Set naps and early wakings

[My little Liam]

I have been reading some other threads and have seen advice with capped naps with a long A time before BT, for example

0600 wake
0945-1115 sleep
1500-1545 sleep
1900 BT
That is 3hr15 A to BT after a capped 45 min nap for a 10 month old. How is it possible that he doesn't become OT by BT? You said that a rough rule was 2.5hrs to BT after a 45 min nap...

[scruffymax]

Hey Maya, sorry if I have said this before but I think if you are doing set naps you need to more think about the nap times than the A times.  Was it just one night that DS was hard to put to bed?  Could be for a range of reasons, not necessarily his routine.  I personally would stick with the 1.5hr morning nap at whatever time you have set and the pm nap at whatever time you have set, leaving him to sleep no later than 4/4:15pm and BT at 7pm.  That is just what happened to work for us for many months when DD was doing 2 great naps (before she hit 2:1 ouch!)

[My little Liam]

It's not only putting to bed that is hard. We have  crazy long NW with chatting and playing and end up with a 9 hr night. He just doesn't seem tired at night!

[jessmum46]

What's your actual routine at the moment?  Those wakings and chattiness could be OT or UT.......

[My little Liam]

We have moved everything an hour forward since I hate 0600 wake ups... Still doing set naps...

WU 0700-0730
S 1100-1230
S 1545-1700 apoped in stroller because he is not tired ans i walk the whole time because if not he wakes at 40 min.
BT between 1945-2015 trying to figure out the right time... He is very chatty and I can't figure out if he is UT or OT at BT. Last night fell asleep at 2015
NW 2330-0010 chatting
NW 0045-0215 bf, chatting and playing not tired at all
NW 0545 BF
WU 0730 I woke him

[jessmum46]

I think probably UT at BT from too much day sleep.  Have you tried limiting the second nap to an hour?

[My little Liam]

Oops sorry I didn't notice you wrote me back...
Yes I did try that but couldn't get an hours nap. I can only get 40 min unless apoping in stroller and even then it is difficult. After 40 min I dont think he can handle more than 2hrs until BT. I put him down at 2.5 and he was totally hyper. At the 2hr mark I was about to give him a bath and it seemed like the hyper set in then. The problem is if I get a 40 min nap in the pm with only 2hrs to BT he goes to bed super early and he never tacks on to his night sleep so our days will start earlier and earlier because we aren't doing a long enough day, so what to do?

[My little Liam]

I feel like we are in this horrible loop of UT/OT because of constant bad nights and then with the short pm nap he is grumpy for the rest of the afternoon. The only time he is in a really good mood is after his morning nap.

[My little Liam]

I have been reading some other threads and have seen advice with capped naps with a long A time before BT, for example

0600 wake
0945-1115 sleep
1500-1545 sleep
1900 BT
That is 3hr15 A to BT after a capped 45 min nap for a 10 month old. How is it possible that he doesn't become OT by BT? You said that a rough rule was 2.5hrs to BT after a 45 min nap...

How does this work?

[jessmum46]

It is so dependent on the LO.  There's no one rule that fits all and my rough rule of thumb was just that - a rough idea.  It depends on so many factors including how long the A was before the nap e.g. if first A was 3h, LO might handle another 3h after a 30 min nap, but if first A was 4h, they'd likely handle less A afterwards.  Does that make sense?  The routine you posted above might suit some LOs but not all.  I wish I could give you a definite answer, but I don't know your LO and what he can handle anywhere near as well as you do . Consistency is important - whatever you choose to do, do it for at least five days before changing things again or it's almost impossible to say if something is working or not.