7 month old naps gone wrong - more A time AGAIN?!

[LovelyLilyandJack]

He did:

Wu: 7
A: 3 hrs 40
S: 1hr 20
A: 3 hrs 15
S: I woke him after 50 minutes
A: 2 hrs 50
Bedtime @ 7

I'll let you know how tonight goes....

[Mandy.kamal]

How'd your night go?
Ours was rough with an EW on top....not starting our day off good.

Hoping your night/day is much better

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Our night was fab - 7 til 7.15 with a quick nf at 4.30 ish. Sorry to hear yours didn't go so well though

Not having a chance to see how the new A times are going today cos he had to do a nap in the car due to a pre- planned thing for L and ironically cos he slept in we couldn't fit a proper nap in beforehand! He's also got a cold today so completely guessing A time for this afternoon.  So we'll start again tomorrow!

[LovelyLilyandJack]

I'm baaaack! Just after some help tweaking now really.... The day I last posted he developed a cold so has clearly been tired the last couple of days.  But yesterday afternoon he seemed much better and has been fine today so I'm back to trying to get him onto a good routine again.  Tbh I'm ok with where we are if every day goes like today but he had a short nap again this morning and an hour and a half long nw last night so I'm thinking we're not quite there yet.  If he wakes early one day then a 35 minute morning nap won't be enough and we'll be screwed so I'd rather get him to the point where I'm waking him or I know he can do 45-60 minutes at least. If possible anyway...

So today has been:

WU: 6.45 am. One nf at 3ish which he wouldn't settle after. Was happy enough and lay there quietly. About an hour to an hour and a half after waking he cried but settled himself and I assume went to sleep afterwards.

A: 3 hrs 45 (pd at 3 hrs 40)
S: 38 minutes (10.30 - 11.10)

A: 3 hrs 20 (pd at 3 hrs 15). Was slightly grumpy at first but played happily by himself and was perfectly happy once he'd had lunch!
S: We woke him after 1.5 hours cos getting close to bedtime. He's woken extremely happy So that was 2.35pm - 4.05 pm

A: Aiming for 2 hrs 50 / 3 hrs A time til bed,  so BT at 7 ish.

Yesterday was very similar except he woke earlier in there morning so I resettled him after his first nap and he slept another 40 minutes (so 1hr 10-15 in total).  We did 3 hrs 15 before his second nap again and he slept 1hr 35, but cried and resettled himself after 40 minutes.

Anyway, do you think he still needs a push for that morning nap,  or am I better off leaving it as potentially UT as it's ok being short some days? Though I still wonder if it could be OT and the short A time before the next nap lets him catch up though. Also, any idea what might have caused that nw?  I'm wondering if he's having a big nap too close to BT cos he was very chirpy before bedtime last night....? We'll see how tonight goes I guess....

[LovelyLilyandJack]

V quick update - last night was fine.  Just a nf at 4.30 ish.  He was awake for a bit longer than usual but not too bad.  He's still asleep now at 6.45 am after a 7pm bedtime so really I'd count it as a good night

So unless we get more long nws,  just a bit of tweaking needed on that first nap ideally,  so we can do a longer nap if he wakes early and needs more than 35-40 minutes in the morning....

[TB9]

If he does well with a shorter am nap, his night is good, and he does a longer pm nap then I would just leave it the way it is

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Yeah, I'm quite happy to as long as he always wakes at 6.30 or 7 ish!  I guess if he wakes earlier I can always try to resettle him to get a longer AM nap.

[Mandy.kamal]

Glad to hear all is going well! I think with just minor tweaking you'll be in a great routine!! X

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Thanks   We're actually pretty much on the routine Lily was on at around 9/10 months which was one of my favourite, most flexible routines   I'm having to put him down for a morning nap by 10.45 to get a short nap in before his longer nap at 2.30ish so he's going to end up having to do some variable A times before that first nap anyway.  Maybe we'll hit the magic first A time along the way.  It'd be nice to have the flexibility to do long AM nap and short PM nap some days so we can get out with Lily more easily but at least we've got SOMETHING that works!

[Mandy.kamal]

That's very exciting! Try and enjoy this routine while it lasts
It'll be great for you to be able to get out and about with both of your sweet babes!
Glad you get the flexibility too! Makes a huge difference 

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Well that didn't last long.... We had a few days of things going well,  he's been lovely and happy and rested and then he went down earlier for his morning nap a couple of times for various reasons.  Yesterday he only did 1hr 20 in the afternoon and woke up very grumpy.  We did a slightly early night last night and he was up at either 5.50 am or 6.10 (I fell asleep in between and not sure if I heard him at 5.50 or not).

This morning I tried to follow his cues,  pd 3 hrs 25 after his earlier possible wu time and o course he did an UT nap (37 minutes). I tried resettling but not for very long cos he was just lying there quietly and not trying to resettle at all. I figured I'd have more successtthis afternoon when I know he'll be tired.

Anyway, he'll have to pull a mega nap this afternoon to see us through to bed (which he never does), so I really would like to try and find the A time which gets a longer first nap if I can.  Apart from anything else,  it's my daughters birthday coming up and there are a few days when we'll need to do a long AM nap so we can go out for her birthday / party.

So do you think o should try increasing that morning A time again?  I think it's less likely he's OT seeing as he's clearly been well rested the last few days,  until yesterday afternoon, and a shorter A time today didn't help?

[Mandy.kamal]

No advice unfortunately but sending good vibes your way for a mega long afternoon nap!!!

[TB9]

Yep, I would increase that morning A a little  bit more and see what you get

[goldmom]

I typically don't count A times until I get DD out of bed even if she wakes earlier (some days she is so quiet I'm shocked she's sitting and playing in her crib when I come in to see how she's doing). If she starts crying (not "talking") and I have to get her that's when the A starts. You could try that to help figure out morning A times when you don't know what time he actually woke up.

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Thank you both.  I'll try increasing again tomorrow.  At least if he gets OT I'll know where I am! 

Goldmom - that's a really good point about WU and get up time.  Jack does a very long first A from wake up,  but he plays happily to himself for ages.  His first A from get up is probably 3 hrs - 3 hrs 15 at the moment which sounds a bit more reasonable at this age! I know in the past when he's woken really early,  I've fed and put him back down so he's been in bed for an hour or two and he's seemingly done UT naps after what seemed like a long A since waking but not that long since getting up.  I might start paying a bit more attention to that.