Naps suddenly becoming erratic - 11 month old

[Dairy Queen]

Hi there,

My 11 month-old son’s naps have become rather unpredictable.  He used to consistently sleep 2 x 90 minutes, at 9:30am and 2:30pm.  After I read a book to him, I could just put him in the crib and he’d calmly go to sleep.

Now, the morning nap varies anywhere between 40 min and 2 hours.  Then, I have a very difficult time with the PM nap.  Regardless of how long he’s slept in the AM, he’ll be very fussy in the PM; I tried shifting the PM and AM naptime a little [earlier… later…], but I am not too sure how to do this, and my attempts have not been successful so far.  Moreover, eliminating/decreasing the AM nap doesn’t seem to help.  He’ll just get really cranky.

For instance, yesterday, when I put him in his crib for nap 2, he just whined for 45mintes and then finally began to cry.  I tried PU/PD for 30 minutes, but no luck.  He was just exhausted from all the crying.  I finally ‘pretended’ he had slept and went in to BF.  He fell asleep under the breast for 5 minutes and could barely suck when awake.  Afterwards, he was fine, but I still put him to bed 30 minutes earlier at night, to compensate for the skipped nap.

Current routine:
6:30 wake and BF
7:30 breakfast
9:30 nap 1, varies anywhere between 40 minutes – 2 hours
11:30 BF
12:30 lunch
2:30 nap 2 sometimes he just won’t nap at all.
4:00 BF
5:00 supper
7:30 BF and sleep

Any help would be greatly appreciated 

Thanks!
Sherry

[SylvieA]

Have you tried putting him for his nap 15-30 mins later, when he won't settle. This is what I do with DS. I'll just cuddle or let him be a little worn around me and try again 15 min later. If this doesn't work I'll do one other try and will work. I always gage our naps based on how our night went. If he slept through without a sound he'll be good for 3-3.5hrs before nap vs. if he gets a few night wakes he'll go after 2.5hrs.  And same goes for the length of 1st nap. HTH. This is what works for us.

[Dairy Queen]

Hi there,

What if it doesn't work the second time around... then would you just skip the whole thing?

Also, do you go through the whole sleep ritual again... For instance, would you read another book [if that's part of the ritual]?

Thanks!
Sherry

[SylvieA]

Hi there
I would normally keep trying until he can get settled enough to sleep. Even if it is to nap for only 30 minutes. In my case, DS really gets into a bad mood without a bit of sleep. This rarely happens to us but yesterday it took me 1hr to get him to sleep. I think he was overtierd. The only way I would give up his nap is if he is within 1hr to his actual bedtime, then I would start his betime routine a bit early.

[Dairy Queen]

I appreciate the advice and will give it a try. 

If it takes me too long to put him to sleep [say over an hour], and he does actually end up napping in the PM, then it becomes hard to put him down at 7 - 7:30 for bedtime...

Thanks again 

Sherry