7 months, milestones and trouble at naptime

[pochahontas]

Our 7 month old DS is textbook/spirited and has been a great sleeper until recently. At night he thankfully still sleeps great, but naptime is becoming very frustrating.
Ive read brittanik's post and our problem is quite similar only with a twist: he is scooting around and has been for a couple of weeks, and last week he started pulling himself up and already stands on his feet for as long as 10 mins.
For the past week or so, he has been a terrible napper. I put him in his crib when he starts yawning/fussing/rubbing his eyes but he just doesn't settle. He scoots around in the crib while he fusses, and can do so for quite some time before he finally gets so exhausted that he falls asleep more or less still moving around. Then he sleeps for 30-45 mins, wakes up and refuses to go back to sleep.
I think part of the problem might be that we need to increase his A time to 3 hours (now it's only 2). Does that sound as a good idea? Otherwise, should we just await for him to adjust to his new skills and accept that he doesn't sleep more than 2 hours tops a day for a period?
I'm very thankful for any input as it's getting very frustrating not being able to help him get his sleep.

[babytsmommy]

Hi Pochahontas,

My LO (who's a few days shy of 7 months - also spirited/textbook) is doing the same thing. He used to go down easily at exactly 2 hours and sleep for 1.5-2 hours. At 6 months, I started having difficulty putting him down for naps and whenever I did, they would be anywhere from 30-45 mins max. After a couple weeks of tweaking, I found his perfect A time to be 2hrs20 mins and 2nd A time to be 2hrs30mins. I had to take him for a walk for his last 30 min catnap (A time anywhere from 2.5 hrs to 3 hours). His naps/sleep changed as well to 1hr10mins in the morning, 1.5-2hrs in the afternoon, and he went from sleeping 10.5hrs/night to 11.5 hrs/night.

2 days ago he started being really difficult to put down again, even though he seems tired and starts to fuss. He also started skipping his last catnap so I put him to bed earlier - thank goodness for daylight savings time!!! Anyhow, it looks like it may be time to tweak again - maybe your LO needs longer A time too?

I just put him down for his first nap with A time of 3 hours (I tried at 2hrs20mins but he woke up after I put him down so I got him back up and played quietly with him until he started fussing again). Had to use a soother to get him to sleep though (which I weaned at 5 months) so 3 hours may have been too long... good luck with your LO!

[~Sara~]

I'd try the longer A time, too, but I would only increase by 15 minutes every 2-3 days.  That allows his body time to adjust without making him OT.  Also, his sleep might be disturbed until his body figures out that he doesn't need to practice his new tricks in the crib   For that, just make sure that he gets a lot of practice time in.  If he's scooting around and around before naps, it could be that's causing him to miss his sleep window.

Let us know how it goes!