Too much night sleep???

[mommy2mason]

My lo is 5.5 months and his routine is pretty off lately. He's had trouble with 45 min. naps since he was 2 months. I just can't get his naps down and I'm beginning to think that maybe he gets too much night sleep. He currently goes to bed at 6:30pm and sleeps through until he wakes at 7:30am...and sometimes I have to wake him here. He's awake for about 2 hours but then only takes a 30-45 minute nap but wakes up very happy. His next nap is usually 45min-1.5hours. Then his third nap he'll sleep great for...usually 1.5-2 hours. Should I try a later bedtime?? It just seems hard because by 6:30 he's totally ready for bed. The last few days I've just tried following his cues and not watching the clock at all. It's just so weird...yesterday he was totally content being up for 2.5 hours before his 2nd nap...and that was after only a half hour morning nap. I've just really lost all routines lately and need some direction on how to improve! I just wanted to see if anyone else noticed too much night sleep affecting naps because I don't want to focus only on naps if I need to change night sleep instead.
Thanks!

[Peek-a-boo]

Yes, too much night sleep can mess with naps for some LOs.  My LO is not a good napper and if he gets too much night sleep he will refuse naps and then be grumpy.

I think the question is . . . is he happy?  If your LO sleeps 13 hours, and takes nap that seem short compared to other babies, but is happy during his A time, I just wouldn't worry about the short naps, kwim? 

If the short nap are leading to grumpy, unhappy behavior, then I'd consider reducing night time sleep. 

[mommy2mason]

Thanks. He is for the most party very happy during the day. The only problem is that he's not really on an easy as he always has lots of wake time before he eats. I wouldn't mind cutting out some night sleep time and getting a little more day sleep...but he seems to like his night sleep too much that I'd hate to take it away from him! It just seems like he's up ALL the time during the day..which isn't all that bad! Also, the other thing with this routine is that I know they usually drop the catnap sometime soon. He really needs it since his other naps are shorter so I have a feeling we'll hang onto the catnap for quite awhile.

[Grace's Mom]

As my lo got older, the first nap always was shorter and the later one(s) was/were longer.  Not all lo's days look exactly the same so don't worry too much about.

If your lo is sleeping all night long and your lo is happy during then day then I would say things are going well.  If you want your lo to sleep less at night then you can wake him, but if you don't have a problem with it then I wouldn't worry too much about it.

30 minute naps usually = overtired
45 minute naps usually = in need of more A time

The long night time sleep could be causing the shorter naps.  Most los need a certain amount of sleep total during the day and if your lo is getting extra sleep then it's naturally going to take from the day time sleep.  

****I just saw your new post....my lo didn't drop the cat nap until 10.5 months.  It all depends on how long they can stay awake. 

Melissa

[Grace's Mom]

mommy2mason

How are things going with your little man?

Melissa

[mommy2mason]

Thanks for asking Melissa! I don't know where to begin! I went from this post worrying about too much night sleep...then another post worrying about too much DAY sleep! Things are just changing by the day and I just wish we could get on a consistent routine. One day he had great naps- 2 two hour and one 45 minute nap...but when bedtime came he protested majorly and I finally got him down at 9pm. So the next day I thought maybe I should skip the catnap since he had two good naps. Boy was that a challenge. He woke from his last nap and 3 and it was very hard to keep him up until 6:15pm...he was very cranky and fell asleep at his bottle. He doesn't refuse the catnap at all. I just thought I'd try skipping it to see if he would go to bed...which he did, but I don't think i want to continue this because it was so hard on him being so tired. That day after I skipped the catnap, he was very cranky ALL day and rubbed his eyes ALL day, even right after he woke from a nap! He did the exact same thing today...very whiny and rubbing his eyes all day. At first I thought this was because I forced him to skip his catnap, but now I'm beginning to wonder if he's in a growth spurt. He'll be 6 months on Sunday so it possibly could be. He seems to be eating a bit more so I'm hoping that's what it is. Are most babies really cranky during growth spurts?
I guess the most challenging part with our routine right now is his morning nap has been only an hour which throws the day off. His 2nd nap today was 1.5 hour but when he woke it was still 2 hours before he normally eats! So today he had three naps: 9-10am, 12-1:30pm, and 3:45-4:30pm. He went to bed without a peep at 6:30pm. So it's been a little hectic but I'm hoping things will smooth out on their own. I guess right now I'm not going to worry too much since it's all going to get off track as we go to my parents for a week for christmas! Won't this be fun when I get back home!

[Grace's Mom]

Even if your lo takes 2 really good naps, you won't want to cut out the cat nap as it'll make your lo way overtired thus causing a rough night and next day, but what you can do is shorten the cat nap to 30 minutes or 20 minutes, etc.
To be on only 2 naps they need to be able to stay awake at least 3 hours every single A time and that usually doesn't happen until closer to one year (8-11 months).

You can also give your lo slightly shorter naps at the beginning of the day....1.5-1.75 and then a 30 minute cat nap to comepensate, etc. 

I would guess he was cranky those days due to being overtired....it can end up becoming a vicious cycle  which is no fun for baby or mommy. 

I would definitely keep him on 3 naps until his A times increase....no rush.  It will come. 
If he continues on being OT his naps will only shorten less and less which will be no fun. 

Can you post your routine as of this week?  Thanks.

[mommy2mason]

Thanks so much for your advice. I've been really wondering about this catnap thing. I looked through a lot of the 6 month old routines and many of them are awake from 3-7pm which got me thinking maybe he should be able to do that too. Well he's definitely not ready so I'm glad you reminded me that it's just fine for him to hang on to the catnap for a little while yet. Thankfully those cranky days haven't continued! Last night was another night where he didn't go to bed until 9pm though. He woke at 6:45am too! 
We're slowly trying to work out the kinks. I think his bedtime issue is that he needs to be awake longer before he goes to bed...even if he's been up for 1.5 hours and is rubbing his eyes, I'm going to keep him up for 2 hours. It seems when it's too soon that he'll take awhile to fall asleep, then he'll fall asleep for a little bit, then wake up wide awake.
His routine this week was pretty much all over the place so I can't really post it! We've been really busy so I've been slacking a little on writing everything down unfortunately. For example, today we had a 4 hour drive to my parents'. We left a little before his first nap time and he slept for 45 minutes. During his 2nd nap time he only slept for 20! So he was definitely tired when we got here and went down for a 3rd nap at 3:30 and I woke him at 5. He was not a very happy camper either! I know that's long for a 3rd nap but I think he really needed it. He went down fine at 7pm.
For a couple months his nighttime was that he would sleep straight through from 6:30-7:30am. I think I am going to maybe try to aim for more of a 7-7am. I'm just SO thankful that his 45 minute naps magically disappeard for over a week now!! I thought the day would NEVER come!!
Thanks again for the advice. It's always nice to hear from some experienced moms! Now we're here for a week so I'm curious to see how he does. I know he'll get tons of attention but I'll try my best to stick to his routine!

[Grace's Mom]

Yippee for no more 45 minute naps!  How great. 
We had 30 minute naps 3-4 times a day from 6-9 months or so and it drove me bonkers and then one day....gone.
They really do like to keep us guessing. 

Hope things continue on well.  Let us know if we can be of any help down the road.

Melissa

[Grace's Mom]

Mommy3mason

How are the naps going?

-Melissa

[mommy2mason]

Hi Melissa,
Thanks for checking in with me! Things have been going pretty well. It's so nice not to have 45 minute naps. We're still trying to figure out the catnap issue, but it's reassuring to see that others have it for quite awhile still. There were a couple night last week where he didn't want to go to bed, or went to bed and woke after 45 minutes wide awake and content for a couple hours until he wanted to go to sleep. So...yesterday we tried to skip the catnap again. He woke from his nap at 3pm and we kept him up until he pretty much couldn't take it anymore and was in bed at 6:30pm. He slept great but was cranky today and rubbed his eyes all day. I think we'll just stick with the catnap for awhile longer, though I think to get it in I have to wake him from his 2nd nap at 3 so he'll go down at 4:30/4:45ish. Tonight I woke him at 5:15 and he went to bed at 7:15 so we'll see how it goes. I don't get how so many babies can be up from around 3ish until 7-7:30 til bedtime! My little guy just gets so tired! And I really felt bad forcing him to stay up last night which made even bathtime a battle which he usually loves. One of these days I'll figure it out! Or maybe by the time he's 1!

[Grace's Mom]

Not all babies can go from 3-7pm.  Mine wasn't able to go that long until 17/18 months. 
All babies are different and your is right on track!
You are doing great.

Melissa