40min naps in my 7month old

[Kelly Sam's Mum]

I am not sure why my DS is not making it through his transitions during his naps, both afternoon and morning. Here is my current routine for my 7month old:
7am bf
8am 2-3tbls of fruit and porridge
10 nap
11.30 bf
12pm food and yogurt
2.30 nap
4.00 bf
5 solids and yogurt
6.40 bathtime
7.00 bf and bed
10.30 df (bottle)
3-5am DS wakes for bf

His schedule for the most part seems to work well and he goes down for his naps straightforwardly with a bit of mantra cry and then off to dreamland but he consistently wakes after one nap cycle and refuses to go back to sleep. When he occasionally goes through and sleeps for 1.5hrs he wakes with a smile and is ready for the next A session, however when he wakes after 40 mins he is crying and unhappy in the cot. I ususally try to comfort him and he will either refuse to settle or will turn his head and return to sleep and we get through 10-15mins of jolts and then that last one wakes him and and he screams and I can't seem to soothe him out of it and we can be there for the remaining 40mins with him upset. If I take him out of the room or raise the blinds I usually get a big smile. When we go back to the room or close the blinds he starts crying again. I am not sure what to do. Is he UT, OT or is this a bad habit which needs breaking?

He needs the sleep as his A time is 2.75 - 3 hrs at the moment and if he doesn't get a long nap at some point in the day bed time gets brought forward and then he wakes early.

Any thoughts?
Kelly

[Shiv52]

Hi Kelly

Your routine looks good. 

That wakening at 40 mins and being unhappy and crying makes me think he is OT.  A time at 7 months can be anywhere from 2.45-3 hours.  Have you tried making the first A time 2.45 and see does that help the nap?

Early bedtimes here always meant EWs so I tended to AP a CN if I had two rubbish naps and get through to a normal bedtime.  My LO never made up for lost day sleep in the night (unfortunately!!!), just always woke 11.5 hours later! And then we were stuck with a really long day the next day.  But it depends on the LO.   I always tended to keep bedtime fairly consistent for this reason.  Am I right in assuming your LO is the same or does he make up for lost sleep and have a longer night?

Any thing else going on?  Any developmental leaps....standing, rolling etc?  Any teething? 

{{{hugs}}}

[momtokennedy]

My DD is 9.5 months and I recently found that she can only really do 2 to 2.5hrs during her first A. Usually, if I take her up and start her nap routine the minute I see her first eye rub, it is 2 hrs sometimes even less, and then she'll sleep for sure for 1.5 hrs. If she is OT it's 45 min on the minute. I would try shortening the first A time.

I try to go by her cues rather than the clock but if she hasn't napped well and she is losing it earlier in the evenings, I'll put her to bed early too. For her it doesn't affect her morning waking, she always gets up early (5:00am BF then try for another hr) even if I put her to bed late.

Good luck.

[Kelly Sam's Mum]

Thanks for both of those replies and I think it is a bit of what you have suggested. I think he is just starting to roll and sit up at the same time, which is probably the source of some of his fussiness. He was ok on up to 3 hrs A time in the morning but now he this seems to have reduced to more like 2.5hrs. Not sure why but I have revisited my nap wind down and bringing this about 15mins earlier has really helped and less mantra cry if any.  He isn't teething, we know what that is like.
Early bedtime does mean EW and it is usually 11.5hrs for my DS as well, so definitely keen to keep to the routine. I think the second nap issues might be UT,especially physically so I am trying to be more active with his play, like swimming and active playing and hope that this combination with sort the two naps out and he can be the happy DS for longer parts of the day.
Thanks
Kelly

[Shiv52]

Sounds like a plan Kelly!! 

We'd a nightmare with learning to pull to standing and it made naps and bed no fun at all but it did pass.  She just was too busy practising to sleep. 

Keep us posted on how you are getting on x

[*Ali*]

Have you tried wake to sleep? It worked for us at about 4mo I think but could work for you too if he is consitently waking at 40 mins.

[Kelly Sam's Mum]

I think my DS has been going through a change, as he is now able to sit up and roll over consistently and as part of this, he has decided that he need less A time in the morning and can take more in the afternoon. I have also changed my nap WD and this has helped loads. He now usually takes a 40min nap in the morning unless he didn't sleep well and then it is more like 1.20-1.30mins and likes a 1.20-1.30 min nap in the afternoon more consistently, even in nursery. He is occasionally taking a catnap if he needs it and hasn't slept well in the day.

I think I needed to write it down to assess the change that was taking place. Thanks. He is very much 'too busy to sleep' sometimes and I am just going with it and giving him a catnap if he is struggling with longer naps.

I haven't really persevered with the wake to sleep. I always end up waking him, he is a light sleeper when he wants to get up. I usually try to keep activity low key during naptime, so he doesn't get too OT. He is also teething at the moment which can interupt his naps.

Kelly