can't get the afternoon nap more than 40 mins - 8 months

[mylittlelovelies]

Hi there,
hoping this is a routine tweak issue....

Can't seem to get 2 long naps at the moment. Morning nap is often 2 hrs, but then afternoon nap is short.
Here's what we're doing at the moment

7am wake
10am - 12 nap (i often wake her)
3pm nap (often 30-40 mins)
awake 3:40 and then
bedtime 7ish

has a DF plus a feed at 3am...i haven't bothered to try to get rid of it, its quick and makes my life easy in some ways.

Really want to get the 2nd nap longer as after a short nap its a bit long till bedtime and we've had some evening NWs plus she's just clingy and cranky for that last part of the day till bedtime.
it seems we only get 1 long nap a day. If we're at playgroup or something and her morning nap is only short then i might get 1.5 hrs in the afternoon, but then its only 2 hrs total naps.

what is normal total nap hours for 8 month olds?

Look forward to some help!
Jessie

[*Jo*]

Hi there Jessie, can i suggest you shorten the first nap to only 1.5 hours and then you can aim for another 1-1.5 hour nap in the afternoon, thats what most 8 monthers do

[mylittlelovelies]

I did wonder about that, just nervous I'd shorten the morning nap and still get a short pm nap anyway. Should I shorten morning A time to 2 hrs 45 so she isn't tired when I wake her or stick to 3 hrs? Thanks for your help!

[*Jo*]

stick to 3 hours. from this age onwards you wont be giving any 2 hour naps until she is very close to the switchover to the 1 nap. a 1.5 hour nap is considered a restorative nap.

do it for at least 3 days in order to see the results and let me know how you get on

[mylittlelovelies]

thanks Jo! i'll definitely try that. I'll let you know how i go.
Jessie

[mylittlelovelies]

hi again!
just wanted to ask another question.
Today for her morning nap, DD fell asleep in the car on the way to visit a friend, then transferred her to the pram to finish her nap which was 1 hr 15 mins...

7am wake
9:45 asleep
11am awake
2:10 asleep
...woke after 40 mins as usual...rocked her back to sleep in about 5-10 mins (asleep now but i'd guess another 40mins then wake up).

So my question is...do i need to do anything with the second A time (today it was 3hrs 10 mins...usually about 3 hrs) to help get a longer 2nd nap??
Should it be longer or shorter than 3 hrs?
Or is it just that her body needs to re-learn where to put the extra  sleep she's not getting in the morning nap?
When she woke this afternoon after 40 mins she was already starting to chat a bit, a little grizzly but not crying, resisted me rocking her to sleep, but it worked whereas  on other days when she's had a 2 hr morning nap i've rocked her for AGES in the afternoon to try to extend the 2nd nap and had no luck at all...so definitely more successful with the shorter morning sleep, but still needed my intervention. Will that sort itself out after a few days of the 'new routine' or do i need to change the middle A time?

thanks again Jo for your help.
Jessie

[*Jo*]

well I would say leave things as they are for now for a few more days, she may add on to that second nap, if after a few more days shes still doing a short PM nap then extend the second A time

[mylittlelovelies]

thanks for the speedy reply
(helps that you're in Australia too!!)
shall i keep APOP to extend it if need be in the meantime?

[*Jo*]

no i wouldnt do that, if she takes a short PM nap just give her an early bedtime, so say she wakes up at 3 then i would make her bedtime at 5.30/6pm to help her not get too OT.

Indeed it does help when you are in the same country! other people reply in the middle of the night and if its urgent then i cant get to them till thenext day:(

[mylittlelovelies]

today it would have been 2:30 though...so i don't know that an early bedtime would even have saved me from the long end of day stretch

[*Jo*]

mmm I agree, well instead of APOP i would try patting her back to sleep, you dont want to have to deal with another issue as soon as you ahve sorted out this one

[mylittlelovelies]

hmmmm just realised time has flown and she's stiill asleep an hour after her resettle...so 1hr 40 total.
better wake her now i guess?
definitely not UT then i suppose? Should i shorten her middle A time, could it have been OT?

[*Jo*]

I dont think OT necessarily but just that things are changing and shes adjusting, i would shorten her A time by 10mins for that nap so shes only awake 3 hours each A time

[mylittlelovelies]

hi again!
just a quick update
First two days of shortening morning nap.... 1.5 hrs morning nap then afternoon nap woke at 40mins but rocked her back to sleep and ended up having to wake her after an extra hour.

Third day today. At playgroup this morning so nap in the pram just under 1 hr. then this afternoon didn't stir till about 1hr 10 mins but couldn't resettle, which means only about 2hrs total nap time for the day which i think is a bit on the low side.
A time in the morning was 3 hrs, but she always seems like she could go down earlier, but i stretch her. Second A time was also 3 hrs, but she was definitly struggling with that after the shorter morning sleep. It seems like to cope for the 2nd A time really well, she needs the full 2hr morning nap...she's been cranky with the shorter sleep

what do you think i should do? I've thought about reducing the first A time to 2hrs 30 or 2 hrs 45 so that when she does have a shorter morning nap (either because we're out or because i wake her after 1.5hrs) she isn't too tired to cope with the next 3 hr A time. Other option would be to just go with the long morning nap and accept a short pm nap...but i find it really hard to get myself (and DD1 who has just dropped to NO nap) through the afternoon with only a short nap from DD2. I REALLY would rather the afternoon nap be the long one, but i don't want a cranky chicky all day because i've interrupted her nap.

LOVE some help again!
Jessie

[*Jo*]

I think that it may just take her a bit to adjust to the new sleep, it can take up to a week to see results, I think she can definately handle 3 hours A time after a 1.5 hour nap in the AM, she's just used to having a longer sleep so it will take a little for her body to adjust, anyhing between 1hr 20mins to 2 hours is restorative sleep so she will be finding it's just shifting where her sleep is, if she sleeps anything less than 1hr 20mins then shorten her next A time slightly, you are doing great though, its only day 3 and you did have a bit of a hiccup in the morning sleep so give it a few more days, if it's still not working after a week then we can go back to the drawing board