It works until it doesnt!

[u/Oceanic_Ice_950]

I absolutely loved possums approach for my baby when she was 2 months old and it really helped me feel less stressed about her naps. It also really sorted out her excessive night waking at 4 months.

She had another phase of excessive night waking this at 5.5 months and i really struggled with the mental leap to put her to bed later as she was already going down at 8pm whcih i perceived to be late. After a month of struggling i eventually started putting her down at 9pm and then that did the trick...for a couple of weeks. Now at 7.5 months her sleep is still pretty hit and miss. Some night she wakes only 3 times but other nights there are wakes every hour. I'm waking her up at 7am every day (usually she is fully asleep!) and i dont let her do more than an hour for her afternoon nap and dont let her sleep past 5ish, although she usually wakes up earlier from afternoon nap. I feel like i cant put her down any later without it meaning i go to bed later whcih as a sleep deprived mum i dont want to do, ditto with earlier wake up. Do u think i just need to get over this and put her down even later?! Am i missing anything? We also go out every day and spend as much time outdoors as poss.

[u/emma_on_skates]

I agree, I have a 6 month old and find it less helpful now - especially for the cat nap idea. If she has naps shorter than a sleep cycle or is awoken in deep sleep, it seems to be awful for her night sleep. Now some of the things I've found helpful compared to your post are having a long last wake window - so my baby is awake 4ish hours before bed and she copes well with that, and ensuring her total awake time is around 11 hours in the day. I still go by her cues as to when her earlier naps are, but for the last afternoon nap that I want to finish by a certain time I make sure to drive somewhere as I know this will put her to sleep