almost 11 months, messy sleep times

[Joey'sMom]

Max is almost 11 months, and I'm not sure what is up. He is usually an angel sleeper, so I know something must need tweaking.

Up until recently, he was on a "floating" schedule, depending what time he woke in the morning:

6:30 Awake
7:15 Eat (solids)
8:15 Bottle/Sleep
10:30 Awake
11:15 Eat (solids)
12:30 Bottle/Sleep
2:30 Awake
6:00 Bedtime Routine

Now, his naps are becoming erratic. At first I thought it was teeth, but he never got any. Then I thought it was an adjustment to eating solids (he's offended by the puree stuff  ), but that's not it either.

Today, and most recent days, look like this:

5:50 Awake, snooze on and off until 7
7:00 Up for the morning
7:15 Eat (solids)
8:30 Bottle/Nap
10:00 Awake
11:15 Eat (solids)
12:15 Bottle/Nap
1:15 Awake!

It has been awful trying to keep him happy until bedtime with that second nap being almost nonexistent. I can't imagine he'd get through a morning without a nap at all, but I have no idea what needs to change. Is this a common growth spurt? I can't remember much troubleshooting from his older brothers, but I do know that they both kept two naps until about 18 months. Any advice would be amazing! I'm going crazy with this baby who loves his sleep yet won't do it!

[Kellyjs]

This definitely the start of the 2-1 hun. I'm not saying he's ready for one nap at all, quite the opposite since he's napping so well on such short A times, it's just one nap will need capping to fit in the increased A times he needs. I'll post a link about it at the end.

The one thing that jumps out at me in that's a very short A first thing and likely throwing out the rest of the day. I can see that when he takes a short nap in the afternoon he's then got a long A to bed. I think that second A is rather short too which is why you're getting an UT nap. Average A times around now are between 3.5hrs-4hrs.

There's two ways you could do this. One is to keep the first nap where it is and cap it at 45mons to ensure he takes a nap later on in the afternoon. Or, you push that first A, still cap the first nap at 1.5hrs and try for a CN of 45mons or so later on int  he afternoon.

Alternatively another option is to keep two long naps, but make your day longer. You have space to do this in your day but I'm thinking it won't be able to stay that way for long anyway. I'm actually jealous/amazed you have managed to get such great naps in on those A times. My DD was doing 2hrs A and short naps at 5mo!!

Have a read of the link as it has some great info in it and let me know if you need help with it xx

From 2 to 1 nap transition (10-12m and older)

[Joey'sMom]

Okay. I think you're right about stretching out his mornings a bit, though I must tell you he is just so miserable during that early stretch of day! But then, probably, it would just work to wake him after a shorter time, like you said, and pushing back his afternoon nap.

I always hate fiddling with these things because if you go too far the wrong way then they're miserable anyway and have to get all readjusted before you can figure out what you did wrong. Like I said, my big boys both hung on to those morning naps until at least 18 months, but Max-man seems to be a little bit more textbook.

Hopefully we get this figured out. Thanks for your help!

[Kellyjs]

 Think it's just trial and error hun. I hated the 2-1, naps were all over the place and I hate inconsistency!

He might still hang onto 2 naps for a while yet, so don't worry! I think it'll just be a case of finding what works and setting those naps for a while iykwim? As I said, he's napping so well atm with those short A times, that you don't want to push too much too soon. Maybe just shorten that first nap ever so slightly and he might take the afternoon one better. Try and limit the crankiness, especially if you have two others around! Good luck, let me know how it goes x