How does set naps work & whats tacking on?

[Jodes112]

I have a 7 month old. How would i know if set naps would benifit her?

Thanks!

[ZacsMumme]

Tacking on is when you go for an early bed time following a day of say - short or not enough naps, and your baby or toddler tacks their lost sleep on to their night. So BT moves forward from 7 to 6pm and WU stays the same (so you may get a 12 hr night instead of 11.

What temperament if your 7 month old? - set naps work better for textbook angel babies, or where mums really need to set their LOs body clocks (sometimes to fit in with other kids, sometimes to save their sanity ) if your LO is touchy or spirited I think A times tend to work better.

What is your LOs routine and what kind of set nap times were you wanting to try?

[Jodes112]

Hi, thanks for responding. I bow understand tacking on!

My little girl is more apirited than anything. Some days i worry that she is overtired and every couple days she will wake up at 5.30 and then we sort of have to move the day forward again over a couple of days if you get what i mean. I wondered if i stuck to set naps even on the early wake ups, she could manage it.

Our day usually looks like this..

W/u 6.15 ish
E 7.30
A 3hr 15 min
S 9.30-11
E 11.20
A 3hr 10 max
S 2.05 - 3.15
E 3.30
A 3hr 45
Bed at 7pm

I dont like to put her in bed too early as i worry she will wake up earlier, earliest she has been to bed is 6.40pm.

When she does wake up at 5.30 it leaves a long stretch at the end of the day which i dont like as i worry she will be overtired.

I wondered if i kept naps at same time, like 9.30am n 2pm she would cope... Even on an early wake up? Not sure what to do. She dropped cat naps around 3 weeks ago hasnt had one sonce then

Thanks

[ZacsMumme]

Honestly, I think her last A is too long, that is why she is EW. I would try a longer A after that good morning nap. Maybe 3hrs20 and see if you get a slightly longer nap and then 3.5 max A to BT.

I know it's scary doing EBT but an OT baby is more likely to EW, if you get her down say 15-30 mins earlier and keep her total day closer to 13 hrs or 10.5 max A time then she may sleep a more settled night.

Does she NW?

[Jodes112]

Thanks for that advice i will give it a try tomorow! It makes total sense.

No night wakings anymore. Wev got it good now! Just need ro crack the ew. If we cant tho i dont mind it too much just thought i would ask for advice!

Thanks

[Jodes112]

What time is best gor her to be waking from her afternoon nap? 4? Then that leaves 3hrs til bed? Thanks

EDIT jist re read ur post u did say 3 n half hour max awake before bed. Will give it a try! Thank you

[ZacsMumme]

great no NW Hun! So you must have the routine close. Even if you just try to reduce that last A 15 mins it may be all you need to fix the EW

[Jodes112]

I will let u know how we get on in a few days! X

[ZacsMumme]

Fx for you

[Jodes112]

Thanks hun. Yesterday she only had a 1hr 10 nap in the AM (typical!) and in the PM she did 2 hrs meaning she woke at 3.45. (I woke her at 2hrs) I think though the longer nap in the pm didnt do her any favours as she was up at 5.45 this AM. Im thinking that a good AM nap followed by a slightly shorter one in the PM (or 2 1 n half hour naps) suits her better. Would that be what you think?

As i didnt actually get her out of bed until 6am im going to aim for AM nap at 9.15, hopefully she will have a good AM nap and then take it from there! She's so good apart from this so i cant complain! But as you said just a little tweak we could have the perfect day/night.

Thank you x

[goldmom]

I'm interested in this and so listening in.

If we get EW then I still try not to move the AM nap too much earlier than normal, as I don't want DD to get used to waking up early. Is it cold in her room?

2 hour naps are really long for this age, I wouldn't let DD go with that (does help push the day out later though, but we cap at 1.75 max). If you're getting the short AM nap then definitely try pushing her first A a little longer.

We do EBT often (still trying to get longer/later naps by pushing A times out), and I find that DD's nights range from 11-12 hours, with shorter on nights that have a later BT (so she can wake up at 6 from a 7 BT, but the next day wake at 6:45 from a 6:45 BT). I have stretched the last A to 3.5/3.75 hours b/c of 2 short naps, but only that long if I see her playing nicely before I change her to bed, if she's cranky/clingy at all then I would put her to bed after 3.25 hours (which I do when she has good naps).

But saying that, we do still have 2 NW's which are quick feeds, but have been going on forever and I'm hoping they'll stop soon (but I've been hoping for 7 months now!)

[Jodes112]

Hi!

Nope her room doesnt get too cold, and her face is never cold to touch on a morning. And feeling chest she feels just right.

I totally agree if we have an ew lately i have been only moving the AM nap 15/20 mins earlier as she would want at cat nap on the evening if i didnt and i dont want to go back down that road.

She rarely does 2 hr naps to be honest i dont know where she pulled that one from ha, usually she does an hour and half in an and hour and 10 in pm. So i will sef start capling at 1hr 45 at most. But your right it does stretch out the day but no good if its effecting the night!

I also agree that if she starts getting crabky i start bath/bed earlier so she is in bed earliier. But if she seems happy enough she is usually in bed for 7. Iv noticed she usually starts getting cranky at the 3hr 30 mark.

She is dropping asleep most evenings on the bottle which clearly shows she is nackered! Otherwise she settles great in her own.

We are lucky she wasnt intrested in night feeds from 3 months (sssoooo lucky) your LO sounds like she has a great routine well done you!

[Jodes112]

Hi, just an update.

Yesterday was a prefect day, she had 1hr half at 9.30-11am (this is after waking at 6.05) and afternoon nap 2.15 to 3.45. Bed at 7pm and asleep right away.

We did however, have a night wake ? BUT i gave her her snuggle teddy as she had lost it and then she went straight back off (there could be teething in the mix as she hasnt got one yet) so not a bad NW.

Didnt wake for the day though until 6.50am which gives me a good start to move her day along slightly. (Would like a wake up after 6.30am) so want to move her day to be in bed for 7.15 instead of 7, as she averages waking up at 6.10/6.20.

Will keep you up to date!

[ZacsMumme]

such fantastic progress!

[Jodes112]

Im so pleased. That great bit of advice of extending that afternoon awake time has done the trick! Thank you! Im going to stick with this now as its working for us. I cant get her to bed any later she is just ready for bed no later than 7pm so im fine with that. Dont want to stretch her too far. Yay. So 6.20 seems the average for WU.

Today though she had a good am nap, but pm was only 30 mins and she was so upset so i couldnt re-settle. Sure she is about to cut a tooth. So we had quite a long A u til bedtime just hope it hasnt thrown a spanner in the works.

Thanks for your help! X