My son is 7.5 months and we are having a hard time with his schedule. He needs less sleep than other babies (13-14 hours we think) but sometimes tries for more. If he gets too much sleep he is up in the night. We try to limit his night sleep to 11-11.5 hours and day sleep to 2.5ish. Right now he goes to bed at 6:30 and wakes at 5:30-6 am or we wake him as he won't nap well on a 12 hour night. If he has a 12 hour night sometimes he naps well in the day and then is awake for the day at 4 am or is up for an hour in the night.
My dilemma is he is still on 3 naps and this means he has one long and 2 short naps. Here is our EASY
5:30-6 wake for the day
8:30 nap 1.5 hours (sometimes only 1 hour 15-20)
12:20 nap of somewhere between 30-40 minutes
3:30 nap of somewhere between 30-40 minutes.
6:30-7 bedtime
He is capable of longer naps but I think he divides his afternoon one up no matter how hard we try. I think unless we eliminate the 3rd nap altogether he will never consolidate these two. If I extend them then he is up in the night as we figure anything over 14 hours is too much sleep for him. Every day he sleeps for a different amount of time in the afternoons so it makes it hard to stick to any schedule. He was been doing this for months, dividing his sleep among his naps.
Any suggestions for an EASY? He can handle 2.5-3 in the am and 3+ at other times. In fact, the other 2 naps are hard to get as he is just not tired enough, and sometimes is not tired enough at bedtime or OT by then from short naps. Could I just try it one day where I don't offer the third nap and try extending the second?
Maybe something like this
5:30-6 am wake
8:30-10 nap
1:30-2:30 nap
6:30 bed