7 month old short naps

[Hayleys]

Hi!

My DD2 turned 7 months yesterday and is an independent sleeper.  Since she has been a few weeks old we have been having problems with short naps. I've always stuck to the recommended A times for her age and this has not made a difference so I've put it down to it being developmental. She would just tend to only sleep for 35 mins.

Up until last week I've been winging it really with two naps at home and a APed cat nap a few hours before bedtime. However, she was starting to resist the catnap so last week we just went for two naps and one of these was in the pushchair so I could easily rock her back to sleep when she woke so she did get an hr and a half for this one. I think I've lost my way with the A times for her age so I'm looking for some guidance. Last week her A times were 2 hrs 45 mins but yesterday and today I increased this to 3 hrs. I'm going to hold this for a few days and see what happens. If this doesn't work what sort of time is reasonable for her age?

Our Easy in the last week has been looking like this:

WU 7:30
A 2:45
S 10:15-10:50
A 2:45
S 1:35- 3:05 (rocked back to sleep when woken)
BT :6:30 (usually asleep by 7 pm)

At night she wakes twice for milk and during the early evening and after 5 am is tends to wake a lot so I think her nights are affected by what is happening in the day. What we are doing really isn't working.

I'm also just wondering if I could generally have some help with her easy as whilst I want her to be on two long naps I also need to factor in the school run for DD1. I don't mind the WU time being earlier if needed. It is the afternoon which is a problem right now. So I need to leave the house at around 2:50 pm. My DH works from home so there is a possibility that if she can do a long nap then I can leave her at home while I pick up DD1 as I'm usually only 45 mins and he will be in the next room to her. Usually he is not working from home around twice a month but I could ask family/friends to collect DD1 from school if necessary or just accept that DD1 will have a short afternoon nap on this day.

Any advice or guidance really appreciated!

[FPT23]

Hi there

So sorry for your troubles- hopefully some of our suggestions can help you out a bit!

First of all, at this age I wouldn't recommend anymore CNs at the end of the day. If both naps are short I would just opt for EBT to help her catch up if needed.

At this age she can def pull off 3hr AT. You mentioned you keep up with ATs and that's great that your on top of that! Remember, all babies are different and 2.45 is the lowest but the average is BETWEEN 2.45-3.15....I would get her at a 3 hr AT. Meet in the middle of those A times and see if it helps. i would get that morning nap to be asleep by 10:30 instead of up at 7:30. Work with that for the next 2-3 days. Staying consistent.  Once you see an increase in her morning nap length, you can move onto her next AT before her second nap- 3hrs. See if this helps

As far as her easy w school runs... that's a toughy. We went through that! It was very hard for me too but I mostly felt bad for DS2. But he did great when I look back. Some days were tricky and others it worked out...
The best advice I can give is just flow with it bc no two days will be the same. Hard to predict how the naps will be. KWIM? What I used to do at this age is simply have to extend the AT before nap 2, go pu DS1, come home and nap immediately. I kept him from snoozing in the car (those dreaded 10 min or so CNs in the car that throw everything off grrrrr haha) by having DS1 make him laugh, give him a stimulating toy, or lower the windows/talk to him

I know it's not "ideal" to push them beyond their AT limits as per "average A times" but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Other times I had to wake him up and then just have an earlier bedtime which made no difference in his morning WU time either btw ....just know that time flies and with growth come AT pushes anyhow. Soon she will fit into it. Sometimes siblings have to sacrifice a bit more but they adjust I assure you

Hugs xo