1hr naps??

[brummum]

Hi, we are recently getting consistent 1hr naps. I am very happy with this as previously 45mins would have been an achievement unless out in buggy! I just wondered why though - from what I've read on this forum 30mins seems to be indicative of OT whilst 45mins suggests UT so what about 1hr?? Any ideas? He is definately sleeping for whole of the hour and I hear him stir at 45 min mark but resettle so why the wake up at 1hr? Strange.

[creations]

How old is your LO?
It could be the new sleep cycle length.  At some point your LO's cycle gets longer (I think Tracy said 6 to 9 months, I noticed it with DS around 12 or 13 months) as it matures and eventually ends up the length of an adult cycle.

For us it would mean he needed an A time increase.

[brummum]

He is 4 months and managing 2hr activity time (sometimes at a stretch) so wary of inc it any further as appears on the upper end of what's expected? Thanks for response.

[Papaya]

How does he wake - happy? Or upset, still tired? 

For my LO, one hour would mean a little UT also - she could transition, but wasn't quite tired enough to sleep another full cycle.

2hrs is quite a long A for that age, but all LOs are different. Do you think he could be low sleep needs? And is that his A time after a one hour nap also, or do you reduce it?  I think I would try pushing the first A of the day out by 10-15 mins for a few days and see if you get a longer first nap

But thank goodness you're getting longer than 45 mins now at any rate - I remember that hurdle!

[brummum]

He wakes cranky! I had thought about this to be honest but was really wary of pushing A time as he was already upper end of range (and he is only just turned 16 weeks) but we do often have to shorten A time after first nap - or push through but this is harder after the nap whereas he manages 2 hours easily before nap.

[brummum]

Okay so I tried to push his morning A time this morning and when I nipped out the room for a second at the 2 hour mark I came back to sleeping baby on pay mat. Whoops!!

[Papaya]

Lol! Did you manage to get him into the cot after that?

It could still be developmental too, I suppose  - he's still at that age where short naps are quite common. We started to get consistently better naps around 5 months from memory.

But if he normally manages 2hrs first A easily, I would persist for a few days trying 2hr10 just for the first A - you might need a little bit of gentle distraction to keep him going. If that nap gets shorter rather than longer, you'll know it's pushing him too far.

If your first nap is still only an hour, I would try a slightly shorter next A time   Something to bear in mind too is that some babies do just like different A times throughout the day - mine would have a short first A, longest middle A, and A to bed was somewhere in between!

[brummum]

Yes, fortunately transfered to cot nicely. Followed by 1hr nap!! He had a very weird day in terms of A time. The A time following his first nap was 2 and a quarter hours (before tired signs) and the his third A time was 2.5hrs with no tired signs and really happy. Eventually decided to put him in car for cat nap (we were out at my parents) and drive round for half hour cuz refused to believe he wasn't tired after 2.5hrs and if he stayed up much longer we would have had issues with last A time being too short  or waaay too long before bed! They like to keep you on your toes don't they! Will try and push first A tomorrow and not leave the room for a second!

[Papaya]

Keep us posted!

[creations]

Totally agree with all Nuala has said.
You're in great hands there

[brummum]

okay so pushed it to 2.25 hrs this morning - 30min nap!! managed to resettle him with sshpat. You can't win can you!! Think I'm going to stick with around the 2 hour mark and follow cues and accept 1 hr nap, like I said it's alot better than what we used to have!

[Papaya]

I'd be inclined to stick with 2hr10/15 for another day or two just to see, as it may  take a couple of days for him to adjust. But up to you - as you say, better 1hr than 45 mins!

xx