Why waking earlier in morning?

[Purplecattypants]

I would keep experimenting tbh. Anything you change can take up to 3 days to have an effect/stabilise. If you're not comfortable with such a long A in the morning then by all means keep it shorter....most lo's have their shortest A in this slot. That is good about his long nap the other day...what happened the rest of the day? It is fine to let him sleep up to 2 hours if it doesnt affect his night....I always limit naps to 1.5hrs, just because if I let him sleep longer it definately takes away from night time (we either get random wakeups in the night to "chat", or early wakeups). It may be that you lo is fine with slightly longer naps, so i would keep experimenting.

I think you just need to pick and A time and continue with it for 3 days to see what happens. Then you can judge how it is working and if you need to tweak. Doing something different everyday withh confuse the issue, so stick with it for a while. Given that he took quite a while to fall asleep and then had a 1 hr nap would suggest that he wasnt tired enough, but it may just have been a fluke.

What have the afternoon naps been like?

[smck]

Morning Angela

You're in UK aren't you?  How is the weather where you are?  It was absolutely scorching here yesterday, lovely again this morn.

Looks like it's a bit of trial and error till you get it right for your lo. I suppose they're all different.

His morning and afternoon nap on Friday were both 2 hrs and he then slept till 7am yesterday morn.  Though I'd cracked it until yesterday! (though did think it was too easy after one day!)  short nap yesterday morning then his aft nap he woke after about 45mins but I managed to resettle him for another 45 mins.  He was really difficult to settle last night though, I think he was ot, he was awake from 4pm and didn't fall asleep until after 8pm.

I take it it's best to sort out one nap at time and once sleeping, start tweaking the afternoon nap.

Can I just clarify that I should stick with an A time for at least 3 days even if it isn't working?  eg if I give him  3h 30 A time but he wakes cos he's overtired do I still run with this for 3 days and then tweak?

I was also wondering whene do you put your lo down for nap.  If giving say 3h 15m A time do you put lo down at this time or 5, 10 mins before??

[Purplecattypants]

Morning!

Yes, i'm in Hampshire. Hot here too yesterday, although not brilliant sunshine, bit cloudy but still hot. I'm surprised its not raining where you are...thats what it usually does in scotland isnt it? lol.

Hmmmm, if he's doing short OT naps then no, I wouldnt stick to the longer A time, try reducing to say 3hrs 20. I know my lo was very sensitive to this, and at one point 3hrs 20 was magic, 3hrs 30 was OT hell, so it really can be that much of a fine line. If you want an A time of say 3hrs 20, and he falls asleep within 10 mins, then yes put him down at the 3hrs 10 mark. And yes, try to sort one nap at a time.

[smck]

Yes, usually rains in Scotland.  We are so excited when we see the sun, we run out and get the bbq going!

So 10 mins can make a big difference.  That's difficult when someone is babysitting Lewis cos they tend to be more loose with times.  I'll need to be strict when my Mum has him.

He had A time of 3 h 10 this morn and slept 1h 30 so this may be the magic number for now!! I'll probably just get there and it will all change again anyway but good to know now when he is ot and ut. 

Off to get his lunch ready now!

Thank you again!

[smck]

Hi Angela

Just wanted to let you know that Lewis is sleeping most mornings till 7am now.  Still working on the daytime naps but getting there!  I've moved his bedtime from 7.30pm to 7pm as you suggested -seems to have done the trick with the ew.

THANKS!!

Can I ask you something else - at the mo I bf Lewis before his bath per the EASY routine.  I'd like to change it round to bath first then bf then bed.  Do you think this would be ok to do or would it upset him too much?

Sharon

[smck]

Oh well, he woke at 545am this morning.  He didn't have good naps yesterday as we were out and about.  Looks like when he hasn't had enough daytime hours sleep he wakes early the next morning.  Is this what usually happens with lo?

[Purplecattypants]

Hi Sharon sorry wasnt on yesterday so only just read your post. Thats great that he's been doing better, apart from this morning that is! It shouldnt be a problem swapping bf to after the bath, thats what we do 

In answer to your naps question....yes, if he hasnt napped well during the day then we often get an EW too. J usually just chats to himself, sometimes goes back to sleep, sometimes not  Sometimes I have to get up with him and change his nappy, then he'll go back off. Saying that, the past few days he's had pretty much NO sleep during the day for various reasons. Its really catching up with him now, short OT naps, waking after going to bed, woke last night at 1:30am....so putting him down for his naps super early today and so far this one he's been asleep an hour so fingers crossed! Letting him sleep as long as he wants so he can catch up bless him.

So yes, usually if he has a day of bad naps we get an ew like you. I am thinking that I might need to start limiting his morning nap to an hour, but am going to see what happens when we're back on track.

Hope your lo manages some good naps today and that you have a good night 

[smck]

Hi Angela

We swapped bf and bath round last night which went fine . Hope your lo had good naps yesterday and is getting back on an even keel.

[Purplecattypants]

Yes back on track now thankfully. Glad the swap went well! 

[smck]

loving the new photo 

[Purplecattypants]

Awww thanks!! 

[smck]

Hi Angela

can I pick your brains about general nap issue??

If lo doesn't nap so well, should you cut the next A time or bring bedtime forward by the time the nap was cut short?

Thanks

Btw, naps going better, still have some off days when we're out and about as Lewis is too nosy to sleep in pushchair.  Not sure that I can change that!!

[Purplecattypants]

Yes, if they have a short nap its a good idea to shorten the next A time by 15-30 mins to avoid OT. Obviously if its the last nap that's cut short, then indeed bring bedtime forward.

I know what you mean about them not sleeping in the pushchair...I dont even bother trying anymore!