8 mo ready for one nap?

[mini_egg282]

We've been having a hard time getting our 8.5 mo to sleep for both naps and bedtime over the last month or so. After increasing his A time to 3 1/2 hours he has started going down for naps much more easily. We were taking 2 hours to get him to finally go to sleep at bedtime until we realized he needed more A time. Now we keep him up for about 4 or 4 1/2 hours before bed and it's taking under and hour to get him to sleep. We figure he just wasn't tired enough before this. He typically has two one-hour naps during the day but with his A time creeping up to 4+ hours could it be possible that he's ready for one long nap? It seems really early for that but all along he has always seemed to need less sleep than average during the day.

He fought his morning nap today so we just got him up and decided to try having one nap. He didn't seem to have a problem staying awake for 5 hours (7:30 am - 12:30 pm), had a hard time falling asleep (maybe OT by then?), but we rocked him for a few minutes and he went right to sleep (what should we have done to get him to sleep??? I know rocking isn't the answer.), layed him down in his crib and he slept for 2.5 hours. He should have no problem making it to bedtime tonight but I'm pretty sure we'll still have the same battle at bedtime as usual.

Any ideas?

[lpperry]

I am toying with the same idea for my almost 10 month old. For awhile now, he's been doing a long (2 1/2-3 hour) morning nap and a short (40 min-1 hour) afternoon nap.

So our day typically looks like this:
8:00 wake
11:30-2:00: nap
5:00-5:45ish: nap
8 or 8:30: bedtime

We have no problem getting him down for bed after only 2ish hours of awake time after the second nap.

The problem is that just in the last few days he has been throwing a fit for that second nap. However, he also is getting his first tooth, so that may be a factor.

I am deciding how to change our day if the second nap problem is not due to the tooth!

Option 1:
8:00: wake
11:30-1:00:  nap (wake him up from his nap)
4:00-5:30: nap
8:00 or 8:30: bedtime

Option 2: move to one nap
8:00: wake
12:30-3:3w0: nap
7:30: bedtime

I just don't know. He's usually a bear if I wake him from a nap, so I don't know if I like that about option 1. However, he gets pretty tired at 11:30, so I don't know if I can keep him up until 12:30. It might backfire on me and cause a shorter nap!

I think I am going to try both options next week. I have a home daycare, so it would be fine if he moved to 1 nap. He could eat lunch with the other two 15 month olds rather than eating lunch by himself after his nap.  

Suggestions for you:
I wonder if he's getting enough sleep during his naps. Is an hour nap long enough?  Maybe one 2.5-3 hour nap would be better. Does he always just sleep for one hour? If you switch to one nap, are you just going to get one 1-hour nap?  

[mini_egg282]

His naps are typically anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half. Generally he gets between 2 and 2 1/2 hours of sleep during the day and seems quite content with that. Actually, if he only gets a 15-20 minute nap in during the morning he can last another few hours somehow! That only happens occasionally if we're out in the morning running errands.

Today when he took just one nap he slept for 2 1/2 hours, so that is promising. I'm just not sure if he was OT by the time he went to sleep or not.

Your little guy seems to need quite a bit more sleep during the day. I noticed that many people cut off the morning nap at 30 minutes at this stage so they can get a longer afternoon nap. You might want to consider that. Would he wake up more happily if you just go in his room and start moving things around and making noise until he sort of wakes up on his own?

Wow - a home daycare with a 10 month old and two 15 month olds!!! That must be crazy!

[Yazzie]

Hey there..!

I'm facing some similar problem with my ds, who is 1 week shy from 8 months, can you post your routine in EASY format?

[mini_egg282]

Sure, no problem. It does NOT look at all like EASY anymore though. We have always separated milk and solids by an hour and a half since his little tummy has trouble handling them all together. Now his nap starts right when he would normally eat so we have to give him the milk right before his nap and solids right after to squeeze it all in. It's a bit of a mess but it works for us.

A 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
E 8:00 am (formula 6-8 oz)
E 9:30 am (solids and 1-2 oz water/juice)
E 11:30 (formula 6 oz)
S 12:00 - 2:00

A 2:00 pm - 6:30 pm
E 2:00 (solids and 1-2 oz formula)
E 4:30 (formula 6-7 oz)
E 5:45 (solids and 1-2 oz formula)
S 6:30 pm - 8:00 am

This was our third day trying just one nap and I'm not sure that he's ready for it. He's actually sleeping more in total now though (same during the day, but 13 hours at night instead of 12)...it's tricky. He was completely exhausted by his nap time today and passed right out. He was almost falling asleep at supper time tonight too...we are going to try two naps tomorrow, but limit the first nap to just 15 minutes. That might be a better solution for us. I read also that it doesn't have to be all or nothing. You can do two naps one day and one nap the next. All depends on what your lo needs.

Good luck!

[lpperry]

My LO sure does like his sleep!

Today he woke up a bit earlier, so I was going to try for two naps. However, he took his first nap at 11:30-2:00 instead of 11-1:30, like I was hoping.  At 5:00, I was planning on doing the 2nd nap like usual, but he was in a really good mood and not acting tired, so I decided to skip it. He did fine and went to bed at 7:30.  So, maybe the one nap will work for us.

I am going to try to stretch him to 12:00 tomorrow to see how that goes. 

I could try waking him up after 30 minutes. Maybe he'd be ok. So, would it look like this?
8:00 wake
11:30-12:00 sleep
3:30-5:30 sleep
8:00 bedtime

I think I'd almost rather try 1 nap, but we are going to have to move lunch up. The 15 and 16 month old usually eat at 12:00 and nap at 1, but I don't think I can stretch Oliver that long!  We could eat at 11:30 and get Oliver to bed by 12:00 and then the older ones could nap at 12:30 or 1:00. 

Oh--and I have the 16 month old full-time and the 15 month old 2 days a week.  Then I have a 4 month old and a 2 month old fulltime. I also have an 11 month old who comes once a week. It's pretty busy!  Without baby whisperer I think I would be regretting my decision. The main reason I can deal with all of those babies at once is because of Baby Whisper. I keep my awake time chart up on my fridge and use the guidelines on all of the babies.  It's challenging because I can't control the nights, but for the most part, I can get the kids on a decent daytime nap schedule.

Sounds like your day went well. Keep us posted on how the 1 nap works!

[lpperry]

mini_egg282, so how's he doing? Is 1 nap working?

Today was the first day I tried for the one long nap and it went well!  Woke at 7:15 (earlier than normal, but sister was making too much noise in the bathroom!).  Got fussy at 10:45-11ish when he normally goes for a nap. I nursed him and then we ate an early lunch at 11:30. Luckily my LO really loves his lunch, so even though he was really tired, he was fine eating his lunch! 

I put him straight to bed after lunch at 12:00 and we went right to sleep without a peep.  He slept until 3:00!  So, the one long nap didn't backfire! I was worried he'd be too overtired to fall asleep or so overtired that he'd wake early.

He went to bed at 7:45--pretty much fell asleep nursing at 7:30.

I hope the one nap works. I guess he'll be pretty tired at night for awhile until he can stay up a bit longer. I was loving the two naps and having him stay up until 8 or 8:30 (and sleeping until 8am). It gave him time to play with his sister on the days we have her (my stepdaughter) and I always go to the gym in the evening until 7ish, so it's nice to not have to put him to bed the second I get home. Oh well, I guess we'll just do the 7:30 bedtime for awhile.

[lpperry]

Update on my guy--today he slept until 8:30 (went to bed last night at 7:30).  He easily made it through the morning and through lunch and went for his nap from 1-3.  He had a good evening and went to bed at 7:30.  If this keeps up, this was a pretty easy 2-1 switch!

[mini_egg282]

Watch out - it may catch up to him after a few days. On our third day he was sooooo exhausted by the time 12:00 came. I think we're going to be sticking to two naps most of the time but just one now and then when it fits our schedule better.

[lpperry]

This is the third day, so I'll see how it goes! I have nothing against 2 naps. I would actually prefer two naps. It was just that he was taking such a long first nap that there was no time for the second! If this 1 nap doesn't work, I am going to try shortening the first nap.

[lpperry]

I don't like the 1 nap at this age. It is fine when he naps for three hours, but if he takes a two hour nap, he can't make it to bedtime.

I have been doing a combo. Sometimes I put him down at 10:30 or 11 and wake him up at 12 or 12:30, then put him back down 3:30 or 4 for a second nap.  Other days we do the 1 nap. Today the 1 nap was great. He was happy all morning, we ate lunch at 12:15 (with the 1 nap day care kids), slept from 1:00-4:00, and went to bed at 8:00.  Not a bad day!