3-2 Transition Trouble

[Barefootmomma09]

My 6 month old has started doing something that I'm sure is related to him switching from 3 naps to 2. He mostly refuses any attempt at nap #3, but will then wake 30 minutes after going to bed for the night and want to be up for a full A time. On the days that he does go to sleep for a short 3rd nap he still wakes after going to bed for the night. He has been right around 2 hr 15 min of A time. He is also having an issue of waking at the 30 or 45 min mark and it's about 50/50 that he will go back to sleep. Is this indicative of his A time being too short or too long? Does he have to be at 3 hr A time for 2 naps to work? Here is a sample schedule:

Wake - 7am
Nap - 9:15-9:20
Wake - 12:00 - I tend to let this nap go a little longer because it gives me time to do some school with my other 3
Nap - 2:15-2:20
Wake - 4:30
Bed - 6:45-7:00

NW?? - 7:30
Second Bedtime - Anywhere between 8:30 and 9:00 he will finally go back to sleep

What do I need to do to help him get back on a decent schedule?

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I would say for sure the signs are there for the 3-2 and also perhaps capping daytime sleep a bit/increasing A times. Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!  

He is getting quite a lot of daytime sleep (5 hours from what you posted) so the wake up followed by A time tells me he is probably undertired at bedtime.

I could see doing something like this:

7 am - wake
9:45 - nap for 2 hrs
11:45 - wake
2:30 - nap for 2 hrs
4:30 - wake
7:00 - bedtime

Just to balance the day out more but not too drastic on cutting back (ie the naps may need to be a bit longer and some lo's like a shorter A to bed, some like longer!).

Hth!

[Barefootmomma09]

Thank you!

My little came down with a monster cold and cough so his schedule is all over the place with hardly any sleep during the days or nights. Is there a sticky with hints on recovering after an illness? I couldn't find one.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Hmm let me have a look and see! We always just did whatever it took to get sleep during an illness - any prop, any apop you name it I have done it and then a lot of the time they go right back to what they were doing before with a bit of gradual withdrawal.

[Barefootmomma09]

Ok! We are on the mend, but extending A time isn't having the results I would have expected. I have gotten him up to 2 hr 45 minutes, but that results in a 30-45 min nap more often than not. Is this still UT or did I move too fast and get him OT? He is still waking after bed time for another A time too. Last night he woke after only 30 minutes and then absolutely refused to go back to sleep until almost 2.5 hrs later! I figured after that short of a "nap" he would be ok to go back to bed after an hour of being awake, but he would have none of it. He was SOO happy to be awake!

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

How much daytime sleep is he getting right now? Is he showing tired signs (or ot signs) at all before naptimes? This age can be unreliable for that but just curious! Sorry for taking so long to reply...on my work days I find I end up falling asleep on the couch before I ever get on BW!