Is it possible he just doesn't need long naps, or am I crazy?

[Frog]

Becky, I think I was also in the not realizing at 9 months and with the teething to put him down earlier, and DS has gotten teeth two and four at a time.  So starting around 9 months, his sleep pattern starting slipping, and I'm just starting to get him on track now at almost 11 months.  *sigh*

I am having more nap success this week.  I think that this weekend's 4x45min naps was a regression after one week of PU/PD.  But I also have been tweaking his schedule this week.  When DS woke up too early, I laid him back down until the end of the allotted nap time.  At first he resisted some, but then he became easier to settle back to sleep.  Yesterday he took a two hour nap, only woke once and went right back down, and in the afternoon took a one hour nap.  I'm still tweaking things, but the PD is also helping me get him to sleep later in the morning.  I would still see what Becky says about it, but I wanted to throw it out there in case it could help DS get back on track!

[~inbalance~]

Frog, I am glad things are looking up for you with the naps

We had a terrible night, but I expected it as I have decided to get rid of the swaddle for good (well, 'half' swaddle, and it's been going on for far too long).  I think though that soon he will get used to sleeping without it and will actually prefer being able to move a around a little more.  That's my theory anyway.   

So since the night was terrible, I noticed he was looking tired after only 2hrs A time, so I started his wind down and put him down after 2hrs 15mins A.  He fussed a little but went down ok and slept for 1hr 20min.     So that is good news!  I'll have to keep with the shorter As until he is back on track.

We were out this afternoon so he took two catnaps in the car, 1x30mins and 1x45mins.  Overall it was a better day than we have been having lately, especially despite a crappy night.  Thanks for all your help. 

[Frog]

When we stopped swaddling, it was earlier, but we started it for naps only and then nighttime, so it affected his nighttime sleeping less.

Great news on the naps!  We had a bad nap day, but we succeeded getting him to sleep for bedtime at 7pm.  Hopefully he'll sleep well tonight.  And I hope yours sleeps great tonight, too!

[~inbalance~]

Yes, I started with naps too.  But then I just figured I'd get it over with and do nights too. 

Hope you have a good night! 

[~inbalance~]

Hi!  Just an update.  Our naps have been up and down this week.

Wednesday AM 1hr  20min PM 2xcatnaps in the car (total 1hr)
Thursday AM 1hr 45min (yay!) PM 35min (boo!  Couldn't figure out if this was OT or UT - we did 3hrs A after good AM nap)
Friday AM 1hr PM 1hr 15min

I have been keeping the morning A time at 2.5hrs for the past few days so he can get caught up on sleep.  Our past two nights have been much improved, with only 1-2 brief NWs and no trouble getting him back to sleep.  So now he is much more rested when he wakes up in the morning as he has been getting 11-12hrs sleep at night.  This morning our A time was 2hr 45mins from when I got him up, but I suspect he may have been awake a little earlier.  But he went down with no fuss at all so I'm hoping it ends up being a good nap.

I have been trying really hard to watch him closely and put him down the minute he looks tired, which seems to be working for me.  Previously I was always watching the clock and going by that since I find him so hard to read, but I've been trying harder to go by his cues no matter how subtle they are.  Seems to be working better.  He's now getting 2-2.5hrs naps a day, which is still short I know but it's getting better.

Thanks for all your help!!

[~Alexa~]

How is it going Martina?

[~inbalance~]

Hi Alexa, thanks for checking in!  We are still struggling I'm afraid.  DS has been waking after 35mins pretty much for every nap, morning, afternoon, no matter the A time.  For the past two morning naps he's been able to resettle for another 25mins or so.  He is so tricky, I try to follow him but keep an eye on a clock too.  He's been waking a little earlier in the mornings than previous, between 6-6:30, which gets us off to a rough start.  I'm afraid he's still not getting more than 2hrs naps during the day.    

The predicament I've found myself in the last few days is we get off to an early start, so the first nap is early and ends up being short, so the second nap is early and is usually short too, and then I'm not sure what to do with the afternoons.  It's too long of a stretch to be awake before bed, but a catnap is a problem because he resists it, so I have to AP it.  That is fine, but then my problem is usually it would fall between 5-6 because he's not tired enough before then, however his bedtime ends up being later than I'd like which takes away from his night sleep since he is awake around 6 no matter what time he goes to bed.  He has actually been doing well at nights lately (only waking briefly once and occasionally twice from 6:30-6:30) so I don't want to take sleep away from them.

Here is what today looked like:
6:30 awake & BF
8:00 solids
9:30 sleep (we started wind down at 9 and I was hoping he'd be asleep a little earlier but he is learning to crawl so it's taking him a long time to settle these days as he's rolling and crawling all over his crib before finally settling)
9:55 woke, took about 10mins to resettle
10:30 awake & BF
12:00 solids
1:30 sleep (started wind down at 1, same as AM)
2:00 awake
2:30 BF
4:30 APd catnap
5:00 awake
5:15 solids
6:00 start bedtime routine (includes bath, massage, BF, story & cuddle with mommy & daddy - always exactly the same every night)
6:45 put in bed, didn't fuss tonight but was still awake when I left the room.  Didn't make a sound after I left
7:00 time I left the room

Things I keep considering: 
He is still teething, there is a tooth just about ready to cut I think.  Today he was knawing and chewing on everything in sight.  It doesn't seem to bother him from a pain point of view, just annoying I think.
We've recently transitioned from a 'half-swaddle' to a grobag for naps and night.  Now he has the freedom to move around which he didn't before.  I think this has actually improved his night sleep, as if he wakes uncomfortable or has gas he can roll onto his side and resettle more easily, but for his naps I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not.
He is very close to crawling and has been trying endlessly for days.  He rolls, squirms & pulls himself all over the room.  He's also working on cruising and holding on to things and standing.  I think alll this activity affects him at naptime.

But as always when he is awake he is happy and easy going, very rarely cranky.  His night sleep is greatly improved as of late, he's getting about 11hrs a night I figure, so plus the 2hrs during the day we're up to 13hrs total, and I think we need one more hour in there somewhere.

The good news is I haven't been too stressed about it, it's just a matter or making it work day to day.  But a little more consistency would be nice.     Sorry it's a long update, thanks again for asking! 

[becky1969]

those mobility milestones are a MAJOR sleep killer!! We unswaddled right around that age too, and it was VERY hard for me to adjust to DS moving all around his crib etc.  Don't worry -- it will be old had after awhile and then he'll go back to settling when you put him to bed.

You might want to try, during awake time, giving him LOTS of time to practice his mobility in the crib.  Sort of hasten the 'old hat' phenomenon.  Perhaps when he first wakes up just encourage him to play in their a bit, let him explore his new skills etc.

The only other thing is sometimes they are pretty tired from all that exploring, but you tried a 2.5 hour A time for 1st nap,and he didn't fall asleep until 3 hours.  Actually, though, a 25 minute nap to me sounds UT.  I might try to stretch him to 3h15, especially since he's sleeping thru the night.  Yes, he's waking earlier which is making YOU more tired, but he's got 11 hours under his belt! He's ready to take on the world!  How about trying a longer A time for that first nap and see what happens. That first nap is what throws off your entire day.  I think if he's more tired at nap time, he'll be less inclined to play.  Worth a shot!

[~inbalance~]

Thanks Becky!  I will keep trying to find that perfect A time.  UT, OT, he always has me guessing!  Everyday is so different I never know what he's going to throw at me.  I will try your suggestions and see how it goes. 

[~Alexa~]

I totally agree with Becky! If your lo is playing when you put him down, then he may be a bit UT.  Try to add 15 more min before you start your wind down routine, if he is still playing after a couple of days, then add 15 more min. 

I'm soo glad you are not stressing about naptimes! You are enjoying your lo, and that's what counts!

Hope this helps,
Alexa

[~inbalance~]

Thanks!  I think because he is such a happy baby all the time, it's making it easier to deal with the short naps.  The most stressful things are not getting anything done because he's so unpredictable, and worrying about his well-being when he doesn't get enough sleep.  I am so lucky that he is such a sweetheart and is hardly ever cranky, even when tired. 

He confuses me so much though with the UT/OT stuff.  I just can't seem to read him, I never know when he's tired or not, or when he wakes up if it's UT or OT.  *sigh*  Not to mention the fact that he's always changing, there's always more teeth (it seems that way anyway, he hasn't stopped teething in months!), and he's always learning something new.   

Everyday that passes I just keep telling myself it's one more day closer to getting it sorted out, right?   

Thanks for all your help & support!   

[becky1969]

All I have to say is WELCOME TO THE FIRST YEAR! lol!  You're taking the right attitude, just enjoying LO and not stressing about the sleep.  Because you know what? Once they turn 1, life starts getting a LOT easier and there will be PLENTY of time to get stuff done as time goes on.  This first year? It goes by in a blink and then it's gone.  You're going to remember your child's giggles way more than you'll remember if you got the living room vacuumed or even the bills paid (unless they cut off your electricity!  ).  Thankfully I had a MIL who spent WAY too much time cleaning house when her kids were little, so she warned me of that danger.  It helped me really really enjoy my son's babyhood/toddlerhood.  Heck, I still don't worry about getting 'round to housework! I expect there will be time for that once he's in school 

WTG on having such a healthy attitude.  It will stand you in good stead through all the ups and downs of the next year. 

[~inbalance~]

 
Luckily my house is small so at least there's not too much housework to do....

[kitty30]

Hey Martina,

I hope you don't mind me tagging in here but your days sound identical to mine.  We are trying to cope with 30m naps and i also can never work the OT/UT thing out, nor can i see any cues that work.  I was just wondering if you have had any improvement and how you are managing.  My lo unfortunately gets rather fussy as day passes though funnily enough always in good form in early eve even if she has only had an hour of naps in total !!!!

Would appreciate any pearls of wisdom, hope all is well,
Kitty.

[~inbalance~]

Hi Kitty!

We're still working on it.  Unfortunately DS caught a cold on Friday and hasn't been himself, so working on the naps is kinda on hold while he gets better.  But actually since then his morning nap as been at least an hour every morning, and this morning it was 1hr 20mins, which is great (afternoon is still usually a miss  )  His morning A times have been reduced a bit since he hasn't been feeling well, but this morning's A time was 3hrs which seemed to be good today.  I swear it's different every day!  He's on the way back to feeling better so I'll let you know how this week goes. 

Good luck with your LO's naps!