11 Month Old Not Settling at Night... Nap too close to bedtime?

[cookie cookie]

My DS has been a great napper and nightime sleeper since day one but now all of a sudden he is giving me trouble settling at night. I always was able to just give him a bottle of milk, a cuddle and kiss, then lay him down and leave and he would go to sleep but lately he has me going in to him several times to soothe him and sometimes it will be an hour or even longer to settle him. I'm wondering if anyone can give me advice as to how much activity time should be between the last nap and bedtime? I can't seem to remember this from when DD was this age. His pm nap usually ends around 3:30pm and bedtime has always been 7:30pm. Is four hours not enough activity time at his age? Last night I let him stay up until 8:30pm and he still fussed although not as long... was asleep by 9pm. Tonight I tried to settle him for 7pm and he settled at 8:15pm with lots of fussing, crying, and me going in. He will be 12 months in two weeks and he's been showing signs of starting the transition from 2 to 1 nap. He's skipped his pm nap a few times. Most days he has two really great naps from 1 1/2 to 2 hours each. Perhaps it's time to start shortening the morning nap a bit to take an earlier pm nap so that bedtime stays around 7:30 to 8pm? I'm confused to whether he's getting overtired at bedtime or just isn't tired enough. He was rubbing his eyes and acting fussy at 6:40pm tonight so that is why I tried for the earlier bedtime but that backfired. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks.

[Noah's mum]

Hi! I'm definitely not an expert but might be able to offer something from my recent experiences with my one year old. He always took a good (two hour) morning nap and a half-hearted afternoon nap (which resulted in OT if it was too late and also poor nighttime sleep). But recently I started putting him down a bit later for his morning sleep and slowly but surely he's transitioned to the one sleep a day. Now he goes to sleep at 10am and sleeps through until 1pm and then manages to get through until bedtime at 7:30. He's definitely ready for bed by the time 7 o'clock rolls around but by having one really long solid midday sleep, his nighttime sleep has really settled down. Maybe try pushing his morning nap back and see how you go. Of course, you would probably want to do it in 15 increments each day so you don't result in a cranky OT baby on your hands! I hope it all works out!!!!

[marensmama]

It's possible that he's going through some SA right now, or maybe getting some 1 year molars?  3.5 to 4.5 hours of A time is the average for babies his age, so I would think that his nap time and bed time aren't too close together.  The other thing to think about is a longer wind-down.  At this age, my older DD required more than the 3 songs and a kiss before bed, we added a couple of books and that helped her make the transition.  She had several bouts of SA between 1 and 2, so that's always a thought.  You could try wi/wo if the behavior continues after you make adjustments to your wind-down.  I found some info on the toddler sleep board
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=80750.msg696517#msg696517

HTH!

[cookie cookie]

Thanks for the replies ladies. I think the A time between last nap and bedtime seems to be okay. I think possibly SA might be the problem combined with maybe needing a longer wind down. I have been doing wi/wo with him and it is working but he still fusses a lot and cries but I keep reassuring him and he is finally able to settle himself most of the time. Tonight was not too good though. He had a late nap this afternoon until 4pm so I aimed for an 8pm bedtime. We did our routine and wind down and he did some fussing but then some playing. He seemed to be not tired at all. He played for almost 40 minutes then started fussing again. Of course he's also at the age where he throws his blanky out of the crib and then cries the instant it hits the floor.  He was finally starting to settle at 9pm but that's when his sister had to go to bed (they share a room and she had a nap today too therefore a late bedtime for her... that's another story! ) Once we took DD into the room to tuck her in DS shot right up again from his mattress and started to fuss and cry again. In the end we gave him a second bottle of milk and he drank it all and fell asleep drinking it... which is a rare thing since we've always put him to bed awake. He is definitely showing signs of SA though these past couple of weeks so perhaps that is most of the problem right there. I will continue the wi/wo with him as it does seem to be working most nights. I just miss how it was before where I'd tuck him in and he'd roll over and snuggle his blanky and go to sleep. I hate hearing him cry. He's been an angel baby from the start so I guess I was spoiled!  Anyway, I had to LOL about the 1 year molars. The poor little guy doesn't have one tooth yet. That perhaps is another thing that might be going on. He is ready to cut his first tooth. I can see the white bump just heaping on his little gum but it has not split the skin yet. I bet it is bothering him too. I have tried some Tylenol a few nights and it seemed to help. I'm sure it's a combination of things but I'm glad to know that his A time seems okay. Thanks so much for the help. I will keep trying to help him settle with wi/wo and I think I'll start to add some books to his wind down as well. DD was having book time before bed long before 12 months so I think it is high time we start with DS! Thanks again.