Dropping Catnap help!

[Irish0028]

Hi-
 I have posted here before on dropping the catnap and came to the conclusion it wasn't time to drop it since my son did not have 3 hour A time yet - he only had 2 hour A time in the morning and then 2.5 for the afternoons. Now he is 7 months old and A time is increasing more and more and his catnap is getting later and later in the day. He can go 2.5 in the morning and then in the afternoon I am trying to find the sweetspot- 2.75 I get a short nap and today I tried 3.0 and got a short nap but got him to fall back asleep next to me on the bed.

In 16 days we are set to leave on a 5 day trip- my first time leaving my baby! My in-laws are coming to take care of him. They have never taken care of him before and no nothing abou this routine. I am having them come up one week before we go to learn his routine! I know they will do great, but I have a feeling they will look at the routine I have written down for my son and laugh and think it's too regimined. For some reason I think they will be fine with putting him down for two naps a day but I have this feeling they will laugh and think that three naps is absurd. They have a tendency to play and play with him anyway and not pay strong attention to nap times since usually I have to pull my son away and say, "it's his nap time now."
 So, I am wondering if I should try to make this transition before our trip. Yesterday I tried it to see how it went and it seemed to go well- but he woke up at 5am and was ready for the day- but I then got him to sleep on the spare bed next to me until 6:50! Here is how it went yesterday and so far today:

Sunday-
7:45 wake-up (slept in a bit)
10:15- 11:45 nap 1
2:30-3 nap 2 (woke up early)
3:15-4 nap 2(got him to go back to bed on the spare bed)
7- bedtime
5am EW (got him to sleep on spare bed next to me)
7am wake-up

Monday (so far)
7am wake-up
9:30-11 nap 1
2:00-4:00 nap 2
7 bedtime
I will see what time he wakes up in the morning

Anyway- I feel like I could spend the next 16 days before we go working on this new schedule so that the catnap is dropped and just tell them that if he has a bad nap day and it is more than 3 hours from last nap to bedtime- they need to give him a catnap and hopefully they will do it.
I was just hoping to get some advice on if I am headed the right direction or if I should just stick with my old routine until we get home!!! Here is my old routine:

7am wake-up
9:15/9:30-11/11:30 nap 1
1:30/2-3/3:30 nap 2
5:30-6 catnap
8/8:15 bedtime
7am wake-up

[becky1969]

I would stick with whatever gives him the most sleep.  Trying to push him into a routine where the cat nap gets dropped simply won't work if he's not ready.  All he'll do is short nap from being OT, and then you'll get EWs because he's OT at bedtime.

If the 'old' routine still works -- where he sleeps 2 hours for nap 1 and 1.5 for nap 2 -- then I'd stay there!! Don't fix what ain't broken!

You're just going to have to 'let go' of what happens while you're away.  The only thing that matters is that they feed and love him.  THEY will pay the price of an OT bub, not you! LOL!  When you get home it may take 2-3 days to unravel whatever OT cycle he's in, but as long as you get him back on an A time regimen that works for him it shouldn't be too hard to do.  Besides, just the disruption fo having mommy & daddy gone will be enough to sort of send him into a bit of a tailspin sleep wise.  Fortunately they have VERY short memories!    So 3 days after you're back, he'll have forgetten that you ever left! 


just do what works now, offer some rough guides for GPs, but then just GO AND HAVE FUN!!!!! Your son will have a wonderful time with 2 loving people, and you can just laugh to yourself when they're up all night with an OT bub! 

[Irish0028]

Thank you for your thoughts. I think I am going back to the old routine that includes the catnap b/c lastnight he had horrible sleep- was up at 2, 3, 4. I think I felt like it was maybe time b/c the past two days the 2.5 A time I was getting short naps but I think 3 is too much. I will try 2.75 today and see what I get.

You are right, I have to let go what happens when I am gone. They can chose to stick towards my guide or do their own thing but they will learn the hard way. I do feel bad for leaving for this long- we planned this so long ago- but I will go and have fun and know that he will be in great hands. I will be prepared to clean up some OT after I get back and just dedicate a few days to "him and me" time. I am glad they have short memories- I will have a hard enough time wondering if he misses us so if he is still bent out of shape for long when I get back would be really, really tough! I know the first day will be hard, the second will get easier, the third I will be having fun and then it's almost time to come back.

Thanks again for the support!

[becky1969]

   It's never easy to leave our babies! But a little R&R with your DH sounds fun.  Enjoy it!

[Irish0028]

So, I have gone back to the old routine with the catnap and the NWs are horrible- he is up every hour and hard to settle back to sleep. It seems like he's wide awake and not tired. Now I feel like it's because I messed w/ his schedule. SHall I try w/o the catnap again, or maybe push to a 3 hour A time? I am not sure what his pm A time is anymore because 2.5 recently has been giving me short naps. His morning one he only makes it like 2.15 hours or so. Thanks, I am trying to figure this out before our trip!

[becky1969]

Most LOs are doing about 3 hours at this age. It's the time that most drop that cat nap as well.  He's 7 months, right?

They show sleepy signs out of habit, so I'd just slowly push him until you get to 3 hours.  That should fix those naps and stop the NWs.  Although, multiple NWs can also be teeth.  So watch for those signs, and medicate if you see them!

[Irish0028]

Yes, he is 7 months and one week now. I think the NWs might have been because he just starting scooting backwards and several of those wakings I would find him up on all fours in his crib stuck- I think he needed to practice at night. The last two nights have been better w/ NWs but this morning he woke at 5:45 and wouldn't go to bed lastnight until past 8:00. He gets in the crib at night and wants to play- so I have a very active boy. I ordered darker shades so the room is darker and now I sit with him until his eyes are almost closing before I set him down in the crib. If I set him in there awake he will roll over and crawl to the end of the bed and not want to sleep!
Today I pushed the A time and we got really good naps- the last one ended at 4pm so we should be perfectly set for no catnap....hopefully this will be a trend. Wish me luck.
Yes, I will watch for teething signs too- good call.

[Irish0028]

I also meant to ask you about his morning A time. I have been playing with it for the past 10 days or so to find the right "sweet spot." He used to be a 9am guy for nap 1 (with waking at 7 for the day.) I have been increasing slowly and I hit it right on Saturday but then forgot if it was 9:30 or 9:40 b/c the clock in his room is 10 mins fast and then I couldn't remember the "real" time he went down at and I got a 1.45 min nap! Today I tried 9:30 and he woke up 1 hour later- so do you think that's an UT nap and I should try 9:45 tomorrow? I am really good at finding ways to get him back to sleep but I know when the in-laws are here they will think the 1 hour is a great nap and then probably not put him to bed earlier that night due to the shorter day...so I'd love to be able to tell them- 9:45 or what not. Let me know if you think the 1 hour is an UT nap. Thanks!!

[becky1969]

Yes, I'd say a 1 hour nap is UT.  At this age, 3 hours is more the norm so I'd really expect him to be ready for a nap at around 10.  I suspect if you continue to slowly push him, you might find he really likes that 10:00 nap!

A 5:45 waking with an 8 pm bedtime is OT.  I suspect your BT timing is off because LO is either OT and therefore really playful, or UT and really playful ( ), so why don't we work on BT timing.  That might help.

[Irish0028]

Awesome, thanks for the tips. I will work on BT! Yesterday he had two of those hour naps- so UT sounds like so I had to give him a catnap from 5:30-6 but he did good with a 7:30 bedtime. Today we had a 6:30am wake- which is a good solid 11 hours at least (much better than 8-5:45! So, I will push for the 3 hour A time- with the 6:30 wake time it will be more like 9:30 then..hopefully I can get the two naps to work out today instead of three! Thanks for the support! I will get this figured out~

[becky1969]

GL! Feel free to check back in if you're having some problems pushing -- we'll work it thru together.