Help with 11 month old naps! PLLEEAAASEE!

[Jen+3men]

My little one is 11 months. Will be 12 in about 3 weeks. His naps are really changing up and I can't really seem to get on a good routine.
From about 8-10 months this was his schedule
6 awake
9-10:30 nap
1:30-3:00 nap
7:00 bed

Then about a month ago shortly after he turned 10 months everything changed He went to sometimes one hour naps each or 45 minutes not really a pattern sometime one hour and half nap and then one 45 minute nap. Alternating between the longer one being morning or afternoon, again there was no real pattern. I have been logging his sleep forever. I know from reading on the site that he needs more awake time and just needs a little less sleep during the day. Last week he was teething and I gave him ibprofen before each nap and he was going back to two longer naps.

9:15-10:45am
1:45 to 3:00 or 3:15pm
that lasted about 4 days and then he went back to the afternoon nap being shorter. I don't really know when he wakes up my guess is somewhere between 6am and 6:30am probably right around 6:15 most days. He always just plays quietly in his crib until I go in at 7am.  So here is what the past couple of days has looked like:
Jan 14 th
9:05-10:45nap
1:45-3:20 nap
7 bed

Jan 15th
9:30-10:45 nap
2:00-2:50 nap I put him in bed at 1:45pm!
6:45pm bed he seems good with a 4 hour awake time between last nap and bed but with a shorter afternoon nap that is getting harder.

Jan 16th
9:20-10:45nap
1:55 to 2:40 nap Again went in bed at 1:45pm!
6:45 bed usually asleep by 7pm.

Jan 17th
9:25-10:45 nap  Was in bed at 9:15am!
3:10-3:45 He was in bed at 2:15 and didnt fall asleep for almost an hour. We had just came back from the zoo. He has never done this I am thinking he was overtired/ overstimulated because usually he goes with 3-3.25 hours of awake time before second nap.
7:05pm bed

Jan 18th today
9:25 to 10:15nap Was in bed at 9:15!
1:20 to 2:20 Was in bed at 1:10.

I thought since he only slept 50 minutes this morning and it is usally about an hour and a half I would go with only 3 hours of awake time before 2nd nap, but I almost feel like it wasn't enough and he may have slept longer if I held him off another 15 minutes. Yesterday when he had longer morning nap the awake time of 3.5 hours was a complete diaster. Please help. I feel like I have lost all site of what he needs. He is genarlly a happy baby so it is hard for me to know when to put him down but if you wait to long he takes short naps!

[EZ-EMom]

I have been having similar issues with E who is about 10 1/2 months.  I think this is the foreshadowing of the 2:1 nap switch, which you are obviously closer to than we are since your guy is almost a year.  What I've been trying to do ("trying") is having a shorter a.m. nap and a longer p.m. nap. for two reasons:  (1) I think they are ready for more than 3 hours A and (2) if you put them down too early in the a.m., they compensate for nighttime sleep with that a.m. nap and you end up with EW.  Having gone through the 4:30 a.m. "hey y'all the par-tay's in my crib!" at 7 months, I'm loathe to tempt that fate again.  This is what we are currently doing -- have you tried modifying your morning schedule?

6 a.m. Wake
9:15/9:20 Nap for 1 hour 15 minutes
10:30 Wake
13:45 nap for 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours
14:15 or 14;45 Wake
18:00 to 18:30 Bed

I think that its just a matter of tinkering with those morning A and S times, always with an eye towards the end of the day, and making sure that you don't inadvertently overtire. 

Probably not that helpful, but its what I've been doing the last week (as I listen to E mantra over and over and over...)

[~Natalie~]

Hi there

It almost sounds like your little guy is getting ready to switch to one nap (don't worry it can take a looooong time before this happens).  What I would start to do it limit his morning nap which will give you a longer pm nap.  As you transition to one nap the morning nap will get shorter and shorter which will bring the pm nap a little earlier.  This will give you slightly longer awake times as well.

Looking at your schedule I would try decreasing the am nap by about 15min since it looks like on average he gets 1.5 hours.
6 awake
9-10:15 nap
1:15-3:15 nap
7 bed

If you think he can handle the 3 hours awake time then I would stick with that for now.  You might find as you shorten the am nap he needs a little less awake time before his next nap.  

Another thing I was thinking about is maybe you need to stretch the awake time in the afternoon before his second nap.  The only reason I say that is because it would be almost 4hours before bed from his pm nap.  Some LOs are fine with that, but it could be making him a little OT by the end of the day.

Not to confuse you any more (lol) but these times could be reversed.  When switching to one nap some LOs do better with a short am and long pm nap while others do better with a long am and short pm nap.  It is really up to you which one would be best.  If you think he prefers the longer am then you would let him sleep as long as he wants in the morning and then start limiting his pm nap.

If I have completely confused you let me know  

[Jen+3men]

I think the short nap in the morning would be better but am having a hard time with the awake time after. Today he slept from 9:25am to 10:15 and then the afternoon nap 3 hours later at 1:15pm and he only slept an hour. Which makes for an early bedtime. He seems to only go about 4 hours between nap and bedtime. I can't really get him into bed before 7pm as I have an older son as well. Maybe tomorrow I will try an awake time of 3hours and 15 minutes between naps and see if that makes the afternoon nap longer. So at this point is it just trial and error?

Thanks
Jen

[~Natalie~]

Yes, I think you are going to just have to keep trying different time to see what works.  For us a shorter A time after a short am nap works the best.  When the am nap gets shorter they are not as rested and therefore need a shorter A time so they don't get OT. 

[Jen+3men]

This morning he woke up early. It was 5:45 am when I woke up and he was already awake playing quietly in his crib. So I suspect he is overtired. He never wakes before 6am. When they are overtired do you continue to extend awake time or just try and get them as much sleep as possible. I started pushing his morning nap to 9:15 or 9:30am. I am guessing this morning he will only make it until about 9am before he wants a nap. His awake time before 1st and 2nd nap has always been 3hours. I know he is ready for a longer awake time so I was trying 3hours and 15 minutes, but we are in a cycle where he gets overtired so we go back to the 3 hours and then he gets rested on his sleep and is ready for the longer awake time again but I don't recognize this before it is too late and then he takes a short nap and winds up being overtired again. Any advice?

Thanks
Jen 

[~Natalie~]

I would say don't push it today since he is OT.  It does get tricky though because he will make up for his lost night sleep with his first nap of the day.  So you may have to put him down early, but still keep the nap a little shorter and hopefully you will get a long one in the afternoon.  If not you could always try for a drive or a walk in the evening for a short catnap to get him to bed time.

[lilac83]

Jen ~

Have you seen these links about the 2-1 nap switch?

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=137441.0

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=95670.0

Also, since your LO is so close to 1 year you could post over in http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=34.0 where you will get more views from moms/dads going through the same thing.

[Jen+3men]

Thank you for those links I will check them out!

Today was good with naps but probably because he woke early this morning from being overtired from a short nap yesterday afternoon.

I am not sure when he woke. When I woke up at 5:45 he was already awake.
He napped from 9:20-10:45 and then 2:10-3:35.I am going to put him in bed at 7:15pm to aim for 7:30 asleep time. I was aiming to extend his awake time to 3 hours and 15 minutes but watched his tired cues very closely. The morning nap was no problem he didnt start to act tired until 9:15am. So I took him straight to bed. Then the afternoon nap he rubbed eyes just after the 3 hour mark and I held him off for 10 more minutes and took him up to his room about 1:57pm and he fell asleep by 2:10pm. So I will get this up for a few more days and then reaccess.

Thank again
Jen