Please help with pm nap for 10 month old

[Paulsmama]

Hi, everyone here has been so helpful before I could really use some advice about DS's afternoon naps.  He has had difficulty settling the past 5 days and the past two days he woke up crying after 40-45 min and would not settle until I picked him up.  He did go back to sleep within 10 min both times though.  I am not sure whether this is developmental, his schedule needs tweaking, food issue or something else but he has been fussy in the afternoon from lousy naps and I'd love to fix this if possible before it starts affecting night sleep too.  BWSAYP suggests overstimulation but I'm not sure what to do about it?  Any suggestions would be great.

Here's the background. PM naps have been getting progressively shorter since he was 4 mos and have gone from nearly 3 hours to most of the time now 1.5 hrs.  They were shortening more but a few weeks ago I started limiting am nap to get more in the afternoon.  Morning nap and bedtime are ok (for now, knock on wood).

Recent changes:
(1) Developmentally he is working on standing, before he settles for pm nap he is sitting up and crawling all over the crib and getting worked up.  I now have to put a hand on him before he will settle, and stay until he is asleep.
(2) Past two days, refusing spoon at lunchtime and only wants to eat finger foods.  I let him, he doesn't seem to eat much, but the lunch finger foods (puffs, cheerios, avocado, cheese, pasta) are heavier than his purees (veg) -- I am going to buy more fruit/veggies for finger foods.

Here's our routine until the past few days:

7 wake, bottle
8 breakfast
9:30-10:45 nap 1 (90% of the time I wake him)
11:30 bottle
12:30 lunch
1:45-3:15/3:45 nap 2
3:15/3:45 bottle
5/5:15 supper
6:30/6:45 bottle
7/7:30 bed

No change in pre-nap 2 activities except that in general he is crawling farther/faster and getting into more things.  I'd usually put him down for nap 2 around 1:35.  Past 5 days he is not falling asleep for nap 2 until 2:00 or later.  I tried putting him down 10/15 min later and he seemed to have more problems settling.

I would love any thoughts or advice!

[Meg's Mom]

Hi Cynthia, sorry you and your lo are having troubles.

It could very well be developmental - there is a lot going on at this age.  Stay consistent and don't fall on those props to ride it out.

I remember when my LO started the spoon refusal....drove me crazy, but once i accepted it and let her do her thing she came back around.

For your naps - what does your nap wind down look like?  Could be too stimulating.  Also look at what type of activities you are doing in the afternoon.  I always liked stroller walks before naps as it is just the right amount of stimulation.  The fact that he is not settling until 2pm would indicate that he may need his sch tweaked but i would keep the extra time really low key and do it very gradually.

I hope that helps some.

[Paulsmama]

Thanks, that is a good point.  With him eating only finger foods, lunch now takes up to 40 min as opposed to 15 min and I think our wind-down may be getting a bit shortchanged.  It usually does include 10 min in the stroller outside but I didn't manage that the past two days (or today) with lunch running long.  We still do our diaper change, book, cuddle/song (though he doesn't want me to hold him anymore) right before his nap.  I'll try moving lunch a bit earlier to compensate and see if that helps!

[mom2william]

Hi Cynthia,

I noticed your post right away as I have an (almost!) 10 month old as well.  We've been having troubles too with mealtime being so long due to finger foods that it eats (Ha!) right into nap wind down.  Sometimes I just have to cut things off after 45 minutes!  We've also been having some troubles with DS settling for his PM nap.  Sometimes, he acts tired and is tired but will take up to 30 minutes to settle in to sleep.  Maybe it is just a lot of things going on developmentally at this age.  Interested to know how you get on and if you ever want to chat, just let me know! 

Suzanne

__________
William born 3/23/05

[Paulsmama]

Well, he did it again yesterday.  I was going to go in at 35 min and wait to see what was going on but was helping DH with something so I went in closer to 40 min -- he was sitting up in the crib, half awake looking bewildered.  Promptly started crying.  He can definitely get down from sitting on his own so I think he's been overstimulated and then just getting freaked out when he wakes up in a strange position.  I think today in addition to starting lunch earlier I may try being there just to put my hand on him when he stirs?

Suzanne I hope you start having better luck at naptime.  We were actually hoping DS would be born on 3/23 too (my sister's birthday) or 4/4 (father-in-law's birthday and the due date) but we got a St. Patrick's Day baby instead!

[Meg's Mom]

I may try being there just to put my hand on him when he stirs?

  That sounds like a good idea, good luck!

[Paulsmama]

I just wanted to say thank you again.  I moved lunch up to allow additional time, got our stroller walk back in, and no crying at 45 min the past two days (knock on wood).  I was in there just in case and he just tossed a bit but stayed asleep.  He is settling easier though I still have to put a hand on him to calm down and then stay in the room until he's asleep -- he's taking a long time to fall asleep so I think I will start to stretch his activity and plan on a 2 pm nap time, and work on leaving.  Yesterday he only did 1 hr 15 min but today we're at 1 hr 30 min and he's just waking up!

[mom2william]

Hey Cynthia,

Glad things are going better at nap time...I'm jealous!  My DS still likes to wake up crying even after a decent nap of 1 1/2 hours so go figure!!  Glad to hear that keeping things low key is helping.  I'm going to try that as well.  I'm amazed you can go to your DS and settle him during a nap and he'll go back to sleep.  My DS will almost never do that even if he's exhausted! 

Wanted to tell you that my due date was March 17! 

Here's to good naps!!

Suzanne

______________
William born 3/23/05