8.5 months and naps back to under an hour....

[creations]

If she does longer nights when going to bed at 7.15-7.30 then I would certainly put her to bed by 7.30 latest.  Sounds like she has her body clock set to WU time so will wake then regardless of when she goes to bed - would you agree?

So I think the third option. Reduce the second A time, less tired for nap, shorter nap, reduce last A time and into bed by 7.15/30pm
You day may look something like this:

WU 7.15
A 3hr 30 (make sure this A is long enough to get the good nap)
S 10.45 - 12.15
A 3hr
S 3.15 - 4.15
A 3hr
BT 7.15

What do you think?

[FroggyMom]

If she does longer nights when going to bed at 7.15-7.30 then I would certainly put her to bed by 7.30 latest.  Sounds like she has her body clock set to WU time so will wake then regardless of when she goes to bed - would you agree?

Yes!  Putting her to bed later than 7:30 does not cause her to sleep later in the morning.  In fact, it usually causes her to wake up earlier the next morning the later she goes to bed!

So I think the third option. Reduce the second A time, less tired for nap, shorter nap, reduce last A time and into bed by 7.15/30pm

Yes, I was thinking this sounds like a great plan for her!  Then, our last 2 days seemed a little different so I wanted to post and get your opinion.  Yesterday, she woke up early at 6:30 am after going to bed around 8 pm the night before.  We also had our 9 month check-up appointment, so we were not able to be home for nap.  So, our day ended up like this:

wake-up:  6:30 am (tried to get her to resettle for awhile...fell back asleep for only about 5 minutes after awhile though)
E:  7:30 am (milk)
     8:30 am (food)
A:  6:30 - 11:04 am (4 hr 34 min....due to being out at doctor and waking up an hour early)
S:  11:04 -11:32 am (only would sleep 28 min in the car 
E:  12:00 pm (milk)
     1 pm (food)
A:  11:32 am - 2:22 pm (2 hr 50 min)
S:  2:22 -4:30 pm (After 40 min or so she woke up for about 8 min or so but put herself back to sleep and I actually had to wake her after 2 hours!)
E:  4:30 pm
E:  6:30 pm
A:  4:30 - 7:43 pm (3 hr 13 min)
S:  put her in bed at 7:35 pm...asleep at 7:43 pm

Then, today looked like this:

wake-up:  7:30 am
E: 7:48 (milk)
    8:50 am (food)
A:  7:30 - 10:57 am (3 hrs 27 min)
S:  10:57 am - 11:50 am (nap of 53 min)
E:  12 pm (milk)
     1 pm (food)
A:  11:50 am - 3: 05 pm (3 hr 15 min)
S:  3:05 - 4:23 pm (nap of 1 hr 18 min)
E:  4:30 pm
E"  6:30 pm
A:  4:23 - 7:46 pm (3 hr 23 min)
S:  put her in bed at 7:20 pm; however, for some reason she laid in there and kicked her feet for awhile...she usually goes straight to sleep (within 5-10 min and took 26 min tonight)...she was quiet so left her to try to fall asleep...not sure what happened here).

So, even though it looks like afternoon naps were better the past two days, should I keep with first morning awake time of 3.5 hours anyway for a few days and see if the first nap lengthens?  Or should I do short first nap, longer second nap?  I would hate to cap the first nap though and then have her not nap well in the afternoon either.  What do you think?

[lauraims]

Oh my goodness our babes are so the sAme!! Exact same issues going on here at the moment!! One Atime one day gets you a long nap so you follow the same the next day And you get a short nap! They're not making it easy for us are they !! I tried 3.5 first WT but she didnt settle until 3.45!! Only slept 1.05😌 have just put her down at 3 hours for second nap. Does your Lo sleep through the night? Imogen used to but in the last 2 weeks she's been waking once or twice 😩

[FroggyMom]

One Atime one day gets you a long nap so you follow the same the next day And you get a short nap! They're not making it easy for us are they

They certainly are not...haha!   

Let me know how Imogen's second nap goes!  Yes, my DD does fortunately sleep through the night whether she does good naps or bad naps for the most part.  She generally sleeps 11-12 hours a night.  When Imogen wakes, does she settle on her own quickly or do you have to help her?

[lauraims]

Oh lucky you!! She used to be like that , so I'm wondering if it's teething or separation anxiety, and now it's become a habit. It's always between 2-3 that she wakes. Sometimes she settles herself but lately not often. I don't mind it, it's more for her sake that I do cause I feel she's a happier baby with an unbroken nights sleep. She woke at 35 mins into second nap but won't back to sleep after 10 mins and had been asleep sbother 50. I see your dd did that too. Would u think OT or UT when she does this ? I reckon OT...

I'm hanging out for a consistant one nap a day 😂😂 they're lucky they're cute aye !! Haha

[creations]

Then, our last 2 days seemed a little different so I wanted to post and get your opinion.  Yesterday, she woke up early at 6:30 am after going to bed around 8 pm the night before.  We also had our 9 month check-up appointment, so we were not able to be home for nap.

I would just ignore that day. We all have days time to time where things are right off for one reason or another.

The following day could also have been effected by it but looking at the times I notice at the start of the thread first A time close to 3hr 20. A time now 3hr 27. It could just be that you have not increased enough. I'd give it another 10 or even 15 mins (judge based on mood but keep in mind you do not want UT naps any more), once you start getting longer naps you can always reduce the A by a few mins if needed for a final tweak.  She may have been a bit OT by BT maybe. I wouldn't look too much at that just yet, could have been a one-off.  However if you don't get the first nap lengthened then problems may increase, I would just get on it.
Sorry it sounds a little blunt, based on my own experience it was the UT naps that caused us the most difficulty.

[FroggyMom]

So, we ended up with an awake time this morning of 3 hr 36 min followed by a 33 minute nap.    This is SO exhausting!  What do you suggest I try for this current awake time before second nap now?  Also, do I stick with this awake time again for tomorrow?  She was tired and seemed ready to go to bed when I put her down this morning.

[creations]

For the first A I would do the same time again and W2S at 30 min, be in there to sooth her through any disturbance.

Any teeth on the move?

[FroggyMom]

So, our second awake time was 2 hr 51 min (I shortened a bit due to the first nap of 33 min and she was just crying tired), and that gave us another 33 minute nap.    So, that's two 33 min naps today.    I have no idea what to do for the rest of the day and bedtime now.  What would you do?  She has two top teeth and two bottom teeth that are in.  I need to look and see if she's trying to get anymore....

[FroggyMom]

Well, she just seemed a crying mess! So, even though we've been down to 2 naps comfortably for awhile, I decided to let her take a catnap after she had been awake around 2 hr 45 min.  She has seemed to get more hungry sooner than usual today.  Is there maybe a growth spurt around 9 months that is common?

[creations]

Yes I think there is a GS at 9 months so she could be more tired, less able to sleep, sleep like a log, more hungry and more cranky - great hey!
I would just focus on the first A and first nap of the day for now, and the rest of the day wing it. APOP if possible for the second nap, or even third if you need one.
You will get through this.

[FroggyMom]

Yes I think there is a GS at 9 months so she could be more tired, less able to sleep, sleep like a log, more hungry and more cranky - great hey!

Yes, wonderful...lol!    We definitely went through this and maybe are again now..haha!

I would just focus on the first A and first nap of the day for now, and the rest of the day wing it. APOP if possible for the second nap, or even third if you need one.
You will get through this.

Sorry it's been so long since I've been on!  We've just been trying to get through these naps, growth spurts, etc.  So, I took your advice for the past 2.5 weeks and had been focusing on the first A and first nap of the day and just letting the afternoon play out.  I also took your advice and ended up adding 15 min A time to the morning.  So, we finally settled on 3 hr 45 min A time in the morning and that usually led to a 1.5-1 hour 45 min nap or so...wahoo!  However, in the past few days, this has not been working well again.  This awake time started producing 1 hr 15 min or so naps...then 1 hour naps...and now today was a 49 min first nap.  I have also started to notice in the past few days that her afternoon nap has actually been better than her first nap.  First nap today was 49 min and second nap was 1 hr 27 min.  I have not been doing a set A time after first nap as I had been playing it by ear and focusing on the first nap.  It's strange because she is now acting so tired and inconsolable before she can make it to the 3 hr 45 min awake time mark so I've actually given in a few times and let go to bed a little earlier.  I'm not sure what is going on.  She will be 10 months now in a week.  I read that the awake time for this age is 3-4 hours. 

Does 3 hr 45 min sound good for this age?

Is it unusual for her to want to decrease her awake time if that was working?  This is what she seems she wants to do though in the morning now.

Does her wanting a shorter AM nap and longer PM nap signal the beginning of the 2-1 nap transition maybe?  I could not find the link explaining this, but I thought there was one.  If there is, could you please send it to me?  Or does this just mean I have her morning awake time wrong again?

As always, thanks so much for your help!  Hope you're doing well! 

[FroggyMom]

I just noticed the title of my thread now since it's a bit over a month old...maybe I should turn this into a new post....headed to do that!

[FroggyMom]

Here's my new thread....

Almost 10 months old...ready for 2-1 nap transition or too early?

Thanks for your help!