Longer A period

[Sugarmama]

Hi there,
Josie is 19 weeks. Do you start manually trying to extend awake periods, or does that just happen on its own when she's ready to eliminate the catnap and stay awake longer prior to the a.m. and p.m. naps?
Thanks!

[KathrynK]

Josie will show you signs when she is ready for more A time- usually she will take longer and longer to fall asleep when you put her down for a nap, and if she is really not tired at all she might well cry to tell you she is not happy! When you start to see these, you can can extend her A time gradually.
What's your routine look like at the moment?

[Sugarmama]

I'm assuming she'll gradually extend A time, right--little by little, it gets longer, and the naps all start later, too? Does her catnap disappear all at once or do we let her have 20 min., 15, etc?

Josie's routine:
7--up and bottle and play (She's usually got the paci now because she's awakened earlier and we've given it to her to extend her wake time--she is usually already awake and just sucking at this point; it's hard also to get her to take more than 4 oz. at any feed including 7 a.m. feed, although this and her last bottle of the day--at 6:30 or so--are by far her best ones)

9-11 a.m. nap (She's still swaddled--very spirited!--and is fussy before going down. I try to catch her cues and get her swaddled up, but regardless she always seems a bit fussy. But she will usually wind down to sleep in 5-10 min.  Currently am rocking her to light sleep before putting her in crib. She rouses when put in crib but goes back down. Need to eliminate the rocking and am trying to shorten amount before crib. Am scared to do so--when she gets riled up in there can be a while to get her back down, but need to do so--right? She might need help a few times--anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes of help [our help is putting our hands on her chest and feet--she fought pat/shush and also pu/pd seems not to be more efficient than hands on her] to extend the nap to two hours; usually needs nap help after first 50 min. of nap)

11 a.m. wake and bottle and play

1-3 p.m. nap (same nap notes as above)

3 wake and bottle and play

5 catnap of 30-45 min.

VERY FUSSY FROM HERE ON UNTIL BEDTIME

6:30 last bottle of day, taken only if rocked until sleepy, intermittently with pacifier breaks until finished, swaddled, rocked until light sleep, in bed by 7:20-8; will only "let" Mom put to sleep--the least amount of fussing; usually wakes two or three times briefly when we put our hands on her and she's normally asleep for at least seven hours until 3 a.m. or later when we give pacifier to extend sleep until 7 a.m.

[KathrynK]

hi there
you're right, most babies gradually extend their A time so the naps start a bit later. Dropping the catnap can be a bit of a juggling act- you'll know when she is ready to drop it because her other naps will be that much later, you can't actually fit the catnap in to the day and stil have some time before bed! Sounds like she is a way off yet- we didn't drop it till almost 8 months. Don't be anxious to push it, she will give you all the cues you need when she is ready.
Many lo's need nap help to extend past 45 mins but sounds like it is working for you. The importan thing is to be consistent at each nap and eventually she should grow out of it and start napping longer on her own- most do.
The fussiness between catnap and bedtime is also very common. FOr many babies this  actually needs to be the shortest period of A time of the day, as they are simply knackered by the end of the day and can't take any more. I would perhaps try an earlier bedtime, say 7.30 asleep instead of 8.