nap/NW dilemma 10 month old

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

Ethan has been having great nights lately but his afternoons are 100% miserable. He is cranky, fussy and does not want to be put down during his last A time of the day (which is right over dinner time and I cannot just hold him the whole time!). His daytime sleep is about 1hr 45 min to not have any NW's (well one maybe). Any amount of daytime sleep over that, we have 4-5 NW's. If he has more daytime sleep, he is totally fine during that last A time. Any idea's what to do about that? Do I just have to decide which is better? Cranky baby or NW's?

[*Jo*]

Hi Jenn, are you able to pop up his routine?

we have very similar issues with Caleb at the last A time of the day, i have found that if i spend 10mins with him in his room right after he wakes up, just sitting and chilling in a chair having cuddles then he comes right. it might be that he just needs that time to adjust before coming out of his room. i sit with Caleb and we cuddle and after about 5 mins or so he just sits up and starts talking to me, he gets off my lap and walks out of hte room, its when he starts chatting to me i know hes ready to go

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

Very good idea, Jo! I never really thought of that. It might help, who knows?! Here is his routine:

Wake: 7:15
S: 11-12
S:3:15-4
Bed: 7:30

He is cranky between 4 and about 6pm when his bath starts...after that he seems completely fine!

Thanks for your help!!

[Mom to M&M]

Totally agree with Jo - DD used to be similar and cuddling for a while with her after her nap would help - we'd cuddle in her room or in a dimmed living room and snuggle and maybe look at books and all. Sometimes she'd need up to 20-30 minutes like that, sometimes only 5-10 but it did help. Walks outside (weather permitting of course) help too!

[*Jo*]

just looking at your routine, I think hemight need a bit more sleep during hte day, can you make his first nap a 1.5 hour nap at all? its less than 2 hours sleep for the whole day, it might be that needs a bit of a tweak, otherwise it looks ok, let me know how the cuddle time goes!

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

I know it definitely seems like he should need more daytime sleep. Thats the problem though..any more day time sleep and he wakes 5 times at night. I just finally got him sleeping at night by dropping his daytime sleep wayyy back but now I am getting that fussy period. I can try to get him to sleep longer...he generally just will not have it though! After his pm nap today we will have cuddle time and see what happens. Thanks!

[Mom to M&M]

Hope the cuddle time helped - let us know!

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

Okay, I tried the cuddle thing today. He was happy getting out of the crib but as soon as I sat down in the rocking chair, he threw a complete temper tantrum. He was flailing his arms and kicking....quite comical actually. Then I walked with him out into the living room where I sat on the couch and he did the same thing again. We ended up just walking around with me carrying him while I got his bottle ready like I usually do and then he was fine to sit and drink it. Hmm...I don't know.

[*Jo*]

wow, so thats not gonna work is it. hmmmmm maybe dont sit down then, walk around the room? i know it seems a pain in the bum but he might eventually get used to this new time after sleep and you will be able to sit down eventually. i dont know what else really but like i said we had the same issue, its just that we only started cuddle time about two weeks ago, we just lived with a grumpy boy till bathtime.

can you bring bathtime closer?? maybe he needs that to switch out of crankypants mode?

[Mom to M&M]

Agree on maybe switching around bath time!

[*Jo*]

how has he been lately?

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

Sorry Girls! I had a really busy weekend. Ugh! Anyways, we are about the same. I tried giving him a bath earlier and he screamed bloody murder as soon as I put him in the tub Then yesterday he napped 1.5hr for his pm nap all on his own and only had 1 NW. Then today he only did a short PM nap but has been cranky all day with teething so its sort of hard to tell what is what right now. He refuses to eat anything at this point and has pooped 6! times today. I think I will give the early bath another go tomorrow depending on how he is feeling. Normally he loves his bath so I am not really sure why he was so upset at that point.

[*Jo*]

oh dear, have you tried bringing his AM nap to 45mins so that his PM nap is longer?

has he eaten anything different lately? could he have an upset tummy, with that amount of poops and refusing to eat it does sound like a tummy upset

[Mom to M&M]

Matthew has been similar - lots of pooping (3-4 times a day and very smelly) and eating is off. Guessing teething too but you never know. I'd say to take him out for a walk in the afternoon as that always worked with DD but I'm sure it's freezing there right now!

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

I definitely think either his tummy was upset or he is teething. No new foods but something still might have bothere him. I have tried a 45min am nap and a longer pm nap which worked well for about a week and then he started having EW and NW's again. I have been taking him for walks in the afternoon to try and make the crankiness easier for myself but today looks awfully cold...hopefully it will warm up by the PM. Aside from his cranky time in the late afternoon, he has been going to bed around 7pm and waking up at 7:30am with 1 or 2 NW's that only take a minute to sort out. He is having really long nights so I am wondering if his lack of daytime sleep is even a problem? Maybe I should just cut my losses and be happy with what he is doing. I just don't know if not very much daytime sleep is healthy for him