My 1st post! How long is too long when it comes to naps?

[adam*n*ryansmommy]

Ryan is a big napper!  He wasn't when he was smaller but now will sleep 2+ hrs in the am and 1-2 hours in the pm!  I am not complaining but I do have a question or two.  Today, for his am nap, I let him sleep for 2.5 hours (still had to wake him) but then his pm nap was broken and miserable.  Possibly due to OT.  He ended up with a catnap to make it through till bedtime.  Here is what today looked like:
6:50am wakeup and nurse
8am breakfast
9am small nursing (one side)
9:30 nap for 2.5 hrs
12pm wakeup and nurse
1pm lunch
2:45 nap for 30 minutes
4pm nurse
4:30 nap for 1 hour- I woke him
6pm dinner
8:30 bedtime

I should mention that Ryan has always been on the low end of A timeframes for his age.  We have only recently (this week) been able to push him to 2.75 hours, and that is only once a day.  That may have been the issue this afternoon.  Before bedtime, we can usually push him to 3 hours, but only if the pm nap was 1.5 hours or longer.  Up until a month ago he couldn't go longer than 2 hours for A time.  I find that he sleeps better at night when he doesn't have the catnap and that he sleeps better in the pm if the am nap is not more than 2 hours.  Trouble is that if I wake him in the am and then the pm nap is short, we end up with a catnap.  But if I let him sleep in the am, he will go for upwards of 3 hours!  But then the pm nap is usally short anyway.  Kinda like robbing Peter to pay Paul. Does that make sense?  Should I wake him in the am in order to keep the schedule?  How long is a good nap at this age?  Thanks in advance!!!!!

[marensmama]

Hi there and welcome to the BW community!!  I think most naps shouldn't be longer than 2 hours or it will start to interfere with his night's sleep (unless the LO is OT or unwell, in which case I let them sleep as long as they need to).  Most babies at this age have dropped the catnap, but that's once they can do 3 hours of A time consistently and it sounds like he's not there yet.  I would limit his naps to 2 hours, move his bedtime up to 7:00 and see how he does, gently pushing him towards the 3 hours of A time.  You do want to get rid of the catnap eventually, and he's almost there.

[adam*n*ryansmommy]

Thanks for the reply Nicole!  I should have mentioned off the bat that DS is 8 months old.  He needs a lot of sleep, always has.  Total opposite of his older brother.  Adam was doing 3.5 hours awake at this age and was down to two naps at 7 months.  He was the king of 45 min naps but always woke up happy.  Not Ryan.  Today, he is defintely OT... He was up three times in the night (twice for over an hour!) and had an EW.  His first nap was at usual time but was super short.  I knew I should have put him down sooner since he was yawning an hour after waking.  I stupidly waited and ended up with a short nap.  Good thing was that he went down 45 min later and slept for an hour.  His pm nap was 2.25 hours so I thought we were back on track.  But tonight he was beside himself at bedtime and wouldn't even nurse AT ALL.  He went to sleep eventually but I know we are in for a very rough night.  My mission tomorrow is to get him out of OT.  I will put him down as soon as he seems tired, no matter the time.  here was our day:
6:50 wakeup
9am nap, a little earlier than usual but obviously not early enough!
9:30 wakeup, miserable
10:15 nap
11:15 wakeup, happy
1:30 nap
3:50 wakeup (2.25 hrs!)
6pm dinner, got fussy so I decided to take him up to bed
6:15 tried to nurse him, no go.  Tried to rock him, no go.  Cried and cried then passed out at:
6:50 bedtime

I know he will be up soon, especially since he skipped his bedtime nursing.  It has been an hour and a half, so we are so far better than last night.  I have no hope for sleep tonight.  Stupid me, should have known better.  Tomorrow, we focus on naps and getting out of OT. 

Thanks for listening, if you're still with me 

[marensmama]

Sounds like a rough night last night, hopefully tonight won't be the same.  As far as tomorrow goes, I think you have a good plan in place.  If he's that OT, I'd let him sleep as much as he can, and yes, get him down at the first signs of tiredness.  I'd even do that for a few days, and after a well-rested day or two, really pay attention to how much A time he can handle before getting tired.  If he's always been the type to need more sleep, then you'll need to know what he can handle as opposed to other LOs his age.  Sometimes if I felt like I was completely out of synch with what the routine 'should' be, I'd take a step back and let Hayden take the lead, going by her cues, regardless of how much sense it made (Maren was a textbook babe, so it was like she came with a manual... Spirited/touchy Hayden needed me to figure it all out for her).  Eventually we always caught up with where we 'should' be, but we weren't fighting it every step of the way IYKWIM.

Another thought, is he teething atm?  Skipping feeds, fussiness, NWs all point in that direction, maybe it's a bit of OT combined with that?

Let me know how you make out. 

[adam*n*ryansmommy]

Ohhhhh, I'm so tired.  He was up twice at 11:10 and 3:10.  Trouble is each time was for 1hr+.  At 3:10, he was awake until 4:50.  I got 4 hours sleep, in two 2 hr blocks.  And he was up at 7am, which is good considering his bedtime but not considering the NWs.  I am watching his every signal to get him down for his nap, and hopefully I can get a nap too.

[marensmama]

Ugh!  Rough night.  Is he upset when he's up or is he just not ready to go back to sleep?  If it's the latter, I wonder if he actually needs more A time in the day so he's not feeling the need for it at night.