Last A time of the day question

[Pinkviolet]

Hi,

My little one is nearly 8 months in a few days. Our EASY is off kilter at the minute for several reasons ( have posted on other boards), however I'm working to get back on track. My question is, for an 8 month old what is the optimum A time between the last nap and bedtime. He tends to wake regularly between 4-5am and usually at other random times in the night but the 4-5am us pretty consistant. I've just read the FAQ's on EW and it said that EW can be caused by not enough A time at the end of the day. We aim for 3hr 15 min A time as a general rule of thumb but sometimes the last A time can be four hours or two hours dependent on how naps have gone. Is two hours too short? So for example today he had a 20 min catnap at 4.20 with a bt of 7pm. If he didn't have the catnap his last A would have been over four hours.

Thanks in advance

[jessmum46]

There's no one size fits all answer.  It depends very much on the individual LO, nap length, A time before the nap, total A time across the day.....really you need to look at the routine as a whole.  Two hours may be too short after a 2h nap for example but may be too long after a 15 minute catnap if you see what I mean.  Do you have a routine post going elsewhere?

[Pinkviolet]

Thanks for your reply. I see what you mean. No, I don't have a routine post going, but have had advice re naps and night wakings which I'm trying pu/pd for five days. I was just wondering if there was a standard age related amount if time, but like you say it's about the whole  routine. Thanks for replying.