Help determining actual A time

[ellen109]

My 21wk old son is a 40 minute napper and I'm trying to figure out what I should consider his A time to be so I know if we can successfully drop the 4th nap.  He gets tired at 2 hrs on the dot, but often takes about another 20-30 minutes to fall asleep.  Doesn that mean his A time is 2hr or 2.5 hrs?

[Shiv52]

A time is eyes open to eyes shut so it would be 2.5 hours.  If you are unable to extend the nap though then you would reduce the next A time and not push on with 2/2.5 hours.  Maybe try again for a nap after 1.5 hours. 

MAke sense?

[ellen109]

his naps are chronically short, have been from the beginning so i don't try to extend anymore.  (never had any success) i'm hoping they'll get better when he is 6 months.

Are A times above 2 hours unheard of with just 40 minute naps?  if i put him down before 2 hours he tends to scream from UT, but I can't really control how long it takes him to fall asleep so he seems to get to at least 2hr 15 minutes each time.

[amayzie]

Are A times above 2 hours unheard of with just 40 minute naps?

Do you mean following a 40 minute nap? If so- i rarely dropped my guys A time by much after a short nap, others do- but it's about what works with your guy. It look as though you can keep trying the A time at 2.30 and maybe just be really watching for the tired signs after a short nap- possibly put him down at 2 hours... Remember too that babies sometimes get into the habit of going to bed at a certain time, so start showing tired signs when they aren't really tired enough (weird and annoying!)

By upping the A times that will help you to lose the last nap- you just run out of time in the day! Oh- and i think in the 4 months that i tried to extend naps- very consistently at times- it worked twice, upping the A time is the only thing that made a difference to us- finding the magic A time...

[myboyblue]

How do you up A time for 5.5month old without cutting into S time?

[amayzie]

when they are that age you can have longer than 4 hours beteen feeds- it's sort of like a 4+ hr easy. So at 6 months my guy was on 3 hours A time and did 2 hour naps- sometimes even up to 3, and didn;t eat ever till after the S. It's fine- if they are hungry they'll let you know! (And A times depend on your baby and their needs- my guy has alays been a high A times guy)

[myboyblue]

When upping A time, how does the easy look? as I assume it would shift everything. thanks

[amayzie]

Here are some samples- they all show that there is quite a range. Our EASY at 5 months was sort of like... (it's hard to remember!)

E: 7:00
S: 9:30-11:30
E: 11:30
S: 2:00-2:40 sometimes more- but we often got 40 minute wonders closer to the 5.5, 6 month mark
E: 2:40
S: 4:20-5:00- You have to get creative at this end of the day- but you only want a 40 minute nap here anyway
E: 5:00
S: 7:00
Dream feed at 11:00

Our EASY at 6 months looked sort of like:

E: 7am
A: 7-10
S: 10-12
E: 12
A: 12-3
S: 3-4/4.30
E: 4:30
A: 4:30-7:00
E: 7:00
S: 7:00
Dream feed at 11:00- till just after 6 months... (this varies)

this is after we dropped the cat nap. Basically you are aiming from around 5 months (dependent on the baby) to be working your A times up to 3 hours. Some babies are ready for this earlier than others- so don't worry. In the lead up to the transition you'll find that they end up with not enough time to take a cat nap at the end of the day (3rd nap), but too much time to stay up!! It's a pain- but you can bring BT forward if you need.