Naps gone overnight- 6.5 mth old

[jennfl]

Just a quick note.  When our naps went weird (even weirder than normal), since our LO was a chronic 30 min napper, it took a good couple of weeks of tweeking the times, experimenting, and then sticking with some consistency before we got back on track.  Just stay calm and keep at it.  You will get it figured out.  And then........I'm guessing after a short time our LOs will switch it up again on us.  Good times!!!

[*Kara*]

For sure a 30 min nap can be UT!  It's rare but mine does it

[creations]

Hi Hayley
I see you posted on the EASY board.  To keep all the info in one place I suggest we continue here.
Could you post a couple of days EAS times for us to look at please, plus any pertinent notes like waking happily or crying/cranky and if you were able to resettle to extend a short nap.
It would be really useful to see your full day.
Hang in there xx

[hayley66]

I love you. Truely I do! We have had two 1hr 30 min morning naps with 2hr 45 activity the past two days. We're still in a pattern where she does 30-40 min second naps so she catnaps for 20 mins at 4.45 to get her through to a 6.45ish bedtime. Until we stretch her lunch nap I'll still give this nap and maybe push bed a little later by 15 mins or so to make sure she's tired. Would you do that? I'm just really worried about EW.

I put her down at 2hr45 today for her second nap and she fussed and played for 30 mins in her cot so A time was 3hr15. She woke quite happy after 30 mins but was very tired an hour later. I'm surprised she took so long to go to sleep but we were at my mums in a strange cot so I think we'll stick with 2hr 45 and increase if needs be. I presume I can expect 2hr45 to be a reasonable A time after a 1.5 hr first nap?

I see a glimmer of hope :-)))

[hayley66]

Sorry that mail was to 'creations' for her advice. I didn't see the other posts before I posted. Thanks for everybody for their support. I will keep tweaking and stay to this board. I think it's just frustration that she is now waking earlier too at the mo and every 30 min nap u think well there's another one we didn't get quite right!! :-))  I'm really not neurotic honestly!! xx

[*Kara*]

I'm really not neurotic honestly!!

LOL!  No worries hun

I would maybe push her second A time closer to 3 hrs to see if that will lengthen her second nap out for you... The 2 hrs 45 after a 1.5 hr nap is maybe a touch too little for her... The 30 min nap after a 3 hr 15 min A time was too much... try in the middle for a couple of days and see where it gets you

[creations]

I would maybe push her second A time closer to 3 hrs to see if that will lengthen her second nap out for you...

totally agree, good plan.

xx

[mamatea4]

This post doesn't deal directly with the short naps, but I wanted to offer my own support here especially with regard to feeling cooped up in the house with baby all day.  My oldest daughter quit taking CN on the go at 6 months and only slept well in her crib.  Now DD2 at 5 months is already doing the same.  Given that I have two LO's 20 months apart, there is no way I could stay home without going crazy! 

Here is my strategy:  I do something every other day so that on the in between days the naps are good at home.  And if DD2 is not feeling well or needs extra sleep I make that sacrifice.  For instance -- Monday, stay home & stick to routine giving LO's time to recover from busy weekend; Tuesday, run errands (only in the a.m., I find that the later the day gets, the more tired & OS my girls are); Wednesday, stay home & stick to routine; etc.

Weekends are trickier since hubby is home plus we have church activities.  So I put girls down for BT 1/2 earlier night before as well as every night of weekend.  And again try to keep activities limited to a.m. before lunch.  Then if DD2 won't nap on the go, I let her have a 45 min CN when we get home at noon (while DD1 eats lunch) then I make DD2 stay up for 30-45 min while I get DD1 ready for her afternoon nap.  At that point, I lay DD2 back down & both girls sleep for about 2 1/2 hours.  I nurse baby 1/2 hr later in the afternoon to allow for that slightly longer nap.  And then a 40 min CN two hours later.  I find that the baby then only misses about 1/2 hr of her normal sleep out of a 24 hour period.  Plus it's nice to have both girls take a nap at the same time so I can get a little rest too.

All the other posts about OS/UT/OT - right on target.  I hope their information has helped you.

Oh, BTW  at about 6 months babies start to sleep alot deeper, especially at night, but for naps too, so as long as you invest that time tweaking their routine on the days you stay home, it will get much better!

[hayley66]

Hi guys, a quick update! We have the 1.5 hour nap back in the morning (woo hooooo!!!), def working on the 3hr A time. The lunch nap is always cutting short at 1hr. I've tried pushing her on A time by 15 mins but she gets OT. Anything less and she only does around 45 mins. 3hr we get a 1hr nap. Could it just be some babies dont want long second naps? I cant seem to stretch her. I am happy with this routine though as she doesn't seem exhausted like she was.

The problem is that shes sometimes going from 2.15 until 6.30/6.45 for bed time. She only seems to need 11 hours sleep at night and Im worried that if I put her down earlier at say 6 she'll wake at 5am! Shes currently waking at 6am, I would love it to be later though. Do you think as Im getting 2.5 hours sleep during day and 11 hours at night I should leave things as they are and call it victory, or is there anymore tweaking I can do to try and get the later wake up? Im wondering if it is cos she is OT when she goes down (shes asleep within a minute) that shes awake like clockwork at 6am, but then maybe she just does not need anymore sleep. I would love her to wake at 6.30/7 but cant see how to tweak it to get her to bed later to get up later...

You guys have been so so helpful to me in my hours of need so any advice would be welcomed once again! I know this doesnt seem like a big problem and it isnt compared to where we were before (thanku guys!!) but it would be bliss to be in bed that bit later :-))

[creations]

We have the 1.5 hour nap back in the morning

Yay!

Thanks for the update, it's great to hear the morning nap is back on track   So happy for you.

I've tried pushing her on A time by 15 mins but she gets OT.

What is it that makes you think OT?
It would really help if that nap was longer because it is leaving a super long A to BT.

I would try the EBT at 6pm because some LOs DO tag on lost sleep.  Mine didn't at that age though
If you try for a couple of days you'll see if she wakes earlier in the morning or at her usual time.  The really odd thing about tagging on sleep is that sometimes they go to bed earlier and wake up LATER in the morning.  I know it doesn't sound logical.  Even waking at the same 6am would be good as she'd get an hour more sleep at the start of the night.

I would love her to wake at 6.30/7 but cant see how to tweak it to get her to bed later to get up later...

When you work this out please post full instructions, there are so many of us who would love a later start to the day
At that age I used to almost jump with joy if the morning WU was closer to 6 than 5.  We didn't get later mornings until he moved to one nap around 12 months.  I still wait for the magical day when I can say he sleeps to 7am everyday - he just doesn't - but the 11 to 12 hr nights we get now are far better than the 10.5 we used to get.

Seriously though.  I HAVE managed to move DS on an hour for day light savings time change.  But it doesn't equal more sleep only a later bed time and everything in the day has to come later.  Shifting all the E's by 10 to 15 mins per day is a good way to guide LO that a nap will come later and then bed later and morning later etc.  I would say it took me 7-10 days for the full shift.  But I only ever managed it for the time change.