I need to tweak this schedule, but I'm not sure how

KathrynMD

I pick DD up from daycare between 6-6:30 and she goes to bed between 7-7:30.  Her naps at daycare SUCK (somedays she takes 3 naps of less than an hour TOTAL) so she is exhausted by the time I pick her up - already rubbing her eyes poor baby.  Depending on her, we play for awhile and then will get ready for bath/bottle/bed.  If she has actually had a decent nap and isn't already bone tired, we will try to eat some solids before bed.  She's STTN, but only until 5 or 5:30 and she's hungry then, but still tired.  My original plan when I went back to work was that I would get up at 5ish, get myself ready, get her up at 6:15ish, feed her, get her dressed and then she's out the door w/ DH by 7.  But, now that she's getting up so early, I really don't have time to get ready and typically I'm with her from 5:00 until 6:45 when DH is up and out of the shower.  (I'm eating breakfast and doing my normal morning futzing around though)

The thing is though, she needs more sleep and on the weekends, she's still waking up around 5 or so, but she's back asleep by 7 or 7:30 for at least an hour, sometimes 2.  During the week, she's getting to daycare just around that 2 hour mark of being ready for her nap, that she's missing that window and then I think she's sort of blown it for the day.

Should I let her fuss it out in her room for awhile in the morning?  Should I try to dream feed before I go to bed around 11 so she'll sleep longer on her own?  Should I just feed her in her room at 5:15 and then put her back in her crib for another hour?

duchess0727

I would try to feed her quickly at 5 or 5:15 with the lights off and put her right back to sleep in the crib- that is what I would do when my son was her age - and then wake her right before daycare.  Then get yourself ready while she goes back to sleep.  It might take a little time for her to get used to it but hopefully that will work and give her the extra hour and a half of sleep she needs.  As she gets a little older, hopefully she will start sleeping a little longer (that's what happened with us) and then you can stop feeding her that early and just let her wake up naturally closer to 7.  Good luck!

carrie4g

Is she falling asleep in the car ride home from daycare? I recommend putting her down for a quick 30 minute nap when you get home. Wake her up at 7 pm for some play time, food and then back to bed at 8/8:30 pm. Then, I'd try to push back everything during the day. This weekend start by pushing back the 7 a.m. nap to 10 a.m. as much as you can (or whatever hour she would nap at day care). i'd try to look creatively at the schedule to see where you can move things but generally pushing everything back should have her sleep in a little later. I'm a big fan of the evening nap. I know some moms don't like to do it but I find that he's mad when I wake him up but then is pleasant for the evening and goes back to bed an hour later without a problem.

myduchess

My son is a little younger than yours, but he sometimes gets up before 7 - on those mornings, I nurse him and put him straight back to sleep. I try not to wake up the baby until about 15 minutes before we actually leave the house. Change the diaper and go - his bags are packed the night before, and he can change into "day" clothes at the day care.

One thing we've done - which is hard - is to minimize the amount of playtime during the week. It totally sucks. He comes home, and I immediately put him down for a quick nap - 30 min - while I get dinner ready for the toddler. And as soon as he wakes up, it's a quick infant massage/song time, bath, and bed. It's the only way we've been able to get enough sleep for him since he gets a total of 1.5 hours of naps (across three naps) at the day care.

 We make up the playtime on weekends.

costfords

At this age when I picked dd up, we would go home so she could take a nap while I made dinner.  We would eat, then she would wake up.  We would feed her, play, then do our bed time routine.  She would sleep from about 9/9:30 until 7 everyday.  You might want to try letting her nap when she gets home and see if is helps move her bed time back a little so she wakes up later.

azuremama

At that age, I would hope that he fell asleep in the car on the way home, or I'd lay him down for a little while (like 30 minutes) after we got home so that we could spend a little time together before bed without him freaking out because he was so tired.

Will she nurse and go back down at 5?  That'd be what I'd try.  The dreamfeed never helped us much, especially for sleeping late.  You could try to let her fuss, but DS never seemed to fall back asleep when he was hungry.

katy75

We had the exact same issue when my DD was your DD's age.  We did what pretty much everyone else is saying. 

When she got up to eat at 5ish, I'd feed her in her room and put her right back in her crib and most of the time she went back to sleep. 

DD would also sleep VERY little at daycare.  If she was tired when we got home, she went down for a nap while DH and I ate dinner.  Then I'd get her up and feed her, do the bath if she wasn't miserable, and put her down about an hour/hour and a half after I got her up.  We'd let her sleep from 30 min - 45 minutes when we got home and that would usually do the trick.

GL!  It's a frustrating stage. 

KathrynMD

Thanks all - I have tried the evening nap - its only worked once. 

I'll try getting up and feeding her immediately around 5 and see if that helps.

I really appreciate how helpful everyone is here btw!