When do you switch from 3 naps to 2?

[csmith13]

My 7mo ds has always been a short napper.  He had finally gotten the hang of it when she stared a cold.  After a few weeks of illness and antibiotics, he is finally better.  His night time sleep is awful since he's been sick...on a good night, we only get up once every hour. 

His naps are just awful!  If he naps for 30mins for two of the naps I'm happy, he usually does on 1.5nap, most often in the a , but today it was after lunch.  What's going on?  Help!

He has also started waking at 5:30am, when he used to get up at 6:30am.

Wake5:30
E 6am
A6:30-8
S 8-9:30

E9:30
A10-11:30
S11:30-12 ( shh pat for about 45 mins)

E-1pm
A1:30-2pm (shorten a time because he has been up since 12)
S 2-2:30 (more shh patting)

E 5pm
A 5:30-6:30
S bath story bed 7pm

DF 9:30pm

Night feed 2am

[*Kara*]

I would start by pushing his second A time way out.. .he is doing 2.5 hrs at wakeup and doing a good nap of 90 mins.  This should mean he can do at least 2.5 hrs (more likely 3 hrs) before his second nap... this should lengthen his second nap and make a third nap unneeded.

And I know you are thinking that the second nap of 30 mins means OT - not always.  A 30 min nap will often happen if baby needs a huge increase in A times... and no amount of patting will get him back to sleep - because he isn't tired

Have you tried feeding and then putting him back down when he wakes at 530am?  He is likely OT at this wakeup so *should* go back down.  If that doesn't work -

I would try this:

Wake 530am (I know how awful this is but the best way to fix it is to get a good day happening and then shift the whole thing out to a better time)
Nap 8-930am
Nap 12noon - 2pm (hoping the longer A time helps this nap lengthen).
BT 530/6pm.  (the benefit to this is that you have biology on your side to get him back to sleep if he wakes at 3/4am for the day)

* The other thing you can try if that bedtime is terrifying you is to keep him in the dark in his bedroom (no real interaction, just quiet snuggles to keep stimulation to a bare minimum).  Aim to start the day no earlier than 6am.  Push his first nap to at least 830 (try to get close to 9am as this is a natural dip in hormones that will make him sleepy).  Cross your fingers for a good nap (resettle if he wakes early).  Push the second A time to 3 hrs...

What do you think?  your choice will be impacted by his personality as well - a touchy would melt down with A time pushing, but a textbook will cope.

Hope this helps hun.

[csmith13]

You're right, the idea of a 5:30-6pm bt scares me.  I must say that although meds wakes at 5:30am, he babbles happily in his crib until I get him @ 6am, or closest to 6am I can get (sometimes he cries at 5:45 or 5:50).

In that case, do I start counting the A time from when I get him out of his crib or do I count the 30 or so minutes he was awake in his crib before I got him out?

[*Kara*]

At his age, I would count half-A time for when he is in the crib in the morning before you get him up... so half an hour should be counted as 15 mins.  Many moms find this works fairly well

[csmith13]

Thanks. This night was awful...I am hoping that by tweaking his nap routine to get him back on track will hopefully get a better night sleep out of him aswell.

[csmith13]

So day one of extended A time and 2naps was tough.  His first nap was @ 8:45. He slept for 1hr.  2nd nap was @ 1pm, he slept 40mins, and no amount of shh pat would settle him back down.  Have adjusted his bedtime accordingly.  Is this normal?  How long should I hope to get him to nap for??

[*Kara*]

So day one of extended A time and 2naps was tough.  His first nap was @ 8:45. He slept for 1hr.  2nd nap was @ 1pm, he slept 40mins, and no amount of shh pat would settle him back down.  Have adjusted his bedtime accordingly.  Is this normal?  How long should I hope to get him to nap for??

You really need to reduce A times if he naps less than 90 mins.  If you are doing an A time of 3 hrs for example, try cutting back to 2 hrs 30 mins to account for the short nap.

Regardless, one day doesn't mean a thing hun... you have to stick to longer A times for a good 4-5 days to see a change.

[csmith13]

So day two is more waking after 40mins, followed by 50mins of pu/pd and shh pat.  Seems to be getting worse instead of better:(.  So due to the shorter naps, I guess I go back to three naps until he naps longer???

[*Kara*]

So day two is more waking after 40mins, followed by 50mins of pu/pd and shh pat

If he didn't go back to sleep, I would think UT for the first nap... he slept a cycle and wasn't tired enough to go back to sleep.. if he was OT, he would have gone back down.  What A time did you do?

It will take a good week to know if he will adjust hun, you can't make that determination after 2 days.

[csmith13]

I did 3hrs wake time.  Then after the first nap, adjusted the 2nd, to 2.5hrs, that time, he cried for the first 30mins, then slept 40mins, followed by a bit more shh pat.  I gave him a 3rd nap, which resulted in 20mins of crying and pu pd. then he slept 30mins.  He hasn't fought me to go down for a nap since I first started sleep training him when he was newborn,  I feel like I'm losing ground here. .  Very discouraged!

[*Kara*]

Hugs hun... maybe keep that first A time a bit shorter until he has gotten over the OT a bit more..

Try 2 hrs 45 mins and see if the nap is longer... stick with the 2 hrs 45 for the first A time for a few days at least.  Just a question though, when he wakes early from a nap, does he cry that he really needs you or is he just fussing etc?

[csmith13]

If he cries like he needs me, I know I will have a hard time settling him back down.  Often, he wakes at the 40min mark and babbles for a while.  I listen, hoping he will settle himself back down.  Usually the babbles escalade to cries and then I go in, to cover him up, give his blankie and pack back, turn on the white noise and can settle him back to sleep with only that.

Today, he napped for 1hr 12mins, with my having to go do what I mentioned above at the 40min mark.  For his second nap, I kept him up a little over 3hrs.  He slept for 39mins, then woke screaming.  I did pu/pd for close to 1 hr, and when I thought he was settling back to sleep, I crept out,and now he's back to babbling and crying.  Could he need longer A time?

[*Kara*]

Today, he napped for 1hr 12mins, with my having to go do what I mentioned above at the 40min mark.  For his second nap, I kept him up a little over 3hrs.

He was overtired for the second nap.  I can't stress enough, if he sleeps less than 90 mins for any nap, you need to shorten his second A time.

Please remember that this will take a week or more to see solid results as well.

If you are feeling like things aren't going well, by all means, take a few days and just follow his lead and watch for sleepy signs.