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Dear Emma,
We started daycare this week which I knew was going to throw off her schedule, so I waited to see how she would do.
At home, we usually do wake up at 7-7:30 at the latest, first nap in the crib (lasts 25-35 minutes max), second and third naps start in the crib and then we extend them by picking her up to ~1.5 hours each to maintain the wake eat play sleep schedule, and then fourth nap is 30-45 minutes until 6:30-6:45. Total naps averaged 4.5 hours. She was still frequently waking in the earlier part of the night.
Since starting daycare, she only does 20-30 minute naps and I can’t imagine they are that restorative – it’s loud and bright all the time. She basically takes 5 cat naps at day care and then we do a 6th one at home which has been from 6:15-6:45pm because she is usually so exhausted when we pick her up. Even after that last she seems so tired and it has been difficult to stretch the last wake window to get her last 2 feeds in. Total naps now falling 2.5-3 hours max and she falls right asleep after being put straight into the crib at 8:45pm. Once she managed to sleep straight through and I actually had to wake her up at 4am to feed her (she often refuses the bottle at daycare so I have to keep nursing her overnight). The other nights she woke completely after 9 minutes or after a full cycle at 45 minutes but was tired enough that I watched her fuss a little for a few minutes and go back to sleep for the remainder of the night until her 3-4am feed. I am of course happy she can sleep well overnight, but she just seems so tired in the evening – all she wants to do is cuddle and won’t play on the mat or anything like that. I wonder if at home on the weekends we should just be letting her do the numerous cat naps and forego the wake eat play sleep schedule or keep extending 1-2 naps but maybe cap her total naps to 3-3.5 hours? Can she still consolidate memory/learning if she only sleeps for 25 minutes at a time during the day?
Thanks,
Joyce