Hello there,
My almost 8 month old lo has been on a 4 hour routine since she was 6 months. It was tough to get her there but so great once we did! She had 2 hr A time and took 2 great 2 hour naps with 1 catnap. She also went down for naps very quickly and quietly with sitting in a chair until she was drowsy and then putting her down. She just recently at 7 months started sleeping through the night (for the most part). She is in daycare 4 days a week where they do not follow her routine, but she always went right back to it on the days she was home.
Now, she is shortening her naps to 1 hr 15 min-1 hr 30 min, but can't seem to increase her A time. She wakes up from her naps talking and playing so I can't extend them, but then quickly acts tired again. I even leave her in her crib until close to her full nap time but she will not go back to sleep. At daycare, she stays awake longer because she's too busy or no one is available to put her down to sleep until later, but that does not usually end up with good naps. Her routine before was wake at 630, nap 830-1030, nap 1230-230 and 430-515 with bedtime at 730. She is also still on 5 bf a day with solids 3 times a day (want to keep 5 feeds for now). She is also crying hard before her naps and fights going down. I've tried putting her down later, but that doesn't work either. She is going through a lot of developmental things now too: getting up into sitting by herself, crawling, and one tooth just came through. Her short naps have been going on for a couple of weeks now.
This is what her days at home are starting to look like
wake 630
E 630 bf then solids
A 630-830
S 830-1000 (sometimes shorter)
A 1000-1215 (try to get her to her normal naptime of 1230 but does not always work)
S 1215-145 (sometime only an hour)
E 145 then solids
A 145-400 (if possible. if not then she'll go down for a nap at 330 or 345 and sleep until 5 or 515)
S 400-500 or 330-500/515 (tends to be her longest nap of 1 hr 30-1 hr 45 if she has 2 shorter naps)
E 500/515 bf then solids
A 630 bath
E 700 feed and in bed by 730.
On daycare days, she wakes at 600, takes 2-3 naps of varying length, and then takes a catnap from 515-600 on the way home, in bed by 730. She was taking 2 long naps at daycare too, but that has changed recently.
What should I be doing to get her back on track? What should her A time be at almost 8 months? I was hoping we were moving toward just 2 naps on days we're home ( she really needs that catnap on daycare days) but I feel like we're going backwards.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
