Scheduling naps around "camp run" for 9.5 month old

[jcsmom]

Hello everyone,

My DD is now 9 months old and is finally, FINALLY taking decent naps and sleeping quite well at night thanks to everyone over at GS. My DS is going to camp this summer and I will need to drive him over 30 mins each way so I would like to aim for her to have a longer nap around midday  but pushing AM A time doesn't work as she gets OT. She handles a longer A time better at the end of the day. Her A times are between 3 and 4 with some variation depending on nap length. Our EASY is not bad (the best it has ever been). She tends to get about 2.25 in day sleep and 11.75 at night. If she sleeps longer in the day she tends to wake a lot in the night or has an EW (after months of logging). If she is awake a lot in the night naps can be longer but then she wakes more the following night. Here is our loose EASY as every day her first nap is a different length.

WU anywhere from 6-6:45 usually 6:30
E 7 BF 8 am solids (oatmeal and fruit)
S 9:30 or 9:45 (3-3.25 A) and she will sleep from 1-1.5 hours. She has wierd nap lengths of 1 hour 5,7,8,13,15,18,23)
E BF upon waking (she is phasing this one out)
E 12 lunch of meat and veg and avocado
S 2/2:15/2:30 usually 3.25-3.5 after first nap. Have yet to quite figure this A out. We usually get at least 1 hour 5 on the rare occasion 25-36 mins. On an even rarer occasion 1 hour 25 mins.
E BF upon waking
E 5 supper of rice, potatoes, crackers, rice pasta
E BF at 6:15/6:30
S in bed between 6:30 and 7 sometimes shortly after 7 if naps have been good
NW usually 1 time between 1 and 4 for a BF. She will wake for long periods if she has good naps totalling over 2.5 hours

So you can see she is quite inconsistent but this is the best it has ever been. This AM she woke at 6:45 after falling asleep late last night at 7:20 with one NF at 3:30. Nap was 10-11:20 so her PM nap will be later today as well and I suspect short. With the camp run I was wondering if I might have a better chance at one longer nap if  let her sleep in the car on the way home from the camp run then a longer nap after lunch for 1.5 hours. She has only ever slept for 2 hours once in the last 6 months! Is this doable or even worth trying?

[*Becky*]

I think it is def worth trying. How long is the camp for?

[jcsmom]

He goes for most of the month of July from 9-4 I think. But it's quite a drive, say 30ish mins. Here is our EASY from today:
S 6:45-2:15
E 2:15-2:30 (also diaper change as she poops in the night every night )
S 2:30-6:15 out of crib at 6:45
E 6:45 then at 8 solids
S 9:30-10:43 ( I am aiming for 3:15 in the AM as anything longer has been yielding us 30 mins or cry outs during nap) I think though our WU is starting to creep up
E nursed upon waking then solids at 12
S I will put her down at 2:15 and hope she sleeps at least an hour (sometimes she does sometimes 30 mins but mostly at least an hour)

[*Becky*]

I guess if you want/need the main nap to be around midday you will need to cap the am...

[jcsmom]

PM nap was 45 mins after 3.5 hours A which for her is OT but not a bad day.
As for capping what do you suggest in terms of A's?

[*Becky*]

well it is really about what will fit around the schedule you have for camp run.
How long do you think you can get her to sleep in the am on the way back?

[jcsmom]

I am not sure really. She usually only sleeps 30-40 mins in the car.

[jcsmom]

Ugh and now we are dealing with EWs. She used to sleep til 6:30 or even 7 and lately every day she has been up at 6:08! It seems the longer and better her morning nap gets the shorter her night sleep. Help!

[*Becky*]

I am a bit hesitant at commenting on your EASY as I know you have had great advice from the girls over on GS and don't want to possibly confuse that. If she will only sleep max 40 mins in the car then I would do that and then aim for about 2.5 hours A time before she has her longer nap - do you think that would work with your timings?

[jcsmom]

Yes they have given me amazing advice. Not trying to change too much. Just need to get through these next few weeks. She slept 35 mins today and have just put her down after 3 hours A so we will see what happens. Proabably too long. Oh well. Will just plod through I guess.
Eta she slept 35 mins for her pm nap. Perhaps we should lock this and I will keep posting in GS?

[Shiv52]

Hey Becky

Don't mind us over on GS!! Can you see anything in the EAS that stands out?  Please do say.

What time are you back from the camp run?

[jcsmom]

Hi Shiv,
Perhaps I should keep with one post. Shall we continue over in GS? Or shall I start a new one? Sleep is back to truly awful again. I have to leave the house for about 8:30 and am back at about 9:45. She is usually napping around 9:30/45 but today I could not keep her awake and she slept from 9:30-10:05. After, I put her down just after 1 and she slept 35 mins again. She is also EWing. Today at 6:08 after a 7:50 BT I do need all the help I can get!

[*Becky*]

any teeth on the move?

I think if she does a short nap in the am (which is totally fine during camp run) then you need to cut the A time a a bit before the second nap - maybe aim for 2.5 hours after a 30/35 min nap...I would imagine after the EWing she was that extra bit tired.

Does she normally EW? If so is it more likely from UT or OT....I have one of each in my house!

[jcsmom]

She usually has an EBT of 6:30/6:45 because her naps are so short so I guess the 6:08 was not really an EW except it took her so long to fall asleep the night before. Today I managed to keep her awake so it looked like this:
bed 6:30
NF 2:30-2:45 or so
wu 6:25
S 9:44-10:41
S 2:21-3:18

As you can see she is not a stellar napper and it is not improving with increased A times. In fact the in the last 5 days since I have upped her A times her naps have gotten shorter 45 mins to 1 hour 15. She does manage pretty good nights most nights though.