O.K. or O.T.??

[MummyToBen]

Hi ladies,

Just wondering if you could cast your eye over our routine as after reading another thread I'm wondering if Ben might not be getting enough sleep? 

At a year, daytime sleep needs are about 2.5  - 3 hrs. and 11.5 at night.

He only gets 11 hours at night and around 2 hours in the day - so 1-2 hours less than recommended?


Wakes at 6-6.15 (would love this to be later of course, but he normally has 11 hours sleep so not complaining...it used to be 5.20  )

He then naps for between 35-45 minutes (depending on whether he was up in the night, or ill etc)- I normally wake him at 10.30ish. 

He then goes down 3.5 hours later at 2o'clock.  He normally sleeps for around 1.5 hours - sometimes I wake him if he's going to sleep much past 3.30 as I normally give him 3.5 hours A time before bed. 

7pm bedtime.  Sometimes brought forward a bit if he's not napped well, but never any later than this. 

He normally sleeps all the way through, sometimes stirs at 5 and can't find his dummy, so we have to go in.  Normally drops back off til 6ish. 


What do you think - is this enough over 24 hours, or should I increase his morning nap again/or try something else? 

Thanks
 

[munzle]

How does he wake up from his naps? Happy and chatting or crying? And the same in the morning - does he seem rested? What about behaviour during the day? Is he cranky at all or usually easy going? Does he fall asleep quickly at night, or take ages to drift off? I would look at these things first - different children need different amounts of sleep, so you can't always use the average as a guide.

[*Becky*]

Hi Claire,
Henry does pretty much the same as Ben. Some nights he sleeps 12 hours but often nearer to 11 and we never get more than 2 hours day sleep and most of the time a bit less. I reckon he could do with more but nights are good so I guess he is not that OT. I think at this age sleep requirements can vary quite a bit x

[MummyToBen]

He falls asleep for naps and bedtime within 5 mins max.  Wakes in the morning and either sings happily or cries -seems pretty random  !!  He's normally really happy, although does seem a bit tired in the morning after that short nap sometimes. 

Occasionally he wakes at 1hr crying during his pm nap - on these days I often know I should've shortened his A time as he seemed more tired beforehand. 

I'm wondering whether to shorten that middle A time to 3.25 hours so that when/if I wake him at 3.30pm he will have had 15 mins more sleep.  Only difficulty then is that if he takes a shorter nap then I'll have to give him an earlier bedtime as he won't manage the long A time  .  Guess I just need to give it a go though! 

[munzle]

Sounds to me like you're pretty much on the right track, although waking after 1 hour is a sign of OT. Does he resist afternoon nap if you don't wake him in the morning? You could always let him sleep a bit longer in the morning so that you don't get an OT nap in the afternoon.

[kayra]

Does he resist afternoon nap if you don't wake him in the morning? You could always let him sleep a bit longer in the morning so that you don't get an OT nap in the afternoon.

i was going to ask that too.
İf there is refusal another thing you could try so that you have less A in the middle but don't get too early a nap is to push the am nap forward a bit.

[MummyToBen]

Thank you 

I let him sleep for 1 hour at his morning nap and have just put him down after 3.25 hours but I can still hear him awake (so it's 3.5 now!).  I think he might be starting to teethe (finally - he's still a gummy bear at the mo   ) so that might be throwing a bit of a spanner in the works too. It will be good to see how he does afetr that longer nap this morning. 

x

[MummyToBen]

So yesterday he slept for an hour in the morning (woke himself), and then 2 hours in the afternoon  ...I woke him and he was in such a deep sleep I'm sure he could have gone another 30 minutes. 
He then slept through from 7pm til 6am as usual. 

So now I'm in a bit of a quandry.  He has been in this lovely routine for about 5 weeks now where he's had the 35-45 min am nap, 1.5-1.75 pm nap and then 11 hours at night.  It's been so lovely to have some consistency and we've felt more relaxed with his sleeping than we ever have. 

Is yesterday 'evidence' that he needs more sleep and that I shouold change his routine, or should I just carry on as we were?  I'm worried that if I change things a lot then we might just go back to the confusion and terrible EW's of a few weeks back....but obviously don't want him to be OT.

Thanks for any thoughs x

[kayra]

hmm it's hard to say. to be honest if he's happy doing that much day sleep and it isn't spoiling his night i'd let him have it. One point i thought DS was on his way to 2-1 so i started cutting his am nap but then got rubbish pm naps, then when i let him do a nice am nap he ended up doing a nice pm nap and a good night!
do you think the EWs from a few weeks ago were due to too much day sleep? Maybe you could consider letting him sleep all he wants some days and then cut the an nap some days if you feel too much day sleep might cause EW.
sorry to not be too much help but i think my instinct is to let him sleep as much as he can during the day. I know that some babies start the 2-1 quite early but Tracy does say to try to keep that as close to 18mths as possible, so i'd probably let him have 2 nice naps for as longs he's happy to take it. if you like try it for a bit, then if you start getting EW or NW you can go back and reduce the am nap.
xx
k

[munzle]

I'd def keep 2 naps as long as possible too. Also, bear in mind that if there is some teething going on, LOs often need more sleep when they're teething. Or sometimes they're fighting off an illness and extra sleep helps them to do that. I agree with pp. If the naps aren't interfering with night sleep, enjoy the extra time for yourself!

[*Liz*]

Not read it all - BUT I see nothing wrong with your routine for a lo at this age. My DS slept 13 hrs a day at this age when on 2 naps (1.5hrs am nap, 30 min pm, and 10.5hrs at night). Once we went to 1 nap he increased to 13.5 hrs total (2.5 hr nap, 11hrs at night). He might do 14 hrs total if ih needs to catch up as a one off, but NEVER anymore than that.

Some lo's do are just on the lower end of average, and that is just FINE. If they sleep well, and are happy during the day they are getting enough sleep.

[MummyToBen]

Thanks for the advice  .

He slept for 55 mins this morning (I let him wake naturally), then again a 2hr05 pm nap - I woke him and he was in such a deep sleep again and seemed like he could have slept for much longer.

Thanks Liz - it's odd, because he has seemed really fine on the routine we've been on, and I was so happy that he was finally settled, and yet the last couple of days he has taken SO much more sleep (because I have let him!!) and it really has confused me.

I think we'll see how tonight goes and then see if I should change things....I'm wondering if yesterdays 11 hour night was a one-off and we might get less since he's had so much daytime sleep for the last two days  .  We shall see.....

[clazzat]

I second what Liz said - I see nothing wrong with the routine as it is.  It is likely that he is just sleeping a bit more because of the teething - go with it for a couple of days but watch for him getting to the point where he is having too much day sleep.