Author Topic: nearly 6 mth old trying to drop late afternoon nap & overtireness/overstimulated  (Read 863 times)

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Offline Mum2Connor

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Hi there I'm still finding my way around so I hope I've posted in the right spot.  My DS is 2 weeks shy of 6 mths and has in the last 9 days dropped his late afternoon nap 4 itmes.  If we need to run errands I try to do them around the 11am feed, otherwise I find he gets so overtired/overstimulated being a spirited bub with textbook and angel mixed in.

He is formula fed, we always offer 240mls which he sometimes finishes but generally b/w 160 & 220mls. Here is our routine:

6/6.30am wake & babble in cot
7am E bottle, nappy change, then A
8.15/8.30am winddown around 5mins on mum's lap in his room, whispering & quiet singing. Lay down to S.
Wakes usually 10/10.30am babbles till 11am

11am E bottle, nappy change, then A
11.50am E Solids: pumpkin (started pumkin yesterday), then more A
12.15/12.30 winddown as above. S till 2/2.30pm babbles till 3pm

3pm E bottle, nappy change and A as above.
4.15/4.30pm start winddown as above.  Nap till 5.10pm - however, has dropped this nap on 4 occassions.  I always offer the nap in any case. If he doesn't nap I get him up when he mantra cry or babbling changes to crying out for me which has still been approx. 5pm. 

5.10pm E Solids: Cereal [had been giving cereal at 11.50am for 1, then it to this time 2 days ago when started pumkin)
5.20pm A - watches baby einstein while Mum gets bath ready
5.30pm bath
6pm E bottle
6.15/6.30pm S bed - on the days he has dropped the cat nap he is virtually falling asleep drinking the bottle.
DF b/w 9.30pm & 10.30pm

Twice a week at 10.15am we walk to the gym and Connor is in creche for 1.5 hours from 10.30-12pm.   Sometimes I'm told by the creche staff he goes back to sleep before 11am but not always.  I always ask the staff to just let him be quiet in his stroller from 10.30-11am rather than get him up and be too stimulated.

I've been trying to slightly extend his A times after day sleeps, which sometimes works by 5-10min and other times he doesn't like it so winddown is cut short. I think this is because of his more often than not waking before feeds.  I usually keep him in his cot at those times if he is happy.

Q's:
Is it ok that he is falling asleep on the 6pm bottle?  I figure if he has been awake from the 3pm feed he has been up a very long time and is very tired.

Also on the occassion where he has woken the 40min to 1 hour before a feed and is upset due to either overtireness/overstimulation for whatever reason I find that he is hard to calm down lately.  I tried pupd a couple of times and it seemed to make matters worse, I think this is because of his spiritedness.  I usally verbally tell him you're ok you're just going to sleep and pat his side and give him his cuddle bunny, today this didn't work and as a result got him up at 2.30pm.

Sorry for such a long post.  Hope you can help.

Many thanks




Sonja from Oz
Connor born 15 March 2006
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Offline jwig

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Hello - I am no expert and am a newbie to this site but wanted to respond as our babies are on the exact same schedule give or take a half hour.  I think it is okay that your baby falls asleep on the last bottle - it sounds like he is sleeping wonderfully during the night so I would not change this (ie - try to keep him awake).  With regards to the waking up a while before his feed and therefore being fussy, this happens a lot with my sweetie and lately I have been using a soother to calm her down and then giving her some time in her room on her blanket. When she is settled we go downstairs and start our official activity time.  I don't go to activity until she is calm for 15 minutes, I find it takes me a lot longer to calm her if I skip this part. 

btw - Kate is just over 5 months (born March 28th) and I am struggling with short naps - usually her second nap but lately this switched to her first or even to both.

Hope this helps.

Offline Mum2Connor

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Hi jwig - thankyou, it is good to know that Connor's schedule, including the waking isn't unusual.  [I haven't been able to get onto the site until today due to those terrible hackers, can't believe they targeted a site like this where I'm sure there are some mothers who really rely on it for help.  Ok I'll jump down from my soap box now!]

I also just realised I had Connor's DOB wrong on my signature, it should be 15 March  :P

Connor has dropped his late afternoon nap the last 4 days in row, so I think this may be the end of this nap?  We'll see what happens this afternoon.  I still offer him the nap as he starts to show tired signs and even if he doesn't sleep I figure he can use the quiet time. 

When he wakes early he generally babbles, so I leave him be as he is happy talking to his cuddle bunny which is very similar to what your Kate does.  Yesterday though he woke 40 mins early before the 3pm E crying really hard and tears  :( I had to get him up (just cuddles and quiet singing till he calmed down) as he was so upset, and gave him paracetemol I think it may be teeth movement pain.  He is grizzling a little on and off during play the last 2 days, which he did about 1 month ago.  No swollen gums though or signs of a tooth.

The hard crying has also occured the last 3 nights b/w 8.30-9.30pm, again panadol as I wondered if he was in pain? and then DF early as he also seemed hungry early? This is getting a bit confusing and becoming like cluster feeding.  He goes to sleep quickly afterwards.  Maybe it has something do with solids twice daily now?  We are about to introduce the 3rd solid on Saturday so that will bring him up to 3 solids p/day.

Sonja from Oz
Connor born 15 March 2006
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