Early waking 8 month old

[Nickie18]

So, we had short nap issues until we elongated my LO A time. But now we are having early wakings... today it was 5am!
He is a super happy guy most of the time. just finished teething his upper teeth. eating solids for over 4 months.
His nap time a day is 3-3.5 hours, his nighttime sleep has only been like 9.5-10.5 hours. He used to wake early and go back to sleep, but he has not been doing that for the last week, maybe since time change... What to do??

EASY-
day 1-
6am wake (woke at 4am, awake for 45 minutes, then asleep)
6:30- bottle
10:40 bottle
10:50-12:50 nap (woke him)
3:25 bottle
4:10-5:30 nap
7pm bottle
7:30pm bed

day 2-
5:30 wake
6:30 bottle
10:40 nap-12:20pm
12:25- bottle
3:30-6pm nap
7pm- bottle
7:30pm bed

day 3-
woke at 5:15, awake for 30 minutes, back to sleep until 6:30am
6:45- bottle
11-12:20 nap
12:30- bottle
4:10-6pm nap (woke him)
7pm bottle
7:30pm bed

Today- woke at 5am and did not go back to sleep, got him up at 6:15 and fed him.

He is usually just talking and calm when he is awake in bed in the am... We have like 4-5 hour A times as he does do a long nap usually, but wonder if that is too long- scared to shorten it and make his naps shorter... Maybe only one nap?

Any ideas?

[jessmum46]

Maybe only one nap?

He's really much too young for one nap hun - let's see if we can make some adjustments to your EASY instead to get you out of those awful EWs!

I think what's probably happening here is that overall he's probably OT - the A times are almost certainly way too long for him - but then short-term UT at BT because of long late afternoon naps.  Both of these can cause EWs unfortunately   I suspect the reason you're getting what appear to be good length naps on those A times is that he's actually so tired by the time he goes down that he's 'crashing' through sleep cycles.  The fact he is happy most of the time could just be his personality - angel by any chance??

Does he ever show sleep cues in the morning at any point before you put him down for his first nap?  If he does, could you ignore the clock for a couple of days and go by cues to give him a chance to catch up a bit?

Overall I would suggest reducing your A times right down to something more age-appropriate, though there is a big range at this age.  If you have a sense he is normally fairly high A needs I'd shoot for something around 3h30 and see what that gets you.  That's a decent A time for his age and won't encourage the EWs.  What I sometimes find with my DD is that when she's really really OT she does long naps and appears to sleep well at night as she crashes through sleep cycles, then as she catches up the nights get more disturbed and naps get shorter as the true OT shows itself, then things improve again once she's properly caught up.  Does that make sense?  Just warning you that you might see an apparent worsening of naps before things get better again!

HTH, let me know if you have any more questions

[Nickie18]

Thank you! yes, I think the A time is way too long, but that is when he starts to show tired signs. He used to be at 3.5 hours and we were getting short naps, then went shorter A times, which made it worse. So we elongated them and he started napping better, but the mornings are worse. I am so worried putting him down early may given us short naps again, though I would take short naps over early wakings! My husband had him up for 5 hours this am, but he is still napping... Does seem his naps in the am area getting shorter. Maybe the nanny is misreading his sleep cues.

I will see if we can do more like 4 hours and see what happens. We are going on vacation tomorrow, so I will be able to take some more control.

[jessmum46]

I think the A time is way too long, but that is when he starts to show tired signs.

Some LOs have either very subtle or no real tired signs, particularly if they are easy-going in general.  The other thing I find is that when there is a lot of OT built up, LO is almost running on adrenaline so tired signs don't show.  It's only when they have done some catching up that the true tiredness really starts becoming apparent.

Have a wonderful time on vacation - to an extent you'll just have to go with the flow anyway!

[Nickie18]

He is a textbook-angel LO and is very easy going most of the time. extremely loving and observant. your LO is very cute

yes, we will have to go with the flow on vacation- maybe it will break up the schedule to reset it a bit. Hope it doesn't get worse:) he tends to short nap while on vacation...

[jessmum46]

Love your pic too!!

Let us know how the trip goes and we can help your re-jig the routine once you're back if needed