10 month old naps are changing...what should I do?

[1sttimemamma]

My DS is a little over 10 months and we're starting to have trouble with the morning nap. It's too short (I think) - maybe 45 minutes to 55 minutes. Sometimes he does a short afternoon nap so his daytime sleep is somewhere around 2 hours or under. This short AM nap has been going on for maybe a week or more - he used to be pretty tired after staying awake 4 hours and I'd wake him up so he didn't sleep too long.

Here's the schedule:

Wake up: 6:30am - let him play in crib until 7ish
BF:7:15ish
Breakfast: 8ish
Nap: 10:30
Awake: 11:15ish -----wakes up happy.
BF: 11:30
Lunch: 1:30
Nap: 2:45/3pm to 4pmish----- we wake him up at 4pm so he'll be ready for bed
BF: 4pm
Dinner: 6ish
Bed: 7 to 7:15

I'm wondering if I put him down too late for his first nap - but we go to a class in the mornings and that seems to be the time I can get him home and down to nap. He's yawning and ready to sleep by the time I put him in bed - but he pops awake after 45 minutes or so. He's a very easy going baby so it's hard to say if this is too little sleep - he does get a little wired sometimes at night before he goes to bed - but he usually goes to sleep without a problem. He also has learned within the last week how to stand up and sit up - so he does that often in his crib. Is this also starting the transition to one nap? I don't think he's near being ready for just one nap a day - but maybe I"m wrong.

[brenda2]

hey
yes, this is the start of the 2 to 1 switch.  it's so tough.  i am going through exactly the same thing with my 10 mo and it's way tougher than i thought.  she's had 2 days now with only 1 nap - wednesday and now today will only be 1 nap too.  she's just fighting the morning nap soooo much.  i can't even get her near her room unless she's practically asleep.  and then if her morning nap is too late, no way will she have another one.

so if your nights are fine and he's happy when awake i'd say it's fine.  usually what you do is limit one of the naps and let the other be long.  then the long one gradually gets closer and closer to 1 -3 pm ish and the other one gets shorter and shorter until it's gone, usually between 12-18 mo.  this is what he's doing all by himself really by having a 45 min nap in the morning and waking up happy and then having a longer one in the afternoon- it's all the sleep he needs right now.  if your mornings get any earlier i'd limit this 1st nap even more - to 30 min and then to 20 min and move the 2nd nap earlier in the day and let it be a long one.

HTH

sounds like he's doing great, he's just ready for less sleep.

[1sttimemamma]

Thank you for replying!! What do you recommend if he takes two short naps - both about 40 minutes. Does that mean he's undertired? Should I keep him awake longer than 4 hours - isn't that a long time? Also - should I try to get the first nap to be the longest and then keep the 2nd one short?

[brenda2]

hi
30 ish min naps mean OT, 45 min and longer naps mean UT.

usually they say limit the first nap and make the second one longer.  but i found the other way around has worked better for me - she was just too cranky in the day if i woke her early from the first one.  so she has a late long morning nap and a very short catnap early evening.  seems to be working, we're getting later sleep ins now.

my DD can do between 3.5 to 5 hours a time depending on when she woke, how long her nap was etc.  i'm finding it really hard to judge what her A  time should be because it's all over the map.  so just kind of going with the flow at the moment.  this morning i though she'd go down for a nap around 11, but she was asleep at 9:30 after 15 min of being fussy so i tried early.

good luck, its tough!

[dizzy]

I am having the same nightmare and was just about to post before I read yours. My LO is 10 months too. He has started waking up in the middle of nap time screaming and will not be calmed. Screamed for 25 mins this afternoon having slept for 40 mins so don't know if under tired or overtired? He had done nearly 4 hrs and crashed when I put him in the cot.
It keeps repeatly happeneing and is usually on morning nap which I just cannot get at the right time. He usually wakes at 6.15 ish and goes down for nap at 1000ish but this is so up and down at the minute. One day is too late the next too early, I just don't get it. How long are they meant to stay awake at 10 months and how do I know if he wants to go to one nap?
I hate the screaming and calming him is so hard. I have tried leaving him in the cot and comforting him, he just screams. I have tried cuddling him and walking round room to calm him and have tried sitting with him in my arms to comfort him and he just screams. He yawns in the screams and so wants to go back to sleep but won't most times. He tells me he is tired sometimes and then when I put him in the cot he is wide awake again and talking to himself other times he creashes the moment I put him in. Help!!

[brenda2]

hugs!  i know your pain, it's really so hard.

typical A time at 10 mo is 4 hours, but i'm finding my LO's A time is all over the map.  3 to 5 hours.  really hard to plan.  i just make a best guess  as to when she looks tired and go with it and haven't had any short naps.  lucky i guess.

is he hungry?  i'm having a hard time with juggling meals and bottles and adding in snacks to make sure she's not going to be hungry and wake up early from her nap.  does he have a bottle or snack right before nap time? 

the other thing is just to be consistent with how you comfort him when he's screaming.  comfort in the crib or do pu/pd but don't give in.  they learn quick if they keep crying eventually they will get a cuddle or bottle etc.

do you think he's OT and waking early from a nap so you are trying to get him to go back to sleep for more nap time?  what happens if you just get him up from the short nap?  will he take a long one later in the day for his 2nd?  this may be the best way to deal with it if you don't think he needs more sleep in the morning.  most LOs shorten one of the naps around this time anyway, so he may be doing it on his own.  then he could have one short and one long nap?

[dizzy]

I don't think he is hungry, he has a bottle before naps but I don't give him any snacks at the moment when should I be giving them?
I can't decide whether he is over tired or under tired as it is often 40 mins when he wakes. What does that mean? i think at the minute he needs more sleep as he keeps waking really crying and he used to always wake talking to himself and happy. This morning crashed as soon as put him in the cot and only slept for 30 mins so OT, he fell back to sleep on my knee for about 20 mins. On afternoon nap he messed about in the cot for about 10 mins before fell asleep and slept for 40 mins and woke up really crying so no idea whether ot or ut? I am getting panicy now as I go back to work on Monday for 3 weeks and my husband is having LO and i wanted him to take over the well oiled routine I had built up but now it is falling apart. Just can't work it out.
I am happy for him to have a short nap and a longer one but am not sure that he wants that because he keeps waking up crying so much. No idea at the moment. Help.

[brenda2]

if he's waking up crying then i'd say he's OT (45 min naps can mean UT or OT for some LOs).  try reducing your A time by 15 to 20 min and see if that makes any difference.

sounds like he still needs 2 naps.  how much total daytime sleep is he getting now?  my LO is getting about 2.5 hours and 11 to 12 at night.

you  start adding in snacks pretty soon i think (i still haven't given snacks - just 3 meals and 3 bottles kind of staggered through the day with the bottles before the naps.).

[preciousb]

Hi Brenda

Sorry for hijacking this post but could you post your LO's routine foe me please.  My LO is 9 months and we also have bottles before naps and bed.  I was a bit concerned that this wasn't really EASY but seems to work.  She also has a bottle on waking but it is only about 3 Oz so I think she is trying to drop that one.  The only issue I have is that my plunket nurse (NZ term - you have health visitors?) says I should not drop this 1st bottle but move the other 3 through out the day.

I am interested to see how your routine works.

Thanks

B

[brenda2]

what i've been doing is bottles before naps...i started at about 8 mo because she just wouldn't take the morning bottle - it was such a fight and i just decided it wasn't worth the fight. i don't feed to sleep and sometimes will give most of the bottle in the living room or somewhere and then finish it in the bedroom and follow with stories and the rest of the winddown before putting down awake.

this is pretty much what we do most days - i adjust based on wake up time which can vary by 45 min or so.

7 awake
7:15 solids
9:30 bottle
10-12 sleep
12 solids
3 bottle
3:30-4:30 sleep
5 solids
7:15 bottle
7:30-7:45 bed

no df, no overnight feeds.  she takes about 9 oz in the first 2 bottles and about 11 oz in the bedtime bottle.

[preciousb]

Thanks Brenda.  We are on a very similar routine except we have the first AM bottle feed and my LO does a shorter first nap at 10am and longer 2nd nap at 3pm.  We don't feed to sleep either and she goes to sleep independantly.

I think I am going to bite the bullet and drop that first AM bottle feed very soon.

B

[meridot]

Hello,

I'd like to weigh in on this too...  my 9-1/2 month DD has been like clockwork until the last two days; suddenly a 45-minute nap in the morning.  Which made me think: extend A time in the morning, except her wake times were different (very late yesterday) so I thought at first it was just a fluke.  But... looks like we may need to extend A time.  I'm not sure how to do this without pushing the afternoon nap too close to bedtime.  Would love to hear your thoughts.  Here's our current routine:

6:30 / 7:00 am: wake and BF

8:30 or so: solids

9:30: nap (usually 1.5 hours until last two days)

11:00 BF

12:30 or 1:00 solids

2:30: nap (usually 1.5 hours, occasionally longer, but I will wake at 4pm to not mess up bedtime)

4:00 BF

5:30 or 6:00 solids

6:45 begin bedtime routine (bath, book, final BF)

7:30 bedtime (I nurse right before putting down but not to sleep)

Wondering if we're entering into 2-1 territory (fingers crossed not yet) or if it's teething / hungry / learning new things / more A time...  so many factors!

Thanks so much,
meridot

[brenda2]

hi meridot
yes, i would push the morning nap back so it is 3 to 3.5 hours after she wakes up in the morning.  then another 3.5 to 4 hours after she wakes from this one will be the afternoon nap.  you can either limit the morning nap or limit the afternoon nap to stay on track with bedtime (i limit the afternoon nap because DD likes her morning sleep best).  also, may be time to drop down to 3 bfs and offer snacks instead.

[1sttimemamma]

Hi Brenda2 - it's been awhile since I last posted what was happening here, but now some strange stuff is going on and I thought I'd bounce it off you.

So, my DS either takes almost a 2 1/2 hour nap in the morning and a short cat nap in the afternoon, or he takes two naps about 1 1/2 hour each. The days he takes a long morning nap (over 2 hours), he goes down fairly easy for his catnap, but wakes up 30 mins to 45 mins and he is upset - crying. The other day it was ongoing crying. I get him up when he wakes up - I don't try to calm in in the crib because it only needs to be a short nap - but I can't understand why he's so upset and why it only happens on the days he has such a long morning nap. Also - he goes down for his catnap 3 to 3 1/2 hours after he wakes from his long morning nap - for example, today he woke up at 1pm from his nap and he went down at 4pm for his catnap. With only 3 hours awake time, you'd think he wouldn't be overtired, so I can't understand why he is so upset. He usually calms down after some hugs. On the days he takes two naps - he wakes up happy from his last nap. Is this common?

[brenda2]

"Is this common?"

i have no idea.  but i wouldn't let him sleep for more than 2 hours if you're going to have the catnap later on.  if he's only having 1 nap in a day then it can be a really long one, but i would wake him up from the first nap at the 2 hour mark.

my LO is often cranky after her catnap in the evenings, but i think it's because i wake her up and she doesn't like being woken up.

sounds like you not having any more trouble getting him to take a long morning nap!