does A time get longer as day goes on....

[annette.xx]

Hi

just wondering ...is it possible that A times get longer as day goes on?...

no matter what I do in the afternoon my LO (7 months) will not settle without a fight at naptime and then will have a horrible short nap causing OT at bedtime and you guessed it NW!!!!

no matter what A time I try 2 1/2 hr 2 3/4 hr, 3 hr 3 hr 15 (havent dared go past here!!!) she wakes up at 30/45 mins crying and will not go back to sleep...no chance!!

she easily handles 3 hrs in the morning normally so is there a chance she could need longer in the afternoon?....

Im changing my mind daily as to whether this is OT behaviour, UT behaviour...teething???

so many posts out there for 7 - 9 months old....all very similar problems...

is there anyone out there that got through this?...if so how did you do it?!!!

Annette.xx

[~Emma~]

 Hugs hun,

We have just been through that, I thought it was just me! I would get an ok nap in the am and then no matter what I did the pm nap was rubbish. I had posts on here and on the temp site and I was fretting about it, his A's were all over the place. He couldn't handle hardly any in the afternoon but could do 3.5 sometimes 4 before bed. Then we would have a yucky EW.


Not much advice to offer i'm afraid, DS started nursery and everything went up the spout anyways. It seems to have settled recently on the days he's at home but more aften than not the alvo nap is rubbish. I can remember at one point thinking that if his nap was going to be rubbish anyways just to get out and about as much as I could in the afternoon after he woke.

 I think all bubs are different regarding when they have their long and short A's. DS likes a long A before bed these days but I know that for some bubs this is the shortest. It just depends on you LO.

 More hugs, sorry I've got no great pearls of wisdom! Interested in what others have to say though...


 Emma xxx

[lauri]

Hi Annette,

dont know if this helps but at that age my little one slept 2 to 2.5 hours in the morning, say from 10 till 12 or 09.30 till 11.30/12 and then another 2 hours in the afternoon, from around 13.30/ 14.00 till 16.00/ 16.30. I vaguely remember having a similar problem to yours, so I cut her AM nap short to max 2.5 and that left her tired enough to sleep a good PM nap. No more catnap and bedtime at 7PM till 8 the next morning. It took a bit of tweaking, but until about 16 months she still had those 2 daytime naps (at those times) and around 16 months she dropped the AM one, so I had to bring the afternoon nap forward to 11.30 till 15.00/15.30 and then a few months later (around 19 months), she didnt fall asleep for the nap so I pushed the nap back later to 12.30, which is still (at 2.5 years) her naptime, till about 15:00. Any later and I can add that extra time onto the 7PM bedtime  .

HTH a bit??

[annette.xx]

thankyou both of you thats great to have your input!

Brodies mummy...are they useless at putting them down for naps at nursery? I worry for when mine goes!!!

its so hard having such a messy afternoon of naps cos like you said it causes the EW!!!!...and in my case NW!!!!

Lauri...thats great thankyou!! So if your LO woke earlier for the day would you bring routine forward a bit or stick to same am nap time and go on as normal from there?

Annette.xx

[~Emma~]

 Naps are never longer than 30 mions at nursery so he gets really OT, hence why we have no routine as such now.

 Today Brodie did exactly what he did before, had an ew so was up for about 4 hours in the am...he slept for a delicious 1.5h. He was then showing tired signs after 1.5h  , I managed to stretch him out to 2.5 and he then slept for 30 mins! It has me baffled so if you get the answer do share!! I just dont get why the A in the middle of the day is so hard to get right. 

[annette.xx]

I wonder sometimes whether when we stretch the morning A time it somehow adds onto the afternoon A time for example if we stretch to 4 hrs instead of 3 they then need 1 hr less A time before next nap?

Im sure im barking up the wrong tree but was just thinking when I read your post thats what happens to me when LO wakes at 6am ...to keep day stretched out so not a really long A prior to bed I always try and extend her out a bit longer before first nap and maybe that causes OT for the next nap?

Its so hard isnt it?!

well im going to stick to a plan for 3 days as suggested on one of my threads and see if it helps or if I notice anything?

Keep in touch..please let me know if you find anything out...any miracles!!

Annette.xx

[~Emma~]

 Will do hun.

 Brodie's in nursery for the next couple of days so cant try out shortening that am A....interesting theory though. Will def try it out!!
 

 Let me know how it goes!

Emma xxx

[annette.xx]

Im thinking im probably going mad tho with that one...overthinking things!!

good luck with nursery naps!!

Annette.xx

[annette.xx]

Hi

just wanted to update you...

my plan to extend A time today has crashed and burned...il explain...

basically morning A time was 3 hrs, and nap was short at just 1 hr again (normally 1 1/2 hrs) and I knew she was still very tired when she woke so thought id stick to 3 hrs A time instead of pushing my luck!!

so anyway yet again she was showing tired signs as always about 2 hrs rubbing eyes yawning but I know 2 hrs is way too short so I kept her up but thought id try BF her a bit at 2 hr 15 A time to try and judge how tired she was...she gets sleepy looking if she is tired and if not she feeds and keeps breaking away for a look around!!

so anyway she only went and fell asleep at 2 hr 30??!!!!

so I took her up and cuddles her and put her down...she cried really hard...thought maybe UT but kept her in her room and slow danced with her for 10 mins and then put her back down ...she cuddled teddy and off to sleep she went!!! and then suprise suprise she woke at 30 mins so again would normally think UT but instead stayed in her room and held her down really firmly and she settled and I kept pressure on her for about 10 mins...I felt her body jolting through the stages so this confirmed it...OT!!!!

she slept for another 40 mins then cried again...I went in and did the same again just got down...20 mins I stayed with her for!! she kept jolting and crying every few minutes...I just kept holding her down!! think she will wake any minute cos she still cant get into deep sleep poor thing!!

If she was UT I know there is no way id get her back settled to sleep!

So now not really sure what to do ...think maybe need to work on first A time ...keep that shorter to avoid OT and then A time should be easier for next nap...

today proved that even the 2 hr 45 A time was OT but 2 hr 30 is too short so need to get out of this OT loop before anything gets resolved!!

my back is killing me now!!

so for your problem-
thinking the EW you have means long A time in am which is babies shortest A time normally which results in nice long nap cos their body doesnt react with the same OT jolts as much as they have had that long night sleep and the OT gets carried over into next nap as day is stretched out longer than they can handle..IYKWIM?? thats why our bubs are looking tired so early on cos if you think about it without the EW your day would be

wake 7
S...10.15 - 11.45 (guessing 3 hrs 15 would be good at your LOs age?)
S...3 - 4.30
S...7.30

instead with the EW its

wake 6
S...10 - 11.30 (45 min deficit of sleep has built up compared to normal)
that then leaves you with tired baby out of sync and hard to judge next true A time hence the early tired signs?! then when they go sleep the jolts get them!!

im guessing but thought id update you to my random thoughts!!!

Annette.xx

[~Emma~]

 I really think you are on to something there y'know. Off work on Thurs so gonna try shortening that 1st A.

 It has always just had me so baffled that he naps well and is then OT after such a short A but I guess it must just build up....its all trial and error!

 Good work on extending that nap, get your feet up now. 

[alethiaperry]

I think you're on to something too.  I think I'm gonna do 2.75A in am and then maybe 3.25A for afternoon.  Let you know how it goes.  See if we get better naps out of it.
leath:)

[annette.xx]

fingers crossed!!

so glad we are all on here for support...I really need it!!

Annette.xx

[~Emma~]

 Argghh...didn't get to shorten my A this am as I had to drop my friends boy off to school and we had nw's and an ew!! 

 I guess there's always the weekend!

 Hows it going?

[annette.xx]

Hi

thats the only problem when doing a routine is that its ok wanting to try changing A times but its so hard to actually fit it in around life isnt it?!!!!

well yesterday I just decided to watch her not the clock and im the am it was 2 hr 40 when she went down and then slept 1 hr 50 mins!! so thought id do the same just watching really closely and without looking at the time...I put her down for pm nap and when I looked at the time it was also only 2 hr40 but then she screamed the place down for me and didnt settle until 3 hrs A time!! ...and then yet again woke at 20 mins!

It weird the pm nap cos my LO has only ever woke at 20/30 mins for UT before this month...so im still wondering for pm nap if im putting her down a little too soon? ...but dont want to risk OT either and her behaviour says OT cos she wakes up with the jolts and I manage to get her back to sleep ...surely if she was UT I would have no chance of getting her back to sleep?!!!

after I got her back off after the 20 mins...she woke again at 40 mins and cried for me real loud but when I was in there she had her head up looking around and quite content so shed obviously had enough sleep!!

so im thinking if the am goes good without any build up of OT then maybe I should watch the clock for the next one and put her down at 3 hrs?

what time did your LO get you up then?..i HATE the EW!!!!!!! how was the day yesterday then?,...any ideas what caused the NW and EW was he OT at bedtime?....

I also HATE the OT!!!!!!

Forgot to ask...does he enjoy nursery days?

Annette.xx

[*Becky*]

Hi there,
Just wanted to say that this happens a lot with us. DS has always gone down better for am nap than pm and usually am nap is longer. In our case I think he needs longer between am and pm nap but have not worked out what that is yet!
bx