Ugh- 30 minute naps!

[lesorl]

I'm desperate for help and/or incite into my almost 7 month old's naps (or lack thereof).

Here's her routine:

Wake about 6:30am-7am
E 7am-:7:30am
A- til 8:10am
S- 8:30 ish (about 30 minutes, 37 if lucky)
A- until 10:45am
E- 10:45am
S- 11:45am-12:15pm
A- til 2:45pm
E- 2:45pm
S- 3:45pm- 4:15pm
A- until 6pm

Then bottle/bath/ bed.

She's always asleep by 7pm, and sleeps through the night, so I guess it's an overtired and/or Activity time problem.  I've tried putting her down both early and later, and have had only mild success with the first nap for 2 days (nap of about 1 hour 20 minutes and 1 hour 30 minutes).  On those extended nap days, I put her down after 1 hour 20 minutes awake time, but the 2nd nap each day was again 30 minutes.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Leslie, desperate for some Y time

[debo620]

sorry your post has gone unanswered.

at 7months of age---I would bet your daughter needs more activity time before the first nap, she should be having 2x1.5-2hrs naps and should be close to dropping the later afternoon nap

so try:
wake 6:30
nap 9:30-11
nap 2-3:30
catnap 30min at 5:00pm---she may drop this soon
bed 7/7:30
 

[lesorl]

thanks for responding... should i ignore her tired cues, and go by the clock?  For instance, this morning about 1 hour and 25 minutes after she woke, she was rubbing her eyes.  I put her in her crib at 1 hour 55 minutes, it took her 20 minutes to fall asleep, and she slept 40 minutes.

[debo620]

well I think that you should slowly push her A times a bit past her tired cues. they definately give tired cues at the times they are used to sleeping. so maybe try adding 15min at a time to see if it helps, until you are at 2hrs and then 2.5hrs or so. 3hrs in the morning may be too much now that I think about it. maybe 2.5 first thing would be better.

[lesorl]

ok, so here's how today went...put down 2 hours 5 minutes after waking for first nap, and slept 35 minutes.  Put down 2 hours 25 minutes after first nap, and slept 45 minutes.  Put down 3 hours aftern 2nd nap and slept 40 minutes.

What does it mean?  Overtired or undertired?  I can't seem to find the magic nap formula.  At 7 months, I thought we'd have some kind of schedule down.

[debo620]

sorry I should have clarified, try 2hrs 15min or so before the first. if the nap is only 40min then her next A time will be shorter---because the nap is short, so the second nap was likely from OT.

Have you tried PUPD to extend her naps?
those 40min naps ca become quite habitual and they need to get used to sleeping for longer then 40min, if ykwim

[lesorl]

I've tried PU/PD to extend her naps, but it seems once she's up, she's up.  She's a spirited baby, but her naps have always been erratic- usually 30-40 minutes, then 80-90 minutes every few days.  I can never predict when she'll take a decent nap, and after a month's worth of nap data, I still can't figure out why she sleeps longer occasionally. 

I've also tried W2S, and applying pressure before the jolt, but neither seems to work. 

It also seems like if I try to put her down before it's "time" for a nap, she fights it.  She will only take 3 naps a day, no more- so even if she needs more than 3 naps, even if they're each 38 minutes, she won't take another one. 

[debo620]

so is she waking happy after a 40min nap?
can you leave her be in her crib when she wakes and see if she'll go back to sleep on her own.

PUPD will only work if they were tired enough in the first place,
so now that you have extended her A times to 2.25hrs, then maybe its time to give PUPD a go, she may be tired enough to go back to sleep.
my son is aslo spririted, hated PUPD, but it did work.