8.5 month old

[hayley66]

Okay so I had early wakings, cracked it for over a week and now back to ew again arghhh!!
I don't know what to do with the naps. BW says two equal naps where as so many other people say cap first nap and encourage a long second. At the mo we get two 1hr 20's. This was working for the week and the only thing I can think of tthat changed before ew  came back was slowly I began having to wake him from naps (both were hitting 1hr30/1hr40) as was sleeping over 3 hours and statred waking playing in the night.

He can easily do a 3.5 hour activity and think if I push it more I would get longer than 1hr20.

So how do you play with naps? I had one day amongst early wakings when he had an awful am nap, woke after 30 mins. I kept him awake for 3.5 hours still, he slept two hours and slept 12 hours till 7am. Worried it's a fluke and if I delib wake him after 30 mins them he has a bad second nap it's going to be awful

Any wisdom?

[snowbird]

Hi Hayley, can't help you unfortunately, but thought you might get more eyes on it if we bump it up! Can't remember much about LJ's naps back then - nearly 4 now! I do know how hard it is though. Had many an EW problem and BW is the best place to be to sort it out xxx

[Buttonbobs]

Hi there, I spotted your other post. We do try and get to everyone within a day of something being posted, I'm sorry you felt we'd missed you. This site is "staffed" by volunteers, parents who have come here and found a safe and supportive place to get help and give help to others. I hope you find it helpful

Would you be able to post how your days are going at the moment, could you post a day on EAS format, a bit like:

WU and E: 7am
Solids: 8am
S: 10.30am-12
E: 12.30 followed by solids an hour later...etc

I hope we can help x

[hayley66]

Okay sorry for the delay.
Normal day is
Wake 5.45/6ish
Leave playing in cot till 6.30 but often wakes house up
Milk 6.45
Solids 8.30
Nap 9.30-10.40
Lunch 11.30
Milk 1.30
Nap 2.10-3.30ish
Milk when wake
Tea 5.30
Milk 6.45
Door closed by 7

We had a day yesterday where I think he woke earlier than 5.45 and I didn't know as put him down too late and he only did 30 min mirn nap. Put him down for second nap 30 mins earlier and he slept 2 hours but woke stupidly early again today, I think he does prefer two equal naps.

I'm having issues though as I'm not sure how best to stop early wakings. Somebody said limit the first nap. Also I have an older child and I'm finding myself being stuck in the house  all arvo and by the time he wakes theres no point going out/ now the clocks have gone forward I'm trying to move everything half an hour later to help with the early mornings but he won't wake up then till 4pm or later if he wakes later.

I'm also wondering what to do going forward eg how would I expect naps to change as he gets older/ is it normal to cap one nap anyway? Morning one I often wake him from but wondering if its cos he's catching up on night sleep in it. Any advice appreciated

[Buttonbobs]

To stop early morning wakings, you cap naps, but you can also make the nap later. So you could move it later by 15 mins every three days or so (to give LO the chance to adjust). The idea is that the mornings after a while will follow the later times. It won't happen immediately but is worth persevering with.

I would say happy playing in the cot in the mornings is more likely to be an undertired WU rather than an OT baby, so this supports the idea of moving the nap later and possibly capping a nap too if that helps.

What about keeping a long morning nap (aiming for more than 1.5 hours so it's properly restorative. Then you could cap the pm nap if needed, which will help you get out and about more in the afternoons. If this suits you, then keep pushing that mornings nap later until you get a full nap of more than 1.5 hours.

As time passes you will be capping one nap eventually anyway to keep night time a reasonable length, and so BT doesn't get too late. This 2-1 nap transition can be tricky as each LO will come at it a different way, and it is a case of working out what is best for you, but do try and keep one of the naps longer than 1.5 hours and cap the other.

Have a look here for some more advice:
From 2 to 1 nap transition (10-12m and older)

Don't be scared off by the average age of 10-12 months mentioned in the title, you're probably at the beginning of this rather than bear the nap dropping end, but worth a look anyway

[hayley66]

Okay what I am worried about is moving nap later then his second nap is too late. He does seem shattered by bed so by capping the second nap and not the first I'm worried if I could make it worse. He naturally wants to sleep longer in the morning though. Do u know how much nap time an average 9 month old should have I wonder? Thanks for your help

[Buttonbobs]

He will probably seem shattered by BT as the two naps being this long and an early WU means possibly no properly restorative naps during the day and he is more tired by BT. Sometimes the way out of this OT (caused by UT) is counterintuitive, so you have to push through a but to get to more sleep. It's like the day sleep is robbing the night sleep but the night sleep is short enough as a result that he may leave him more tired.

I wouldn't worth too much about a later afternoon nap leaving him more UT for sleep. This is why the shorter nap is a god idea. But if you feel more comfortable with a shorter am nap, longer pm nap then go for that.

Here is a link to average sleep time:

Typical Amounts of Day and Night Sleep

There is a lot of variation at this age though, so please bear in mind the average is just that