9 month old nap problems and early waking

[phs]

Hello, my lo turned 9 months yesterday. He has just had four teeth come through and they were veyr hard for him so nights and naps were terrible, but he is better now and getting bavk on track. He has always gone to be netween 6-6.30pm, works easier for me with my toddler, although would like ton try and extend it....

Anyway he goes to bed between 6-6.30pm and sleeps through no wakings but wakes up normally at 5am, and i can leave him most of the time for 30 mins he plays but then cries for attention. I have tried pu/pd and it doesnt work.  But sometimes he wakes at 4.30 crying and even then will not go down again, i keep trying for an hour and no luck.

So his first nap of the day is normally always 8.30am and he sleeps for an hour, wakes up happy. His next nap is nromally between 12.30 and 1pm but he only does 30 mins and wakes crying. His new tings for the last month is standing so as soon as he wakes up he stands up and even with pu/pd nothing works he wont go back to sleep. He has also dropped a catnap. His pm is fine but then about 5pm he is very tired and so i have to bath him etc and sometimes he is ready to sleep before 6pm and hence the early waking again.

Shall i try to extend the A time before his second nap? Although he goes down easliy for both the naps so he seems to be ready to sleep???....

ANy advice would be really appreciated.... i really want to extend his day just by half an hour so he wakes later but cant seem to manage it.....

Thank you

[becky1969]

That 30 minute PM nap sounds undertired to me.  I would def. try extending A time in an attempt to get a longer PM nap.

Your early wakings are from being OT at night.  If you're only getting a 30 minute PM nap at 12:30/1 pm, that means even with 6:30 bedtime you've got 5 hours until bed, which is way too long for a 9 month old.  We don't usually see more than a 3-4 hour A time for LOs of that age.

I think what I would do is try to move both AM and PM nap a bit, so that you get closer to your bedtime goal of 6:30.  To keep within the 3-4 hour A time range, we want LO to wake from PM nap between 2:30-3:30.  That means going down for nap no earlier than 1:30.  To stay within 4 hour A time window, that means 1st nap has to be closer to 9:30 (rather than the 8:30 you're doing now).  I'd give that a try and see what happens. 

Even if you get a short nap in AM due to being OT, it won't be too much of a deficit since you're only seeing a 1 hour AM nap as it is now.  The most important nap in terms of preserving night time sleep and preventing early wakings is the PM nap.  So we want to keep that nap within the sleep window at all costs, and hopefully get closer to 1.5-2 hours sleep out of him at that time.

[phs]

Hi, thank you very much, i'll give it a try tomorrow. today he went down at 8.45 am slept for an hour and then went down at 12.45 and woke after half an hour, i managed to get him to sleep again, it took 15 mins and then he slept till 2pm. He went to bed for the night at 6.10pm so lets see when he wakes up.

Thank you, ill lt you know how it goes.

[phs]

Hi, not getting much better but i know it takes a few days so still got my fingers crossed. He is still waking at five am. His first nap is at 8.45 i cant seem to push it more, today i tried 8.55am and he slept till 9.30 and woke crying and tired but would not go down again. Normally he wakes up from his ifrst nap happy, but not today.  Then his second nao was at 12.45, i had to get collect my daughter then lunch etc and could not stretch him or put him down earlier. He woke at 1.40 crying and still very tird but would not go down again to sleep, he laid there for a while eventually but then after a few mins kept crying..... He also would not have a catnap and has gone tobed judt now at 6pm. So could not extend the day either and thus im sure he will wake up earlier....

Anyway another dya tomorrow so lets see.... and hope.

Thanks:)