Average nap lengths for 7 mo

[Mandy.kamal]

You definitely have a great point Emma! The few times I've done EBT, he hasn't tacked on but it's worth another try! I will try anything at this point and open to any suggestions! Ill try it the next time we get 2 short naps and see. If it doesn't work and he wakes at 5:00am, do I just play out the day as normal and add the 3rd nap back to push back BT and WU?

[Violet's mom]

Honestly mine never cries either but I tried it one day - she took a full feeding and back to sleep she went until 7am.  Last night she did have a little party at 3 am so I kinda took that as a sign she was low on A time - I'm currently battling separation anxiety so that's been tough...  I feel for you - sleep is soooo important!  Is there anyone who can sleep in a different room with the monitor for even one night so you can get some solid sleep?

[Emami]

If you try a 5 or 5:30 BT you'd ideally want him to do a typical length night plus an hour or two extra for lost day sleep, so hopefully you wouldn't be dealing with a 5am start. But even if he does wake early it'd still be 5-5, which is a good amount of sleep and a good point to be able to try a slightly longer A time and see what kind of nap you get.  If you get crappy naps then yes I would think you'll need to do 3 to get to BT, but at least you'll have tried it and can rule out SEBT as an option if it doesn't improve anything.

[Emami]

Oh, also just thought since you're hoping for a 13ish hour night and his BT feed will be earlier its totally feasible that if he wakes in the early hours he could be hungry.  So I would feed if you get a NW.  Hope that helps, and hope it works if you try it!

[Joannajmiller]

Mandy are you BF or FF? Assume on solids too?  Maybe the food is coming into play as much as the naps?

[Mandy.kamal]

Violet's mom- around what time does she wake and you feed her? Mine is waking multiple times a night but easily resettles and he only has a tough time resettling in the early am; 5:00ish to 6:00am. I guess any WU before 5:30, I could always try and see?? How's your LO doing with the A time push?

Emma- I will absolutely try this SEBT out! He hasn't had a solid night sleep in awhile now so it's impossible to get our As right because of it. He's been having a lot of restless sleep and wakes very grumpy.

Joanna- That's always a possibility! We FF (4, 6oz bottles plus a 4oz DF) and we are doing 3 solids 'meals' of about 3 oz each. How would I know it's the food? Do I stop solids for a couple days?

Thank you all! Ill have DHs help today and I'm going to just try and go with the flow and hopefully DS can catch up on sleep so we can start rested for next week!

[Violet's mom]

She wakes between 4:45 and 5:30 for a feed and then goes back to sleep.  Her last feed is 6:30pm so I think her little tummy can't make it any longer.  Just went down for her am nap after 3.5 hrs A time, but her A time shortens as the day goes on.  Probably around 3 hrs for her afternoon A time and 2 hr 45 for her evening A time depending on her naps.  Took me a while to figure that one out and it'll probably change soon haha.  Just keep trying to get that baby some good sleep - you're a good mommy and i know ts tough right now - and then figure it out!  You'll get there and he will sleep easily soon enough! 

[Mandy.kamal]

You're sweet, thank you.
Do you do a DF? We still DF around 11:00 pm and he hasn't been drinking his full am bottle, so I doubt mines hunger but ill def monitor that and try feeding him and see

Thank you for the encouraging words. I am completely following his "cues" today and just letting it be what it is for a couple days in hopes of catching up on sleep again. I have been sifting back through the 2 BW books and from what I've read, I may just write down what he does without me pushing As and see if he has a 'rhythm' or pattern for naps. Maybe I'm screwing with him too much??

I am so happy to hear Violet is doing so well with her sleep! You did it mommy

[Violet's mom]

Yeah I would agree with you then - I don't DF so your DF is probably doing the trick!  Yeah, I'm happy that even though the naps aren't always perfect her nighttime sleep is waaaay better!

Good luck!

[Mandy.kamal]

I'm taking Emma's advice as doing an EBT of 5:30pm! I'm super worried but giving it a go

Send me all the good (and sleepy) vibes you can!!!! Hoping for a refreshed and happy baby tomorrow morning!!!

[Mandy.kamal]

Update- he slept 12 hours and 20 ish minutes last night! He woke up about 5+ times but I never had to go to him. He woke up at 5:50am, which has been the norm recently, but was tired and fussy after 2.5 A time...I really thought he could go longer after the long night sleep...

I stretched him to 2.40 ish A time and put him down for first nap at 8:35 am.

I'm waiting to see how today plays out with nap lengths, but there's no way we can continue the 5-6pm to 5-6am schedule, especially with daylight savings time around the corner which will drop us back another hour. I can cope with these lousy naps and unpredictable routine, but I really would like his WU and BT to e much later. DH hardly gets to see him anymore and I want to fix that before DS gets too used to waking up and going to sleep so early.

Any advice on that?

I wouldn't mind the early WU and BT if I saw progress with pushing A times- In which case things would slowly work out to that goal- but I'm not seeing that happen as we are actually regressing back to 2.5 A even with catch up on sleep...

.....he just woke after 30 minutes and crying.

[Emami]

Hmm... he's a tough one to figure out  . I'm glad you got a long night but sorry it didn't really help.  Probably at this point I would throw the routine out the window for a bit and put him down whenever he's sleepy to try to get him to catch up and then start over.  So he may end up with 2 or 3 naps, long or short, but maybe just go with it for a bit.  I know that might seem like a step backwards but he does seem OT so I would view it more as a reset and try to get him to a better day start and end.  That way your hubby can see him in the evening too if you're not rushing to get him to bed.

[Mandy.kamal]

I think you're right Emma. And yes, very tough to figure out!! So strange because we were doing so well and now chaos...ugh.

So ill just follow his cues and do however many naps I need and make BT back to around 7:30 ish and just hope he starts waking happy and not so early??

Today has been one of the worst days in awhile so I think your advice is probably the best solution at this point...

Thank you so, so Emma

[Mandy.kamal]

I'm so sorry, I know you all are so tired of me posting questions...
He has been tired now after only 2 hours A and has had 4 complete meltdowns today already...we are already on nap #3 today and its only 2:50pm here.

I am just curious as to how long it takes for a LO to get out of a OT cycle? I just want an estimate as to when things should settle back down.

I'm sorry for being so obnoxious about this whole thing, but the husband and I have been arguing a lot recently because of all this and he really wants to try CIO and doesn't think these BW techniques are working. Obviously, I strongly disagree and I'm desperate for even a tiny improvement so I can show him that it does work and to please not let CIO even be an option...

[Emami]

Mandy, I wouldn't put a timescale on it honestly.  It's not like x number of hours of sleep reduces OT by x% yk?  It might just take one good long night to get back on track, or a few days.  For example, last month we went away (flights, different time zone, crazy days), and it took a full week of extra long nap and nights before DD was back on her normal routine.   Then today she skipped her nap  (boo, I am totally not ready to be starting the 1-0!), so I put her to bed at 6 and I expect she will do a long night and be fine tomorrow.  She's older so it's easier to deal with OT, but my point is it just depends how tired they are and it's difficult to measure!  You'll probably be able to tell when he's caught up as he'll likely seem happier and be able to up the A time again.

You are not being obnoxious, this is what the forum is for and there are plenty of people willing to help!  Has your DH seen any of the CIO info on here?  Hugs, it's hard when you're not on the same page and especially when you're sleep deprived