour first and then extend from there.

HTH's

Paula

[Scrapbooker]

We're on our second day of sort of cold turkey.  Yesterday went well, but she took weird naps 1 hour to 1'15" in between 2 hour A times so we still ended up on a 3 hour schedule.  In theory, I would say that means to increase A time, right?-since she's not waking at 45 minutes.  She wakes happily, but always has even after 45 minuters.  This AM, she fell asleep quickly after 2 hours A time (and a good night's sleep) only to wake up after about 15 minutes and we did PU/PD for about an hour and then I fed her and kept her up a bit (awake 4 hours total) and she went to sleep easily for 1.5 hours.  But, on our way home from the store after another almost 2 hour awake time she fell asleep after only being in the car 5 minutes so she must have been way tired, huh?-she doesn't usually do this unless she's really tired.  Trying to decided how long to keep her up-she is "cueless".  Also, she is happy and playful during almost any A time if I keep her busy (low intensity though) but can be a bear to put to bed (naturally) if she is overtired so I want to be careful.

[* Paula *]

If you think that she is getting overtired, it might be worth trying the 3.5 hour EASY and then extending to the 4 once she has adjusted to this.

[Scrapbooker]

So far she doesn't "seem" overtired, but she'd stay up forever if I'd let her.  So far we rae doing kind of a 3.5-4 hour easy.  Today she stayed up for 2 hrs before the first nap and was up almost three hours before the 2nd one without blinking a lash (seeming overtired).  Just never sure of what to do, but she seems happier and I am less of a nut trying to get her to sleep (when she probably just wasn't tired).  I was so afraid she was getting overtired!  My fear blinded me to the real situation, I think-I sound crazy right? (don't need to answer that)

Laura

[* Paula *]

I am pleased that today went better for you.  Keep us posted on how you get on.