10mo started 30m napping?

[Samjheywood]

Hi there,

I have a spirited 10mo and have always struggled with short naps up until around 6/7mths. I tried set naps from advice from Smurfette and that has worked really well for us until recently.

His EASY looked like this

0600 WU (leave in cot till 0700, in case resettles)
0700 7oz bottle
0800 breakfast
0900 nap
1030 WU & snack
1200 lunch
1330 nap
1500 WU & snack
1700 dinner
1800 7oz bottle
1900 bed

The last week or so his naps have gone to 30m. I leave to see if he'll resettle but neve does but yesterday I APOP him back to sleep in my arms and he slept another 1hr15 and I did the same today.

I wonder if its OT creeping in or if there is any other issue. Any advice as to what you think it could be?

He does settle easily (if not OT) and is an independent sleeper. He wakes up ok but I can tell he's still tired.

Thanks in advance

[ZacsMumme]

I would think he is Ut. 3 hrs A is pretty low at this age, what happens if you give him a bit more A time before his naps? If he settles well, and sleeps well then it's likely he needs an increase!
Also if your day is getting too long you may need to cap 1 nap a bit....this often happens around this age.

What do you think?

[Samjheywood]

Yeah, I guess he could be. With doing the set naps I haven't really been focusing on A time. What do you think my EASY should look like then and what A time should I work to if my day is getting too long?

Thanks

[Papaya]

Does he ever resettle in the morning, or is he always awake in the cot from 6-7am? I suspect the early morning nap might be contributing to the early start - although an 11 hour night is great at this age. Tbh, I would be inclined to get him up earlier.

I would start by gradually pushing the morning nap to 9.30, over a few days. So perhaps aiming for something like this:

WU: 6/6.30
nap: 9.30 - 11
nap: 2.30 - 3.30
bed: 7

You might find with a later nap that the WU creeps a little later again also. What do you think?

[Samjheywood]

TBH he never usually resettles in the morning. We went through a stage after the 3-2 of having 5am WU's and I always left him to see if he would resettle and it's only really the last month or so that these have started to improve, we were having many EBT! i tend to only leave him in the cot in the mornings if he has had less than 11hrs sleep really. He tends to WU around 0615am ish so I guess I could get him up then and start the day.

As for the later morning nap of 0930 that should be fine, I wonder whether its may be better to cap this one rather than the afternoon nap as I often find that if I let him sleep past 3pm he won't go to bed for 7pm. What do you think and what would I cap it at, maybe 1hr?

He also takes quite a while to settle, not crying though just playing, rolling etc, I guess this is another sign of UT?

Thanks

[Samjheywood]

Forgot to add -

Today he was up at 0620 and had his 1st nap at 0920, too early I think as he has 30m so I hung on for the pm one until 1305pm and he slept 1hr20 which is much better! He was ok hanging on until that time too!

[ZacsMumme]

Swapping the nap lengths over is fine too.
TBH if he is doing a decent nap on a long A after a sort nap he may be closer to the 2-1 than you think. If you can get the am nap out a touch more, and get 45 mins or so then the pm 3 hrs later but a decent 1.5 hrs then that could also work.

You just have to play around a bit really see what works for him just remember any changes you make to hold for a few days x

[Samjheywood]

Ok thanks. I'll try pushing out the morning nap a bit and see how we go. If you think I'm nearing the 2-1 how do I go about managing this? Do I keep capping the am nap until its no more?

Thanks for your help

[ZacsMumme]

If you think I'm nearing the 2-1 how do I go about managing this? Do I keep capping the am nap until its no more?
Thanks for your help

yes that is it really, it can take months.

I doubt your there 'yet' but its something to bare in mind throughout the A time pushing as once you start to cap a nap because the day is getting too long your really heading in that direction

[Papaya]

Here are a couple of links to take a look at if you haven't seen them

10/ 11mo sleep gone wonky? Read this first!
from 2 to 1 nap - how, when and the bumps

[Samjheywood]

Ok so where did I go wrong today...?

He WU at 0635 (I know we said 6 but I didn't WU until he did!), went for the first nap at 0955, fell asleep easily and quickly. I woke him at 1040 (45m) and he seemed fine. I aimed for a 3hr A time after this but he was rubbing eyes/yawning/winging at 1300, I didn't want to push it so I put him in the cot for 1315 thinking by the time he falls asleep it won't be far off 3hr A. Anyway he played for ages, then poo'd (which btw he does ALOT at nap time), then played some more, I intervened and managed to get him to sleep at 1435 by rocking him and placing in the cot drowsy and he slept for 30m which was expected as he was OT.

Where did I go wrong, did I put him down too early even though he looked tired? Did I not give him long enough this morning?

Thanks

[Papaya]

It might all have been a bit too much too quickly - so a longer first A AND a shorter first nap than he's used to, so he needed to go down for the next nap earlier.

Perhaps you could start with capping the first nap at 1hr, then 3hr second A.  I capped at 1hr for a good few weeks before I needed to reduce down to 45 mins to fit it all in. Or you could just try a shorter second A for a while as he gets used to the capping.

[Samjheywood]

I agree with you on the 1hr, I only did 45m as I didn't want his 2nd nap too late with him getting up later than 6. Will definitely go for 1hr tomorrow and then 3hr A time, see how we get on.

He has never been woken up from a nap either so he is probably wondering what's going on!

Thanks

[Papaya]

Good luck