Age, teething or need more A time?

[croft]

Hi,

My LO Daniel is 9 months old and we have always battled with naps due to silent reflux. He is medicated and happy and for the last 2 months I have looked back at our logs and noted that he rarely sleeps 3 hours in the day. He was around the 7 month mark, but now we are getting different times every day. He will sleep 1 1/2 - 2 hours maybe once a week, but mostly 1- 1.15 hour naps.

I am wondering if it is the age he is that is causing this. He has popped 6 teeth, not crawling and sleeps independently. He sleeps well at night 11-11/12 hours.

I worry he getting not enough sleep although he seems happy enough, though a little fussy & hyper at the end of the day.

He is an early riser, always has been, but latley is waking more at 6am.

I am wondering if I need to change his routine?

WAKE..............5.30/6.00
BOTTLE............6.30
BREAKFAST.......7.30
A TIME..............2.45h
ASLEEP.............8.15/8.45

NAP...................45-1.30h

BOTTLE............10.30
LUNCH.............11.30
A TIME...............2.45h
ASLEEP.............12.30/1.00

NAP...................1-1.30h

BOTTLE.............2.30
DINNER..............5.00
BATH.................5.30
A TIME..............4.00h/4.30
BOTTLE.............6.00

BED...................6.15/6.30

Thanks
Sharron

[*Natasha*]

Hi Sharron,

I know all about reflux my DD suffered from it as well.
Ok at this age Most babies need around 3hrs of nap and 11.5hrs at night,so for night sleep you are doing great. However this is a crazy age as most babies start crawling and getting teeth i know it was a crazy time for us due to these reasons.
Ok as far as your routine i would try and extend the awake time to 3-3.5hrs also 4-4.5hr awake time is far to long at this age. If he wakes early from his nap say 45mins do you try and resettle him and if so how?

[croft]

Hi Natasha thankyou for replying,

I am sorry to hear your LO suffered reflux, it is a horrible phase for them. I hope DD is much better now, my Daniel is a different baby.

To answer your question, I used shh/pat to help him through the short nap (5-6 month age) and it worked well. Now if he wakes early from his nap I leave him in his cot for 1/2 an hour to see if he will go back to sleep, unless he begins to get upset, sometimes he goes back to sleep without fuss, but most times he will just roll around quite happy until I go and get him and sometimes he gets upset, this is when I think it is teething or something. I watch him on the monitor and if he looks like he is trying to go back to sleep and can't I will go in and PUPD and try to get him back to sleep, but most times he is wide eyed awake and ready to get up! So I get him up!

As for extending the awake time, is it best to do the morning session first as in going from 3-4 hour EASY?

I have tried a few naps at the 3 hour mark, simply because he just took longer to go to sleep, but he still has woken earlier than 1 1/2 hours, so this is where I was unsure. Do you have to move the A time slowly over a period of time before the naps improve? Maybe 1 or 2 naps doesn't count?

As for the 4-4.5hr awake time, he seems to fall asleep easier in this bed time, but I was not sure really how long they should stay up before bed? He is so hard to read these days.

Thanks for your advice
Sharron