7 month old is waking up to 2hr in night

[lucyjeffery]

I have a 7 month old son,he started waking in the night about a month ago,and soon realised he was having too much sleep in the day,so as soon as we corrected that,he stopped waking in the nights,but then he started to wake really early,and I was advised on here to try an earlier bed time,which worked a treat,he was going 6.45-7ish.BUT the last 2 nights he's been waking around 2-3am for nearly 2 hours.HELP. Is he getting too Much sleep in the day again? Total naps 2hrs 45min in the day,asleep by 6.50pm-7pm.what shield I do in the night when he wakes?   

[amayzie]

Can you post your EASY so we can see what it's up to? It may be that it;s time to extend the A time again...

[lucyjeffery]

Awake & bottle @ 7am
Breakfast @ 8 am
40min nap @ 9.30ish
Lunch @ 11.30
1.5-2hr nap @ 12.30
Bottle @ 2.30-3 pm
If he had short nap @ lunch,he will then have 30 min nap @ 4ish
5pm dinner
6pm bath and bottle
Asleep by 6.50-7pm
Last 2 nights he has woke around 2-3ish for 1.5-2hrs

[amayzie]

I reckon push up the A times- that first one seems a bit short and the 40 minute nap is probably an UT one. He'll then have less time till BT in the afternoon.

Also- is he only on 3 bottles? I'm pretty sure they are best on 4 bottles till closer to 9 months.. Do you feed him at the night waking?

[Bex09]

Totally agree with Katy, she has given great advice. I would only add about 10 or 15 mins A time every few days though until you are nearer the 3hr mark. You don't want LO getting OT. 

[lucyjeffery]

He dropped the 4th bottle on his own, & is more keen on his food. I'm bring really silly, i don't know the abbreviations,so do I make the first nap longer? Do u think he's not getting enough sleep in the day ? What bed time do u think is best ? Sorry I'm being really awkward. X   

[amayzie]

ha ha- sorry!! No need to feel awkward- i forget that if you're only new here you're still trying to get your head around it!!

So- I guess i'm suggesting that he needs more Awake/activity time in the morning as the 40 minute nap means that he's undertired (UT), or not tired enough to have a longer nap. That then means that your 2nd nap ends earlier and means that you have to have the cat nap. I find that even if you don't have more actual time asleep with a short AM nap and a cat nap in the afternoon, there's something about going to sleep that many times that makes it too much sleep... (does that make sense?). Generally i find (and it sounds like you have in the past too) that if you extend how long he's awake for the naps look after themselves- and he'll have a longer one

Basically i always find that the long night wakings, and early waking are signs that they need more a time, and at this point/age for your guy that means dropping the cat nap every day.

Bed time (BT) is fine at around 7 (give or take). As you work to drop the cat nap every day you might have some days where you end up having a longer period in the afternoon from the end of the 2nd nap till bed. On those days you can bring bed time earlier- I would bring it forward by half an hour or so- to mean that he has not too much time.

Does That make sense? So the general suggestion- Extend the A times by about 10-15 minutes each couple of days, and try to get rid of the Cat nap. Here's some links:

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.msg476652#msg476652

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64837.0

and this is a thread fr discussion and support with other mums trying to drop the cat nap also-

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=220768.135

Does that all make some sense? Usually Night wakings like that are due to needing to adjust the routines in the day.

[lucyjeffery]

Thanks, I do kind of get what ur saying. But most days he only has 2 naps, so should I try to drop the first one? And let him have just one big nap at lunch time?

[amayzie]

No- he's too young for that i think- he'll end up really really tired!! I'd just extend the A times through the day, it should help to tire him out. Also- what are you doing when he wakes up? Feeding him? Is he happy? If he's happy try to just leave him play in the cot- if you go in to try to settle him it'll probably indicate to him that it's play time!! There not much that's more annoying than a baby at 4am wit a face that says 'yay!! Mummy's here to play!!"

[lucyjeffery]

Ok,thank u. We was out all day yesterday,and because of being in and out of the car,and visiting people,he only mansged to get 30mins nap in the morning,15 mins lunch time,and about an hour at 3.45 (naps) and he went through till 6am this morning  Ideally he should have the bigger nap at lunch time,is that right? When he woke in the night,I'd leave him for 30mins because he'd b happy just chating to him self,then id change his nappy, give him some water and leave the room,he would cry for a while then go back to chating to himself,although one of the night he was really crying and my husband had to go in and give him a cuddle .I've not fed him in the night for ages. I'm out and about for the next few days so he'll probably only get 3 short'ish naps in the days.how long does he need to have in for his naps,and what sort of times

[amayzie]

It's really hard to get decent naps out and about- so don't panic too much, just see if you can schedule n a couple of days at home for him to catch up after- You aim for 2 naps of at least 1.5 hours. If you have a longer nap in the am or pm (We have a long am nap, i like to know it's 'in the bank') then you could have a shorter nap of say 40 mins in the afternoon. 1.5 hours is a restorative nap, any less than that and it's not really restorative. A cat nap is really just to tide them over till bed time if you get what i mean...

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=85134.0

These are some average times for ages- they are AVERAGE times, so don't panic if you're a little either way...

[lucyjeffery]

Thank u so much for all ur advise,think I was worrying bout it too much. Thanks again. X