Naps - 8 months and puzzled

[Josiepops]

 Hi there,

My LO is 8 months in just over a week.  Since 5 months he's been a fab napper (40mins before this).  Over the last week his naps have got shorter and shorter and he's taking a long time to settle whereas before it was almost instant.  This was his routine:

E - Bottle 7:30 / Breakfast 8:30
S - 9:30 (2.5/3 hrs)
E - Lunch 13:00 / Bottle just before next nap
S 14:30 (1.5/2.5 hrs)
E - Tea at 5:30
S - 19:30

His awake time was always 2-2:30 hrs.

I've upped the quantity in his meals so he is eating about 160g plus a small pud after lunch and tea but this hasn't helped the naps.  I'm not sure if I should extent his A time as his sleep cues are the same as always after 2-2:30 hrs.  I've re-read the bible (well it is to me) and Tracey mentions that around this time babies are too interested in the world around them to want to nap... so not sure if I should change anything at all and just ride it out.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Jo & Cooper

[~Sara~]

Hello Jo and Cooper

I would say that he's probably UT for his naps and you should push out his A time.  At 8 months, most LOs are doing 3-4h A times (see here: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.0).  I would add 10-15 minutes to his A time every 3 days (so give him 3 days for his body to get used to the new A time before trying more).  If the jump is too much, he will get OT, and that's not fun to clean up.

It's true that he's becoming more aware of his surroundings, but I think this is a simple case of him needing more A time

Also, if you find his days get too long with the increased A time, I would start capping his first nap (maybe to 2h, which is still a very, very nice long nap that will keep him happy).

HTH!