Nap tailspin.

[camys mum]

Hello,

I wonder if someone could take a look at our messy routine. We are in a bit of a tailspin and as much as I try, we can't seem to get out.
My LO close to 8 months now, was on a really nice routine of
6.30am wake - 6.30pm bed with two 1.5 naps and a catnap (which he started to refuse). All of a sudden he is refusing naps.

Changes that have been going on are; Teething, Constipation, I'm back to feeding every 3 hours (instead of 4) to get more liquid into him to help with the constipation. We dropped the DF about two weeks ago, but added a feed during the day.


Our routine which is really messy, yesterday looked like this:
W. 5.30am (couldn't get him back down)
s 8.00am (he was rubbing his eyes and yawning and even though he's done longer A time, I put him down due to his early rising). Slept 1.10mins.
s: 11.45 (refused)
s: 1pm (only in the pram) 30mins
s: 4.30 (only in the pram) 30mins

I don't get it......he usually goes down no bother? I'm trying to figure out what to do. DH says this isn't an exact science, but I feel like I might be doing something wrong, certainly wouldn't be the first time. Sigh. 

[Purplecattypants]

Hi there,

So sorry you're having a hard time, these babies certainly know how to confuse us!

Could it be that he's ready for more A time? Refusing naps, especially the catnap, and ew's could mean he's not tired enough and only needs 2 naps, with 3 hours A time in between. At 8 months I think its common for them to be able to handle this much. What do you think?

[camys mum]

Hey Purplecattypants,

Absolutely, I totally agree. That's what we were doing before the storm hit, trying to extend the A time to 3 hours. I ran into some OT at the 2.45/2.55 mark though, so felt it wasn't quite there yet. So I kept up with the catnap. I went out for a walk this morning and was thinking perhaps I shouldn't have tried so hard with the catnap (took him out in the pram). As this made his bedtime later than 6.30pm. That together with the OT and short naps, has thrown everything out of whack.
So I'm kind of trying to get things back and feel like if I can sort out the naps, things could perhaps fall back into place?
He woke at 5.30am this morning, so I'm thinking we probably need to have 3 naps to get us through the day. Oddly enough, I just put him down for nap number 2 at the 3 hour mark and he went down no problem......oh, so nice! Hopefully he won't wake after 30 minutes.
Sounds like we just have to keep up with the 3 hour A times and a couple of days of really watching him to get back on track?
They certainly do know how to confuse us!
 

[Purplecattypants]

There is no harm in trying 2hrs 40 or even 2hrs 50....just adjust the day accordingly. Jumping straight to 3 hrs is going to cause OT as you have discovered! Best to increase by 10 mins every 3 days or so for the first slot, then the same (every 3 days) for each of the other slots. This gradual increase will make sure he doesnt get OT. You will find that he still needs the catnap until he can handle a full 3 hrs A time, but its a good idea to limit it to 30mins so he's not getting too much day sleep. If no catnap, then put to bed early, or if the catnap is going to cause bedtime to be late then its preferable to skip it and just have an early bedtime. Hope that makes sense!

[brenda2]

we are having similar problems with our 8 mo right now.  she was doing 2 long naps and a catnap (which was sometimes as short as 20 min when i'd wake her up to still get to bed at a reasonable time) until 2 weeks ago when she started really fighting the catnap.  so i started extending A times and putting to bed early on the days with no catnap which was working fine.  some days she has the catnap and some days not, depending on length of previous naps...the last week she has done only 2 naps with an earlier bedtime (which i like a lot better).  but the last 2 days she's fighting all naps, she eventually goes down for them and sleeps 45 min - 2 hours but with a bit of crying which is not normal for her, she can go to sleep totally independently with no fuss usually.  anyway, i'm not sure why or what to do about it...  at least she's still sleeping through the night even with all the nap mess.  is you LO doing ok at night?

[camys mum]

Hello,
Yes, makes lot's of sense! Just not working quite the way I'm hoping though! I think the 5.30am wake-up makes our day quite wonky, finding it a bit hard to get back on track.
Today at least he went down with no fuss (how it was a few days ago) but woke after 45 minutes. I know that can mean UT but I'm still not sure he's at the 3 hour mark, but I feel like we are getting close! At least he wasn't crying a lot before the nap. Hurrah!
TBH he's been a bit moany the last couple of days, and his top two teeth are poking through now, so I think it's the A times and the teeth - bah!
Brenda, yes, thankfully he is still sleeping through, but waking too early at 5.30am. I really think the naps are they key. Interesting you are going through the same, sounds very similar. I wonder if by increasing the A time, it'll take a while to adjust to the new times? Until the next change.....oi, oi,oi.