10 month old - ready for one nap??? Confused!

[MDF09]

Hi All,

my dd is just about to turn 10mo and true to form, her sleep has gone 'wonky'. She was previously on a good routine and doing well so I'm hoping she'll get back there soon. Used to go to bed easily at 7pm, have a dreamfeed at about 10pm, then woke up about 7:30am.

The problem started around 9 months when she started having her 2nd nap later and later in the day (she fought it a lot). Finally it was around 4:30pm and this meant she was so refreshed (even after a 30 min nap) that she wouldn't go to bed until 9:30pm/10pm. If I tried and put her to bed before 3.5 hrs A time, she just screamed and screamed. But when she's ready to go to sleep I just pop her in bed and smiles at me and closes her eyes, easy as pie.

So ... I thought maybe she's ready for one sleep. So her routine recently has been:
8am - wake up v.happy
11:30am - Nap 1 (usually 60-90 mins). Quite tired, easy to go to sleep.
5:30pm - dinner, getting very sleepy, but able to stay awake and remain happy; bath; wind-down routine, books
7pm - bed (exhausted, sometimes falls asleep mid-bottle)
THEN ...
7:30pm - wakes screaming +++, but still looks soooo tired; won't go back to sleep no matter what I try. Finally stops crying when I bring her out of her bedroom. Likes quiet playtime.
THEN ...
bedtime can be anywhere from 8:30pm (a good night) to 10:30pm (a bad night!!!)
As I said, when she's finally ready for sleep it's really easy to put her down.
Usually needs another bottle at 10pm which I know is unusual for this age to still need a 'dreamfeed', but she wakes up crying ++ for it and finishes it quickly, she seems hungry. She's not a great eater during the day so maybe she's making up for it?
Thankfully, the nights have still been good, once she's asleep she's very settled until the morning.

So what do I do?!?!?!  Do I persist with the one nap transition? I'm trying to get that Nap later in the day so that she's less overtired before bed.

Any suggestions are very welcome! I would like my evenings back please!

Thanks everyone.

[*Jo*]

Hi there, we are very close to having the same issue with bedtimes getting later and later because he can handle more and more A time. can i suggest that you either shorten the AM nap to 1 hour only to squeeze in another nap later OR make the morning nap later by half an hour and let her have a decent 2.5-3 hour nap.

have you checked out this link: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=95670.0

[MDF09]

Hi Calebsmummy and everyone, here's a progress update ...

Bedtimes have improved a bit with keeping the morning nap short and not starting the afternoon nap too late, so now she usually is ready for bed at about 8:30pm. Some nights no fuss at all, other nights can be grizzly for 15-30mins which isn't too bad I guess.

So here's a 'usual' day:
7:30/8am - wake up happy, plays in her cot until I get her
8:30am - brekkie
10am - bottle
10:30am - Nap 1 for max 1 hr
12:30pm - lunch
2pm - bottle
2:30 or 3pm - Nap 2 for as long as she wants (usually 1 hour, sometimes 1hr 15mins)
6pm - dinner
7pm - bath
8pm - stories and bottle
8:30pm - asleep
9:30-11:30pm - wakes once or twice over this period, crying heaps; sometimes needs a bottle (especially if she was so tired that she didn't finish her bedtime bottle), sometimes needs a cuddle; sometimes nothing will work and she'll just be super-distressed for 45 mins!
But ... once she's asleep she sleeps through with no fuss at all.

So, I'm wondering if anyone has any clever ideas as to why we have the 9:30 - 11:30pm wakenings with all that crying. Over-tired? Under-tired? Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks all :-)

[*Jo*]

usually wakings before midnight mean OT, it does look like that last A time is too long, can you have her in bed by 7.30/8pm? after a one hour nap you cant usually get a decent A time out of a baby as its not really considered a full nap.

for example our day goes like this:

7am wake
7-10.45 A time (3 hours 45mins)
10.45-11.45 nap 1 (1 hour)
11.45-2.30/2.40 (3 hours 15/20mins A time)
2.40- 4.10 nap 2 (1.5 hour)
4.10- 8pm (3 hours 45mins A time after a full nap)

we try not to let him have longer than 13 hour days if possible

[MDF09]

Thanks again, calebsmummy, I think your suggestion is spot on. I'll give it a go tonight ...

Fingers crossed!