Night sleep/waking early

[Henna21]

i'm not exactly sure which forum this question belongs in-its sort of a night waking/early morning question.

2 nights ago my dd slept from 6:00pm (took her a long time to settle) until 9:45 and then all the way until 2:45 (i don't usually get such a long stretch) and then woke up at 6:00 for the morning which was perfect for me (that way my husband takes her for her morning a time and puts her down for her first nap before he goes to sleep). this was a great night-she only woke up once and then woke up at a good time.
last night however, she also went to sleep around 6:00 pm (went to sleep very easily), i gave her a dream feed at 10:00 p.m. (she woke up when i took her out of her crib), then she woke up at 1:00 am and then at 5:10 am for the day.  this is not good-thats way too early!!
what can i do to so that her nights will look more like what happened 2 nights ago?

as for our routine, we are still working on getting onto a good EASY routine because she doesn't always sleep a full nap (1.5 hours).
2 days ago she slept 2 short naps, 1 long nap and then a cat nap.
Yesterday she had 3 good naps and basically no catnap because she was taking so long to settle which she usually does when its her night sleep but i didn't want her falling asleep for the night at 4:30 so at 5:15 i took her out and fed her and bathed her, etc.
According to the easy for her age i think she is supposed to take 3 long naps and 1 catnap.

What is happening here? Please help me figure this out.

[hatshetsut]

Henna- Can you remind me of your LOs age again?

Kids do work best (at least I find) on a 12 hour plan. So if she is going to bed at 6 she will probably want to wake at 6. Many thing effect what time she wakes, things like being overtired for instance. If your LO is overtired then she will probably wake early (which seems strange, but it is true.). My dd woke at 615 the other day rather than 7 because she is teething. I remember that your LO is small, I just can't remember how small, and I can give more detail when I know her age. Thanks!

[Henna21]

oh sorry-i thought i included that information. she is 13 weeks old.
thank you!

[hatshetsut]

It sounds like things are going pretty well, minus some early wakings. At 13 weeks she should be doing 3 long naps and 1 cat nap. If you are wanting a 6-6 routine it could look something like...

6 wake/eat
715/or 730 - nap
9 wake/eat
1030 - nap
1200 - wake/eat
130 - nap
300 - wake/eat
430 - nap
500 - wake/eat
6 - eat/bed

Around this time some kids do go to a 3.5 hour EASY because they are getting ready to transition to a 4 hour EASY some time around 4 months. If your daughter is taking a long time to settle, or isn't sleeping the full 1.5 hours she may need more A time. I would start to lengthen her A time gradually, say 5-10 minutes or so, every 3-5 days and see how she responds. She also may be waking early because she has had too much day time sleep and isn't tired anymore. If you go to a 3.5 hour EASY it may look something like...

6 wake/eat
745 nap
930 - eat
1115 - nap
1 - eat
145 - nap
330 - eat
445 - nap
515 - wake/eat
615 - eat/bed

HTH!
Holly

[Henna21]

its just the cat nap that she has a hard time settling for.  i dont think she is ready to extend her A time. she barely makes it to 1.5 hours and sometimes she can only go until 1 hr and 15 minutes.  she have really only gotten the right length of naps and the right length of A time maybe 3 days in all. 

in general what are the signs that they are ready to transition to a longer easy?

this morning she also woke up at 5:00am. yesterday she had 2 long naps, one short nap and then for the catnap she didn't settle and didn't really get a good nap.

the way i see it there are a few options to do:
1. when she wakes up at 1:00 am (which she did the 2 days that she woke up for the day at 5:00am) don't feed her but try to put her back to sleep.  (i give her the dream feed around 9:45 so at 1:00 i thought she would be hungry because its been 3 hours since her last feeding. so i fed her. but when she sleeps until 3:00am for a feed then she will sleep for 3 more hours until 6:00.)
2. count the 30-40 minutes of her catnap from when she actually settles down (then the total time the catnap takes - including her settling into a good sleep-might be an hour and a half) and then wake her up
3. let her settle for her catnap and then let her wake up when she wants even if it means that she is going down for the night. ( but then she will be missing some feedings....i guess thats a different issue)

[hatshetsut]

It sounds like you are on the right track. If she continues to wake at 1am regularly it is probably habitual waking and you should try to settle her back to sleep. I also think that you are on the right track with #2.

As to when they are ready to extend their A time.... Usually when they begin refusing to take naps, or the naps go from 1.5 hours down to like 1 hour. They aren't tired enough for a longer nap and more A time is needed.

[Henna21]

If you go to a 3.5 hour EASY it may look something like...

6 wake/eat
745 nap
930 - eat
1115 - nap
1 - eat
145 - nap
330 - eat
445 - nap
515 - wake/eat
615 - eat/bed

is the 3rd A time supposed to be only 45 minutes?

in a 3 hour easy each A time and S time is about 1.5 hours. in a 3.5 easy the A time and S time is supposed to be 1 hour and 45 minutes? i don't think my dd will sleep for that long. she barely sleeps for 1.5 hours.

[hatshetsut]

It can be. Some kids do a short A time with bath and eating then back to bed. Some need longer times there. You can see what yours needs and adjust the bed time.

[Henna21]

i'm talking about the one from 1:00-1:45....

[hatshetsut]

No, I just  can't add. That one should be atleast 1hr 15 min or more. Sorry!