8.5 month old and the PM nap.

[bug_blues70]

Hugs Sherry!!

I think I agree with several pp that it sounds like it could be low atimes. Do you have any idea how much total day sleep gets him a good night? That's where I would start to get a good night so he doesn't start the next day out OT and then increase his atimes from what you have been doing. If he gets roughly the same amount of day sleep per day, could you try decreasing it by 15 min? IME the first step is to try to get a good nights sleep so that he doesn't start out the day OT and then you can start pinpointing good atimes for naps.

[sherry lynn]

Megan - I know this sounds ridiculous, but it's been such a long time since we've had a "good" night that I can't tell you because they change so much regarding overall sleep.
We've only had ONE STTN so far. And I lost the notes on that day so I don't even know how to replicate it. Sigh. So unlike me too. I do know though, that he is about average. So. I would think that he should get about 3 hours during the day. And he used to do 12 hours ish at night (with feeds though) He used to even sleep up to 14 hours if he had a bad run of naps. But, that was a long time ago. Today's total was about 2h45m. Since that seems to be what the lower sleep needs bubs are doing, I don't think he needs less than that. This is the most he had had in a LONG time now. Well... I've had it here or there, but with extending naps. I didn't have to extend any naps today.

So, last night was bad!!! I'm almost positive he is teething. He is biting EVERYTHING!!! My nose, twice yesterday, my hand. DH, the neighbor.... etc. etc.

But, staying with what was working isn't working so I just went for it today, and it seemed to work out.
The day looked like this.

awake 5:10
I was in with DS1. When I came to our room at 5:50 he was chowing down on cheerios, so I think he woke from OT/Teething/Hunger. After you guys mentioned it I remembered that 9months was a HUGE growth spurt for DS1 also. So this makes so much sense. Also. Feeding was so off yesterday from trying to split the feeds before naps so I really worked on feeding times today.
BF 6:40 - starving
Solids 7:40 not hunger acting, tired acting, etc. Not interested. So tried putting him to bed. He was soooo mad. Got him up.
Solids again 8:30. Ate a little more. I really really didn't want to BF here. I know with 4 hours A time he was going to fall asleep on the breast. This quickly becomes a habit with him.
In bed 8:50. Had to help to sleep. But asleep by 8:56.
Nap 8:56-10:20
Woke crying. Cranky, etc. Then it dawned on me that he was hungry.
BF 10:40.
Solids 12:00
BF 1:35 (The neighbor was here, so Emory was distracted. Good for not falling asleep. But, didn't seem to feed all that well. In bed 1:45
Nap: 1:50ish, not positive. - 3:10  Woke happy.
Again, seemed cranky on and off this afternoon. That's not like him. Still a little sick and congested also.
BF 3:15 so-so feed.

I was aiming for 3 hours A time from advice on here. And after we had the night we did last night.
Was a tad late because of DS1.
In bed 6:15, good deal of fuss. But asleep by about 6:36.
So far no early evening wake ups. Which is great. That's two nights in a row. But, not getting my hopes up too much because of last night.

Thanks for helping have the courage to increase A times.
Sher

[bug_blues70]

Sounds like a great day!! I hope it goes well tonight... let us know! Hopefully tomorrow can follow along the same lines

[sherry lynn]

I'm hoping for a close to 6 wake up tomorrow. Then we can start to push the day out a little bit cross your fingers for me.
I want my 7:20 wake up back. Although DS1 is an early riser, so it doesn't matter that much.

[sherry lynn]

Ok, good news for the most part, I think.

NW 9:30-9:40, gave pain meds so that we didn't get a repeat of the night before
NW 10:57, very brief
NW 11:57 Fed here, seemed to take a good feed. Was a little too alert for my tastes, but went back in his bed, no fuss.
Wake for the day 5:34
Very very tired today, but not nearly as fussy. YEY!
Nap 8:46-10:28. So exciting!!! He sat up at 1h20m, but then laid down and went back to sleep.

Fed one side before Nap 2. Again very tired, he was trying to go to sleep, so as soon as he popped off even once I went and put him down. So he went down a tad earlier than I expected. No fuss going down. But, did have to stay in the room.

Nap 1:49-2:30
Was able to get him back to sleep. YEY!!! Still sleeping, but fitful, so not sure how long he will stay down. I'm going to try 3 hours A time again tonight, to see how it goes.

[bug_blues70]

YAY!!

[~Sarah~]

Sound like you are on the right path!!!! YAY!

[sherry lynn]

I'm glad that following his lead paid off for once!!!

[Jiinx]

How'd bedtime go?

[sherry lynn]

In bed 6:30 and he went to sleep on his own!!! YEY!!!! He has cried out a few times though but I haven't had to go in. So we'll see how the night goes.

[Jiinx]

yay that's great Sherry (sorry for the delay!). I hope his night continued and you had a great day!

[EloysH]

yay Sherry, hows it going now?

[huntersmummyinoz]

hi hun, good to see you are having some success  

so do you think he may be an 11hr night sleeper now?? (til such time that his naps decrease/goes to one nap/etc) if so, then i would keep doing what you are doing for a week and live with the 5.30am wake up and keep shooting for the 6.30pm bedtime. then once you think naps/routine are settled, you could start moving the whole day forward like you do in prep for DST. aiming for a 6.30am wakeup/7.30pm bedtime (or whatever timing works well with lyle and your family). what do you think?
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=161836.0

kirry

[bug_blues70]

I absolutely agree with Kirry - get everything settled and routinized and then move the times forward. I've had to do that with Ellen a few times and I think it's much easier when you already have a routine going. Besides, I guess personally, I'd rather have some kind of routine than the bedtime that I want.

[sherry lynn]

Hey guys, sorry it took me awhile to respond. Work has been crazy!!! And. I'm at the spot that Kirry was/is. The kids naps do NOT ALIGN AT ALL. And I work nights, so BW time has been reduced yet again.

So we've had some really good days. We had one AWESOME nap day, that turned into a horrible night. So I know that anything over 3 hours is probably too much.

So things went really smoothly for a few days, and then yesterday WHAM!!!

I tried the A time that had been giving me great results about 3h10m. He's been napping 1.5-2 hours on that, since the teething went away.
Yesterday he fought me so badly. I took him out awhile, put him back in at 3h15m. Still the same. Finally went to sleep. I pretty much had to hold him down. Asleep 3h27m.

Slept 1h45m
PM A time. I tried 3h20 min and he just refused to go down. I had to get DS up from his nap. Left emory fussing a little then went back to him. DS1 came in 3 times!!!!!!
Finally just got upset and took Emory out. He was fine!!! He fed to sleep though a little before 6. So he was up from 11:26-6pm.
Few night wakings, but slept until 6.

Today more of the same. Except after the first attempt I didn't try until 3h22m. Again he fought me like the ens. But, he was also yawning, rubbing his eyes, etc.
He slept 2h10m. Ending at 11:52.

I'm sure you guys won't get this monolaug until later but I was thinking of trying 3.5 hours
And then just giving him a short nap. And then who knows what until bedtime.

Kirry - yeah, I think he's just an 11 hour guy for the most part, for now. I was really happy that he did 12 hours last night. I think it's because maybe the A times were longer and he had less day time sleep. Making up the day sleep at night hasn't happened in awhile.

I'll need more advice on the A time before bed soon I'm sure.