5 month old A times

[Sarah8019]

Hi all, just hoping for a little advise/ reassurance regarding my A times.

DS is a few days off 5 months.  I've seen that average A times for this age are 2hrs to 2.5hrs.  I know that all babies are different by my DS does seem to have very short A times.  His first of the day is only 1hr 30 minutes ( and even this sometimes results in an OT nap) and the rest are 1 hr and 45 minutes at a push, but he starts getting crabby at least 30 minutes prior to this.

Has anyone else experienced this and if so did you find that your baby naturally extended their own A times or did you really have to try and push them out yourself?

Any advice would be much appreciated 

[*happy*]

DD1 was always on the bottom end of those A times!
DD2 is causing major confusion here re A times so
cant help much,sorry!

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

If he's napping well and sleeping well at night, don't change anything! 

[creations]

and even this sometimes results in an OT nap

How long are the OT naps and what is his mood when he wakes?  Can you resettle him to get him back to sleep at all?

he starts getting crabby at least 30 minutes prior to this.

At 5 months they have more awareness of their surroundings and are interested in more things, the crabbiness may well be a sign he would like a change of environment or activity rather than needing sleep. Have you tried moving to a different room or taking a walk around the house together, looking out of the window, reading a book together?

[Sarah8019]

An overtired nap for DS is 30 minutes but I can nearly always resettle.  He is always in a bad mood when he wakes from naps even if its been a good 2 hour nap, I think he just loves his sleep!

Hmmm, perhaps it is just boredom like you have suggested, he is a very active baby, wont sit still for five minutes, keeping him entertained is difficult to say the least! I think I will try taking him out for walks more often so he can have a good look around and see if that helps!

Thanks for the advice 

[creations]

That OT 30 min nap where you can resettle might actually be UT, not all UT naps are happy wake ups and not all are unable to be re-settled. Mine had a period of UT naps, waking screaming, able to resettle with work, looked typically OT but was UT, an A increase made him good and tired enough to transition on his own, get a better nap and wake later and more rested. I know it kind of goes against how OT and UT naps tend to look but when you take into account the A time being low too, well, changing the scene or toy to prevent boredom and lengthen the A might actually give you a better nap.
It's worth noting too that they can begin to prepare themselves for a nap habitually, so fussing when they know they get a nap as they are getting ready for it.  it can take a few days to get out of that habit into a longer A.

[Sarah8019]

Interesting, I'd never really considered that 30 minute may be undertired.  This morning we started the day at 7, but he had been chattering in his cot since 6.40.  He started to show what I think we're tired signs from 8 ish and was in his crib by 8.25 asleep so he was up for about 1.hr 45.  He then woke after 1hr and 15 minutes and screamed the place down when I tried to resettle.  Is 1hr 15 more likely to be an UT nap then OT nap? I can't seem to quite get things right with his naps at the moment!

[creations]

1hr 15 is a pretty good nap. I prob wouldn't have tried to resettle that one, but instead increased the A the following day another 10 or 15 mins to make him more tired and maybe a longer nap. Ideally 1.5hr or more.

[Sarah8019]

Great, thank you for your help