Captain Mongo
Previously the procedure was to recycle the lever once. It was not necessary to wait for actual retraction because the purpose was to change to other LGCIU which happens with lever recycle. Some operators reported slow operation of the main landing gear (MLG) door opening/closing sequence, leading to the generation of ECAM warnings during the landing gear retraction or extension sequence. An EASA directive was issued for maintenance and repetitive inspections of the components involved. That led operational procedure change to the present one as you rightly did. You can read the directive at:
http://www2.lba.de/dokumente/lta/ad1003135.pdf