Naps gone haywire ... what happened

[Antoinesmom]

Antoine, my 9month old, is a spirited baby and has been hard to teach the art of sleeping naps. Nights have been  great since he's 4 months.

For naps, he has a nap from  9:15ish to 11 ish and from 1:30 ish to 3ish. His naps have been more regular since he's 6 months, he'll sleep between 1:30 and two hours easily for each naps. But for the last two days, the naps have left the building!!! I put him to be using the same routine of reading a book and put to bed when he shows signs of being tired, once I leave the room, he'll scream a huge scream and then immediately start talking to himself, drop teddy on the floor, shake the crib, slap the wall and crib, ect. I can hear him going from one end of his crib to the other all the while talking and babbling. Occasionnally, he'll let a cry out but more to test his voice then to ask for me so I let it go. It's taking approx. an hour for him to finally settle only to wake up 5-10 minutes later crying for dear life. He won't go back down no matter what I do. (Check diaper, pd (9month old)). This afternoon my mother babysat him as she does every Sunday and he refused to sleep. She said he was screaming his heart out.

Why is he doing this? Could it be because he getting close to starting to walk? He's cruising and sometimes testing his balance. When it's time for bedtime at night he is just exhausted because he barely slept during the day. I'm now putting him to bed an hour earlier then the usual 7.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[debo620]

Hi, what time does he wake in the am? is it at 7am? I am wondering if his A times are too short---my son's A times are 3hrs 15min, 4hrs, and then 3hrs about. He is also 9months old and very spirited. If I put him in his crib too early---he just lays in there and plays, but instead of playing for a few minutes and then falling asleep. he just gets himself more revved up and can't settle, and then he is of course overtired and only sleeps 30-45min.

[litomi]

It sounds like separation anxiety to me, coz you mentioned that your LO starts screaming the minute you leave the room. 

[Antoinesmom]

I don`t believe it`s seperation anxiety, we went through it and it was much worse. He has always let a scream out when we close the door. It`s more of a protestation than anything else.

Antoine wakes up either at 6:30 or sometimes 7. I go get him out at 7. If he wakes earlier he usually talks to his teddy bear and plays with his blankets, he`s a happy baby in the morning. We put him down when he shows signs of tiredness and we have a nice quiet winding down time rocknig and reading a book. He recently started to stay up until 9:30 before the first nap and is up around 11 for his snack. Depending of the time he woke up, he`ll be back in bed around the 1:30 mark. Then he`s up at 3ish until bedtime at night. He just started to take an hour to fall asleep a few days ago. I`m just trying to figure out why this is happening and what I can do to have the great naps again.

What is your routine?

[debo620]

hi, I do think you maybe need longer A times. the second A time seems quite short.they will show tired signs b/c that is when they are use to going to bed, kwim. my son also did that playinf in the bed excessively when he was learning to crawl. It went away in about 1 week- that might also be the problem if he is learning a new skill.
we are currently struggling with a early wake-up since the time change, so our routine/naps are a mess. my son definately seems to handle above average A times. I will post our old routine:

wake,bf 6
nap 9:15-10:15
10:15 snack 6oz formula
12/12:30 lunch
nap 2/2:15-3:30/3:45
3:30 bf
5:30 supper
6:30 bedtime routine, in bed and asleep by 7:15

[Antoinesmom]

Well today, I put him in bed at 9:30 this morning because he was really tired and starting on cranky. He finally fell asleep at 10:30 and I let him sleep until 11:30. I let him up until 2 and he's still talking it out up there (it's 2:20).

I just feel confused and concern that a late afternoon nap would affect his bedtime. Would this routine make sense?

7 up and bottle
8 breakfast
10 nap
11:30 or noon up and lunch
3:00 nap
5:00 dinner
6:00 bathtime and pj
6:30 bottle
7 bedtime

[Sam's mum]

Hi

My LO is roughly the same age and I have the same thing, she was consistently having 2 1.5 hour naps per day until about a week and half ago - now when I put her down too early she can spend up to 40 minutes standing, crawling, shouting, playing with her blankie, etc.  I found that if I go for roughly 3 to 3.15 hours after her wake up (not the time I get her up but when she wakes) so if she wakes around 6.15 we don't get her up until 6.30 but in my head I know she'll be ready for the nap around 9.15/9.30.  Same applies for her pm nap although she can sometimes stay up a little longer for that more like 3 - 3.5 hours then nap.  I know what you mean about concern for the bedtime but I keep thinking that by then she will have been up for a total number of hours meaning she'll still be tired come bedtime (although in my head I don't think I'd let her sleep later than 4pm - not had to cross that bridge yet).  Also I've found she needs a bit less sleep during the day now so one nap will be more like 1 hour and the other 1.5 hours (if I don't try to put her down too early!!) and she'll sometimes swap the longer and shorter nap between am and pm.

HTH

[debo620]

I totally agree with pp.

[Antoinesmom]

Thanks gals,

I've gotten so use to our routine that I was really caught of track when he started to do this. He actually fell asleep at 2:30 for his afternoon nap and woke up at 3. He was still tired but refused to go back to sleep. He was hungry probably because we skipped the morning snack. I'll see tomorrow if he'll go until 10 for nap, if I do that should I give him a small snack before his nap?

[debo620]

I think if he has a good bf and breakfast, then he should be fine for that am nap. try ground oatmeal---it can be quite filling

[Sam's mum]

I'm now formula feeding my LO (used to be bf) but if I think she's getting too near a bottle time I split the bottle feed (this is currently her "snack") and give her a little before the nap... sometimes it helps but not always.  Like yesterday she just had 30 mins in the afternoon.  I think they find the adjustments as difficult as we do sometimes!! 

[Antoinesmom]

I guess it's really a try and error time now. Yesterday was hectic, we had our playgroup in the morning. He slept in the car on the way back home and only slept 30 minutes in the afternoon. He was very clingy and grumpy because of lack of sleep.

Today, we had the shopping to do, he slept on the way back and this afternoon we put him in bed at 1:30 and he slept till 3:10!! Hopefully we've found the new deal. It's nice to have some predictability during the day. As for snack, I may try to bring it up before his morning nap depending when it'll be. We normally have fresh fruit with cheese and water. He takes milk/formula with his lunch.

Thanks for all your help.