7mo NW but can sleep through? Too much day time sleep??

[stanley's mummy]

My DS is 7 months (nearly 8 months). He has sttn before on 4 or 5 occassions though never more than one night in a row. Most commonly the past few weeks he is waking at 3am, happy as larry chatting wanting to play for an hour before he starts to get tired again and I have to go and resettle him to sleep.

We have a lovely routine below and no problem with naps

7am wake up
7.30 Breakfast
9.30 6oz bottle
10-11.30/12 nap (1.30-2hr)
12 lunch
2 6oz bottle
2.30- 4 nap (1.30hr)
5 dinner
6.30 bath and 6oz bottle
7 bed
10.30 df 6oz

On the nights that DS has slept through he has had next to no sleep during the day, no more than 1hr30/2hrs where usually he has between 3 and 3.5hr. Do I need to keep his naps shorter is he having too much? Though I though 3/3.5 was about right for this age?

Help!!

[mmom]

Hi Karen.   It sounds like your LO might be on the low end of sleep needs then, if he sleeps less on longer nights.  Have you at least tried capping the 1st nap?

Another possibilty is that he is starting the 2-1 early.  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=163278.0  Parents do this 1 of 2 ways - long morning nap and shorter pm nap or short am nap and longer pm nap.  I would start by limiting one of the naps to 1 hour and then leave the other one at 1.5 hours.

[stanley's mummy]

Thank you for the advice. I tried yesterday to limit his naps to 1.15 hrs each and he woke at 4am and 5.30am but he very quickly settled and went back to sleep so no cot party, yay! Have tried again today to limit naps to 1hr 15 each but he still seems so tired yawning rubbing his eyes. I'll see what type of night he has tonight and if still no luck I will shorten first nap to one hour and second to 1.5 and see if it helps.

Can I ask why a shorter first nap is better than a long am nap and short pm? Just curious!?

[mmom]

There is no 'right' way to do it.  Some moms go for a longer pm nap, because they get nap refusal in the afteroon.  Or other moms are dealing with school runs or morning outtings.  You can do a longer am nap and shorter pm nap if you want.  That is what we have settled into, only because our afternoons get jammed up.

[stanley's mummy]

Thanks, just wondered!! I will try the shorter morning and longer pm I think and see how we go. Fingers crossed

[stanley's mummy]

Well, just finished day 2. Terrible! My DS woke at 5am still tired and thrashing around with eyes shut so I picked up and cuddled and eyes wide open Hello mummy(maybe I went in too early?). I put him back down and played for a bit then did a big poo!! So I had to get up and change him and then we had a cuddle and put him down awake and eventually went off an hour later.

Yesterday he had 2x 1hr 15 min naps, should I try the 1hr morning and longer afternoon instead? Will it make a difference? 

Sho

[mmom]

With an EW, I would aim for a set nap time no matter what.  So if your LO wakes at 5, still go down for a nap at 9/9:30.  It is up to you how you divide up the naps.

[stanley's mummy]

Thanks mmom, we have started having 1.5 naps morning and 1hr naps in the afternoon and night wakes have stopped, yay! But last few days have had 5/6am wake ups so I will try the set nap times and see how we go

[mmom]

That is great!  I would stick with the set nap times as well.