Please help me transition my almost 9 month old to 2 naps!

[Serena_12]

My son has been a pretty terrible sleeper right from the beginning. I finally got him from 5 naps to 3 around 7 months, and I know by 5-6 months he should be on 2 naps. But I am struggling to get him to 2 naps. He can only do 1.5-2 hour awake periods, otherwise he throws a crying and screaming fit. He wakes up 3+ times a night, and both his night and day wake ups are always at different times. He has never napped longer than 1 hour-1 hour 15 mins. He is breastfed and eats at least 3 meals a day. Please help me get him on a better, more predictable schedule! I keep trying to fix things, and I'm left with a crying, screaming, cranky child both day and night.

[lolsyb1982]

Hi there and welcome 

Yes like you say by 9 months babies are on 2 naps with around 3-4 hr A time Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!

I think you are going to have to push those A times to get on a more age appropriate schedule. When he starts crying after 1.5-2hrs take him in a different room or change activity to keep him going. It's more than likely just habit why he cries rather than real tiredness.
Those nap times are typical undertired lengths and hopefully once he's having longer A times one of the 2 naps will stretch to 1.5hrs.

You will need to hold the increased A time for at least a few days before changing anything again to see how he goes.

If you want to log the next few days in EAS format and post them we can help you through it

HTH xx

[Serena_12]

Thank you for your reply! I'll come back later with some sample schedules (I have them written down). Is it easier to work on naps first, or night?

[lolsyb1982]

Start with naps. It could be the daytime routine which is causing the NW. How does he fall asleep? With help or by himself?

[Serena_12]

He falls asleep on his own, with a soother. I usually don't nurse before nap (only if I didn't get a chance to in his awake time.) Before bed he gets a bath, nurses, and gets a book. He never nurses to sleep, or even to drowsy. He fusses and rolls around for 5-10 minutes, then is asleep. At night, his sleep stretches range from 1.25- about 3.5 hours.

Here are a couple days of nap times:

Wake up: 7:30
S: 9:25-10:30
S: 1:10-2:20
S: 4:20-5:05
Bedtime: 6:50

Wake up: 5:45
S: 9:05-9:45
S: 12:20-1:25
S: 4:00- 5:00
Bedtime: 6:45

Wake up: 6:20
S: 8:30-9:30
S: 11:45-12:45
S: 3:00-4:00
Bedtime: 6:50

Wake up:7:20
S: 9:20-11:00
S:1:50-3:00
Bedtime: 6:20

Wake up: 6:45
S: 8:45-9:45
S: 12:10-12:40
S: 2:40-3:50
Bedtime: 7:00

As you can see, wake up times, bedtimes, and nap lengths are all over the place.  I always start bedtime routine by 6:15, and he is in bed by 6:30-6:40.

[lolsyb1982]

That's good that he falls asleep by himself. That means the NW are more likely due to daytime routine rather than him waking and being unable to settle by himself.

I would first try pushing his first A to 2.5hrs and see how long he naps for. You will need to experiment with finding the right time that suits him to take a longer nap but as he seems fairly high Sleep needs you might need to go a little slower.

You will then need to keep pushing A time in increments until you get to around 3hrs. At the same time you can then start capping the 3rd nap.

Some people do try set nap/BT but usually this is recommended when LO is slightly older - around 1yo as it can be a quick way to set their body clocks.