Help with A time for 8 month old

[Mamamateo]

Hello all!

My LO will be 8 month old this weekend and it seems to me that his A time reeeally needs adjusting. Here's what a typical day looks like:

E: 7am - Wake a BF
E: 7:30 - Solids
S: 8:30 - 10:30
E: 11am - BF
E: 11:30 - Solids
S: 12:30 - 2:30
E: 3pm - BF
S (sometimes): 4:30 - CN (increasingly difficult, only slept about 10 mins the past 2 days)
E: 6pm - BF
E: 6:30 - Solids
S: Between 7:15 and 7:45 (after bath, story, song)

So basically, his A times in length are: 1.5 hrs, 2hrs, 5hrs?

Each time I've put him down (at 8:30 and 12:30) I've done so because he was sending obvious tired signs (eye rubbing, yawning, fussy, acting quiet). At first, I thought it was possibly boredom, but since he goes out like a light when I put him down, I figure he must be tired, no? We've had this routine for the past couple of months, so is it possible he's going down out of habit?

He's showing signs of wanting to drop the CN, but I feel like there's no way he can last until BT. If I do put him down earlier (say, 6:30 or 7) he'll babble away in his crib and/or wake at 5am the next day. So extending his A time would be a logical answer to the problem, but as mentioned above, he act really tired.

I've also noticed that he's been waking earlier than usual for the past few days. Is this another sign that his routine needs tweaking?

Any suggestions?

Many thanks!

[RachelC]

Popping this to the EASY forum.  You are right on though.  At this age most babies have A time of at least 3 hours and have dropped the catnap.

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=84884.0

Most likely he is stuck at the current A time, but also why he is fighting the CN and bedtime and waking early.  It may be tough going, but I would start tacking on some A time ASAP, maybe 15 minutes at a time for 3 days.

HTH

[ZacsMumme]

Hi hun

It looks like your Lo is in a bit of an UT/OT loop. As Rachel mentions most LOs can cope with at least 3hrs A time first up at this age.

So basically, his A times in length are: 1.5 hrs, 2hrs, 5hrs?

With your day less balanced your LO will be UT in the morning, and then OT by BT. The OT leads to shorter nights and then LO tacks on the night with that first nap.

It can be a bit of a pain to stretch some LOs but as Rachel says try to increase that A time as much as you can first up (without LO being super tired) and then after that maybe try 15min increments every 3-5 days until you hit 3 hours.

If you get a good first AM nap then I would do the same for the PM nap - your day will start to look like this
WU 7
A 2.5 (work up to 3)
Nap 9.30-11.30
A 3
Nap 2.30-4
A 3 - work up to 3.5
BT 7

4 hrs day sleep is also quite a lot at 8 months, but certainly not too much if your LO needs it. Keep an eye on it and if you find your LOs nights start to get shorter than 10.5hrs then you may have to start capping one nap at 3.5hrs

HTH

[Mamamateo]

Urgh... Confused!

So I've been adding 15mins of A time for the past three days and he's doesn't seem to mind much. The problem is that instead of waking slightly later, he'll still wake at his usual time. Therefore, regardless of how 'late' I keep him up, the latest he'll wake from his last nap is 2:30-3pm. I'm still stuck with the too-long A time before BT. Since 1.5hrs naps aren't a huge deal, how should I react? I've tried resettling him, but he's ready to roll and there's no way I can get him back down.

He has been getting up progressively earlier for the past couple of days... But is 6:20am too early? I think we've been lucky to have him sleep in till 7am on most mornings.

Also, when he wakes at 2:30pm and shows massive signs of tiredness, should I let him have a CN or should I put him to bed earlier?

Thanks for all your advice!

[ZacsMumme]

Cn you post you day yesterday Hun? If your getting good 1.5 hr naps he is well rested, and if BT is 7.30ish and WU 6.30 that's a good night.

[Mamamateo]

Thanks for the feedback, ZacsMumme!

Here's what yesterday looked like:

6:45am - WU
A: 2.2hrs
S: 8:45am - 10:55am
A: 2hrs-ish
S: 12:45pm - 2:30pm (had trouble keeping him awake, started showing tired signs at 12:30)
A: 2.5hrs (by 5pm his was screaming banshee-baby, so...)
CN: 5pm - 5:30 (out like a light)
BT: 7:30pm (went down without a fuss, up the next morning at 6:50am)

Am I on the right track? Should CN be avoided when trying to 'recondition' him? Let me know if you need more info.
 

[ZacsMumme]

Your A times are too short if you can get yourLO A times 3 hrs apart (he should cope fine at this age) then you can drop the CN ie
WU 6.45
Nap 9.45-11.15
Nap 2.15-3.45
BT 7.15 or abit shorter if yor LO needs it.

At this age he doesn't need the CN and he may be giving you these tired signs from other things ieboredom, overstimulation,reding a change of scene, hungry etc. also they do get 'used' to sleeping at certain times too.

Once begets to 3 hrs he may need even more A time

[RachelC]

You are on the right track. It will take time for his body to adjust to the longer A times. Hang in there!

[Mamamateo]

Sounds good!

I'll keep on tacking 15mins to his A time every few days until we get to 3hrs.

[ZacsMumme]

sounds good Let us know how you get on x

[Mamamateo]

Hello all!

Things are going...strangely?

Here's what the schedule looks like (for now):

WU: 7am
S: 9:30am to 11am-ish
A: 2.5 hrs
S: 1:30-ish- 2:45-ish
BT: 7pm

As you can see, I've been able to keep him up from 7am to 9:30am which isn't so bad. What I have noticed, is that his nap times are sometimes all over the map. He used to be a really good 2hr sleeper per nap, but now he can wake much earlier or much later. He can sometimes sleep for 3hrs in the morning, and only 1hr in the afternoon.

For the afternoons, were looking at another 2.5hrs before nap, but I've found that he really won't sleep very much. More often than not, I'll hear him babbling in his crib an hour later. It's sort of frustrating that he's cutting down on his nap time while I'm trying to extend his A time. Even thought I've added an extra half hour to each of his A times, he's still waking from his last nap close to 2:30-3pm which isn't helping with having balanced A times throughout the day.

Another thing: When I put him down this morning, he didn't look tired in the least (he'd been up since 6:45, and it was 9:30). I figured I didn't want to jar him into a new schedule, so I put him down anyways at 9:30. Next time this happens (not showing any sleep cues), should I try going for the 3hr A time? 

I'm also starting to think that his temperament his hindering my ability to figure out how much time he's been up. I've gone up to his room at the 2hr nap mark and found him having a grand old time rolling around with his blanket and paci. God knows how long that was going on. Short of putting up a video camera, I'm not sure how I can accurately know what his WU is.

Thanks!

[RachelC]

He's probably ready for 3 hours of A time    8 - 10 month averages are 3-4 hours of A time.

How is his demeanor?  Is he happy?  Sleeping through the night?

[Mamamateo]

His WU seems to be getting a little more consistent since we've tried extending his A time. He'd been getting up closer to 6am for the pas few weeks which was out of the ordinary.

I honestly don't know what's best for him anymore in terms of his schedule. He USED to be perfectly happy, but since I've tried extending his A time, it's been hit and miss. He's been sometimes waking early from his afternoon naps (after the 1h mark, or earlier) which makes him super cranky and, as mentioned above, we've still haven't seen any progress with cutting down on the 5hr A time before BT. I can get him thru without a CN, but holy moly, it ain't pretty by the time we hit BT. Angel baby no more.

He's also super inconsistent with the A time. As mentioned, yesterday he could have stayed up until 10am easily. This morning, he fell asleep at 8:45 during our morning walk. His WU times were the same and there was no reason for him to be hyper yesterday, and exhausted today. Weird.

Since trying to extend his A time, his whole schedule has become a disaster and I'm getting a little discouraged... :-(

[ZacsMumme]

His WU seems to be getting a little more consistent since we've tried extending his A time. He'd been getting up closer to 6am for the pas few weeks which was out of the ordinary.

This morning, he fell asleep at 8:45 during our morning walk.

I personally found buggys and cars do strange things to LOs sleep. Z will drift off in the car when I know he isn't tired. I started having to keep him awake or be home during those weak moments...or encourage him to stay awake with snacks or a drink.

Can you post today (or yesterdays EASY)

[Mamamateo]

I personally found buggys and cars do strange things to LOs sleep.

He was in an infant carrier and he usually never sleeps in it. That why I thought I'd would be 'safe' to head out with him in it.

Here's what yesterday looked like (I figured I'd just let him be, let me know if/when I should have intervened if necessary)

WU: 7am
A: 7am - 8:45 (passed out in infant carrier; had trouble keeping eyes open when I transferred him to his crib)
S: 8:45 to 9:30am (woke up crying, got him back to sleep)
S: 9:45am to 11am
A: 11h to 1pm
S: 1pm to 2pm (woke howling, got him back to sleep)
S: 2:10pm to 4pm
BT: 7:30pm (woke at 8:30pm, resettled on his own)

So basically, were looking at almost 2.25 hrs of sleep in the morning, and almost 3hrs in the afternoon??? Isn't this a bit much for a child his age? Thankfully, since he was up so late in the day after his second nap, there was no drama until BT.

Since he's older now, should 1h naps be ok? When he does wake at the 1hr mark, I'll resettle based on the length of time he's been down and/or if he wakes crying.

Please let me know what you think.