Oh no! I'm finding myself drawn to GF....

[Tissy]

My dd is 6 months old, waking only once at night (thanks to Elizabeth Pantley- a huge improvement!) for a 10- 15 minute feed. She is however a nightmare to settle if she gets overtired, and this seems to coincide with the days that she's had a long morning nap (sometimes 3 hours) and either a very short afternoon nap, or none at all. I'm seriously considering asking nursery to wake her up if she sleeps for more than an hour in the morning, in the hope that she'll nap for longer in the afternoon, and be easier to settle at bedtime. BUT I'm worried that she'll then not nap for any longer and be even more tired. Any comments/ suggestions?

You could try GF, Tissy. Buy the book and read it THOROUGHLY and try it. If it doesn't work, give it away.

Tissy I have never read GF so only know what I have read on the discussions on this board. However what you are suggesting sounds like plain common sense. I would certainly give it a trial for perhaps a week and see what happens. DS is 17 months and naps once a day but on days that nap starts to stretch too much past 2 hours I wake him up so he will be tired at bedtime. Your DD needs 2 naps so you are only suggesting the same thing. Although in our case this has never been a problem with DS at nursery - we're lucky if he has an hour total.

If you DD sleeps too long in the AM she is unlikely to sleep in the afternoon.... as Enid said, read Gina Ford and find out if it would be helpful. I second the word THOROUGHLY from Enid.

In a nutshell you will find GF telling you that your DD is over tired because she is not sleeping enough in the afternoon. You can't expect a 6 months old to stay awake much more than 2 to 3 hours without feeling tired. And yu probably won't fix it in a day... so what ever you decide, give it sometime to work.

Good luck

I think Pupuce is suggesting GF will suggest what you have already worked out for yourself Tissy. So you can either have a go at it yourself or read GF and take her approach. You will probably find at least some success either way IMO. But good luck anyway!

Thanks, all of you. My post was typed in a hurry, and I should elaborate...

I have the book and read it twice. My baby however refused to sleep feed or do anything else according to schedule, and I abandoned it in favour of letting her do her own thing for a while! Now she's a little older and a bit more biddable, has a good bedtime and morning routine, but nursery is chaos!! She sleeps sometimes for hours at a time and sometimes several little bursts. For example, today she had 3 naps of about 40 mins, 2 in the morning, and one early pm. She wasn't however over-tired at bedtime, in spite of waking at 5.30 am (OK so maybe the am routine isn't great yet...). Maybe she can get by on 3 tiny naps, but I'd like to see a bit more of a daytime routine, hence the idea of going back to GF for another try. Anyone else have a baby who never settled into a routine at all during the day?

I think DS was about 6 months (maybe a bit younger) when he got a 2 nap daytime routine sorted. However it never really worked at nursery. But it was only 3 days so we coped/adapted. Sometimes though he was so tired when he got home at 5.45 that he had to have 1/2 hour in the cot to see him through to bed at 7.45 which used to bug me because I wanted to spend that time with him. Sorry I keep jumping in with replies - I'll stand back and let someone else air their views.

Hi, Tissy. Our dd is 5 mo and is still in nothing like a routine. In the last week she has woken for her first feed at any time between 5 and 10.30 a.m., has awoken for tea between 4 and 8 and bedtime has been anytime between 11 p.m. and 2a.m. Like you, we'd had a look at GF but dd was having none of it but I'd been thinking of giving it a go again. Once dd goes to sleep she sleeps through unless her tummy is sore, so I think it's just a matter of shifting everything backwards a bit. I'd be interested to know how you get on. The Pantley book has been v. helpful in getting dd to sleep, it's now just a matter of getting her to do it at regular times!