7 months old has 10 hour nights overtired or is this normal?

[brenda2]

IMO if they are sick the routine goes out the window because they need so much more sleep when they are sick.  so i wouldn't wake him up from naps and i would just follow cues.  if he looks tired put him down.  especially if his nights are really bad due to coughing etc i would let him make it up during the day if he will.  if swaddling helps yes i would do it and if raising the head of the bed helps you could try that too.  sometimes a bit of elevation helps with congestion.

[tracy28011984]

Hi Brenda my little one is doing a lot better, he still has diarhoea but wheeze and cough is reducing. I wondered if you would look at my routines for the last two days and tell me what you think, he's still waking up early in the morning.

Yesterday
Woke 5.30a.m after 7.30 bedtime (10 hours)
Changed nappy and went back to sleep at 6.30-7.00
Nap 1 9.35-11.35
Nap 2-2.40-4.00
Bed 7.00p.m

Today
Woke at 5.00a.m fell back asleep 5.30-6 then I gave bottle and changed nappy
He fell back asleep from 6.45-7.30a.m
Nap 1-He fought this when I tried to put him down at 10.00a.m and didn't go to sleep until 10.25-12.15
Nap 2-Appeared very tired before this nap-3.15-ongoing but I feel this may be short


What time do you think for bedtime if he has short nap 30-45mins?

Or what time if he has nap over 1 hour?

I still think he can only sleep 11 hours a night and it seems when he is coming into light sleep around 5a.m this is when he fills his nappy and cant get back to sleep. Ideally his bedtime would be 8pm like it used to wen he had his catnap, but and dont know if I dare push it back that late again, possibly could today if he sleeps long enough for this nap.

[brenda2]

how old is he now?

i think you are aiming for 3 hours A time?  so if he only does a short nap then A time would be maybe 2.5 hours but try to watch him.  with bubs who don't do more than 11 hours night sleep then you really need to aim for bedtime of 7 at the earliest otherwise you are going to be up early and they're not going to go back to sleep because they're ready to be up.

[tracy28011984]

He ended up doing a nap of 1 hr 10 mins for last nap which took us to 4.30p.m, then bdetime was 7.30p.m and he fell asleep at 7.45.
He was up at 12.30 but went back off with dummy, then 4.00, then I next heard him at 5.40a.m, so I got him up at 6.10 after no sings of settling gave bottle, changed nappy then he wouldnt go back to sleep.
I'm not sure when he is dirtying his nappy during the night, its hard to tell when your half asleep, maybe it is when is waking up between 12.30-1 and thats why hes not settling much after that. Do you think I should get him up when he cries around 12.30-1? if I do I know he'll expect a bottle because I've got him up, dont want to feed because he'll expect it and then he'll probably dirty nappy again.
Do you think I should just change him then lay him back down if I need to ?

[tracy28011984]

Forgot to say he is nearly 8 1/2 months.

[tracy28011984]

This morning he went to sleep for nap 1 at 9.20 and is still asleep 2 hrs later, so you think it is because he can handle more A Time (nearly 4 hours this mroning) or he needs this long nap because of the early morning wake up and night wakings?
Don't know how long A Time to give him before next nap 3hr, 3h15 or more?

[brenda2]

ok he's 8.5 mo yes i think you need to increase his A time.  at least 3.5 hours.  if he's done 4 hours and given you a nice long nap then that is a sign that he's ready for more.  up to 4 hours for sure, wouldn't go longer than 4 hours.  maybe between 3.5 and 4 hours.

my lo always did a medium A time then long A time then short A time.  A time will vary during the day and you have to work out what he likes.  some do short A time first and progressively longer with a long A time before bed.  depends on nap lengths and your lo.  can't help you there, it's trial and error but i will say he needs to be doign longer than you were doing.  it's a keep up game at this stage as A time constantly increases until they go to 1 nap.  if he d id a 2 hour nap then he can probably handle the same A time that he did first thing.

re the poopy diaper.  if you know he's poopy then i would change him and put him back down.  my los never pooped at night after they started on solids (unless they were sick) but i think that's what i would do, hard to expect them to sleep if you know they're uncomfortable.

[tracy28011984]

I dont understand him today he woke 5.45a.m after quite a few night wakings,(I think) so I put him down at 9.15 for nap which he seemed very tired, I was right he only slept 30 mins, so I put him down 2 1/2 hrs later and another 30 mins nap, I'm onto nap 3 now and not hopeful.
Could it be that he had too much sleep yesterday 3 1/2 hours? That caused night wakings?
He went to bed last night after 3 1/2 A Time.

[brenda2]

Could it be that he had too much sleep yesterday 3 1/2 hours? That caused night wakings?

could be , that's a lot of nap time for his age.  should be max 3 hours, my lo at 8.5 mo was doing 2 hours 15 min total naps.