Diagnosing Naps

[gavinsmum1]

Hi all, 
I've been through EASY with two kids and am especially curious about nap lengths and figuring out whether or not they are OT or UT naps.  For instance, DS #2 has been in the habit of taking either 1 hour 15, 1 hour 20 or 1 hour 30 minutes in the morning.  In the afternoon, he takes either a 35 minute nap or a 45 min nap. 
My understanding is that a 45 min nap is UT, only one sleep cycle; a 1 hour 20 min nap can be OT as your lo makes it through one sleep cycle, but not the next; and that 1 hour 30 min is a good nap (depending on the age of the babe of course).

What about the 35 min nap and the 1 hour 15 min nap, which my baby is in the habit of taking right now (he's 10 months)?  Any insight here?

[*Jo*]

hi gavinsmum1, it does depend on the baby but we have found anything under 45mins is OT, anything over 45mins and up to 1 hour 15min is UT, but thats just us, if he does the second we just slightly add to his A time until his naps increase to 1.5 hours.

sometimes if the first nap is 1 horu 15mins then he is UT but then becomes OT later and ends up with a 30min nap.

[Mashi]

I don't think that there is always a set time that you can go for just automatically - I think it depends on the child and the activity time and level and so on.  For instance, when younger my DS did 30 minutes for an OT nap, and 45 for a UT. As he got older his UT naps could be anywhere from 37-50 minutes.  As a toddler he does 1hr20 as OT and 1hr45 as UT.  But I know a lot of moms with children the same age would say that for them, a 1hr45m nap is FANTASTIC, neither OT or UT, just a great nap.  But for mine I know that it is NOT a great nap and he was def UT.

So I think it changes by the child and the age.  But I also do know what you are asking.

At 10 months I wouldn't judge a 1hr15 minute nap as either without knowing what the routine is like. For instance at this age LOs are probably not taking 2 naps of the same length...one is probably quite shorter than the other. So if both are 1h15m then I would say to shorten one of them and the other will lengthen out.  But if one is less than 1.5 hours and the other more than 1.5 hours then for a 10 month old I would say it is neither UT or OT but pretty much bang-on!

I would hazard a guess that 35 minutes is OT.

So if your LO is doing both of those and on the same day, what I would think is that they are prob both OT, possibly the 1hr15m could be UT or at least could be lengthened out by a longer A time (unless it is the afternoon nap in which case I would say it is OT after an OT morning nap...)  Prob sounds confusing, but do you see what I mean about not being able to look at times in isolation?  I don't think you can really diagnose them without looking at the full day, kwim?

[gavinsmum1]

Thanks so much for your replies, ladies!  I really do understand your point, Mashimaro about not being able to diagnose a nap in isolation and it really does depend on the age of the baby and how many naps they are taking.  Yesterday, my youngest slept for an hour and 15 in the am and then a 35 in the pm, and I would say that they are OT naps.  He's not waking crying, but he didn't have the lengthiest night sleep and he probably didn't have enough A time after waking.  We've just pulled him out of an OT cycle, and we're still juggling around his naps to ensure that he's getting the right amount of rest at the right times during the day.  I just thought that this might be helpful for some parents to read.  I certainly could have used this information with my first who was a consistent 45 minute napper and didn't drop his third nap until 9 months!  I know better now, thanks!!

[Mashi]

For ten months old, a morning nap of 1hr15 minutes, I would not consider to be OT, unless he had been up for an extremely long A time before hand.  KWIM?  I think that 1hr15m is average-to-long for a ten month old in the morning, I would say most are prob only doing an hourish at that age.  But the afternoon was probably OT yes, but again, it depends on the A time he had, kwim?

[gavinsmum1]

In your opinion, after 35 min morning nap (cut short on purpose) how long an A time should we be giving him to get at least an hour and 15 min long afternoon nap? 
For instance, we woke him at 10:35, so I'm thinking that I'll put him down around 1:40 or so in the hopes of a longer nap this afternoon.

[Mashi]

At ten months I would say that 3+ hours is on the longish side for an A time after a 35 minute nap...but it depends if he has always had good long A times and can handle it.  3 hours is a great starting point though!!  If he is awake at 1035 then I would aim to have him asleep by 135, (not just putting him down at 140) rather have that be UT and then try later the next day than have it be OT which can be harder to recover from. 

[gavinsmum1]

Thanks for the quick reply!
He's always been on the long side of A times.  He was handling 4.5 hours A time in the morning before we did the nap switch.  If anything I think it's taking him a while to get used to shorter A times.  I hope he does well with this next nap, went down after 3 hours 15 min ( little later than I wanted).