8 MO - starting to drop a nap??

[Mama2C]

My DS is just over 8 months. For the past week his naps have been off. He has been getting teeth and it has affected his night sleep a bit but I am just not sure what is happening with his naps.

Here is our regular EASY

7:00 E Wake and BF
7:30: A and solids
10:30-12 Nap
12:00 E wake and BF
12:30 A and solids
3:15-4:45 Nap
4:45 E wake and BF
5: A and solids
7:45-8 bed (wakes twice to BF at night, different times)

But on Thursday he skipped his afternoon nap entirely. Friday was a normal day and today he again skipped his afternoon nap. He was just not at all tired. On Thursday I gave him an early bed (6:15) which was fine for him. I'll do that again tonight.

Is this teething related? Or is he starting to skip naps? With my daughter I remember her resisting the morning nap when she dropped to one nap but he is resisting the afternoon one...should I be increasing morning A times???

Thanks!

[empowered mama]

hi there,

I would bet that teething may have something to do with it.  However, it wouldn't be out of the question for him to need an increase in A time before the PM nap - have you tried that yet?  If so, then perhaps you could try a slight nap cut but I would aim for a bump in A time first. 

Let us know how things get on

[Mama2C]

I will try that today. When I put him down after 3 hours he just laughs and talks and plays. So I will try to increase his A today. Perhaps 3.5 or 3.75 hours? So, nap at 3:30 or 3:45? I'l try it and let you know. Last night his sleep was awful! He woke up every 2.5-3 hours. Now, could be teething (getting 3 teeth now) but could also be OT...!

[empowered mama]

Hmm....sometimes they do wake in the night because of the need for more A time, believe it or not (though teething certainly is a plausible reason too).  It is really sounding to me like she could use a bit more A time and if that doesn't solve things, then perhaps a nap cut is in order.  Especially if she is just playing around...maybe you could start with 3.25 - 3.5 and see how that works?

[Mama2C]

Today he napped twice, really well.

Woke up at 7:40
Nap 1 at 11-12:25
Nap 2 at 4:10-still sleeping (now 5:20).

He went for his 2nd nap at 4:10 as we had to pick up my daughter from the bus. He seemed to go down really quickly after such a long A time.

What I am now concerned about is his BT...do I just put him down at the regular time (8pm) or keep him up for at least 3hrs of A time...that will make bedtime most likely close to 9!

Last night he was up a couple of times. Once to nurse (really hungry) and the other time just wide awake and took 30 mins of rubbing his back on/off to get him back to sleep. He wasn't crying, just awake!

[empowered mama]

Definitely all signs are pointing to more awake time - the good PM nap, waking at night not crying, etc.  As you are discovering, there are not enough hours in the day to accommodate such long A times and long naps, therefore a nap cut is likely in order to preserve the day to a length of 12-13 hrs. 

What did you end up doing with that last A time?  I may be too late, but I would have suggested giving him enough A time - at least 3 hrs or so - otherwise you may get some more NWs.

Here is a link to some nap cut ideas:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164033.0   I would start with a nap of 1.5 hrs and another of 1 hr to begin. 

Does all that make sense?

[Mama2C]

Thanks I will definitely check that link out.

For his A time I gave him about 3 hrs. He was clearly tired and ready for bed at 8:30 (he had woken up at 5:30). So we'll see what tonight is like.

Thanks so much for your help. DS has always been on the low end of sleep average for his age so I shouldn't be too surprised...

[Mama2C]

So two nights ago he had 5 NW! Last night he had 4 NW!

Yesterday looked like this:
7am: wake
10:30-11:30 nap (I woke him up)
3-3:45 nap (usually he sleeps 1.5hrs)
6:30 put him to bed
8:10 fell asleep
woke up every 2.5-3 hours.

This morning he woke up at 7:30 and I had to put him down at 10:45 as he was exhausted!

So today I am letting him sleep as long as he needs for his AM nap and I will actually see if I can extend his A time between naps (to over 3.5hrs) and have a shorter A time before bed (he used to really like that)....what do you think? I am starting to lose hope he will stop these crazy NWings!