Author Topic: 5 month old back to short naps  (Read 1102 times)

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Offline jdancer

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5 month old back to short naps
« on: June 17, 2014, 17:41:35 pm »
My 5 month old DS was doing really well as far as napping went.  A typical day USED TO look like this:

7:30 - WU/eat
9:30 - nap
11:00 - eat
1:00 - nap
2:30 - eat
4:30 - nap
5:10 - eat (to get an extra feed before bed)
7:30 - sleep

However, within the last few weeks, he's started refusing to take that late afternoon cat nap, and his other naps are getting short as well (40m).  I have tried adjusting his schedule to two naps (even though I know it's early), but I'm not sure it's working - he can maybe stay awake 2.5 h, but then he's tired all day and I have to put him to bed at 6:30.  He has also been waking at night every 3 hours, though last night he did better after two naps and an early bedtime.  Guess I'm just wondering if it's really time to go to two naps, or if there's something else I should try to extend his naps and keep the A window before bedtime reasonable.

Thanks!

Offline TB9

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Re: 5 month old back to short naps
« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2014, 11:15:26 am »
Both my LOs were on 2 naps at 5mo  :)  Did you try increasing A time gradually?  I would probably increase morning A to 2hr15min for a few days, and see how it goes.  If he is waking frequently at night I would say it is definitely time to move towards two naps. 

Here is some info on the 3-2 transitionfor you All about the 3-2 transition- 5/6 months

Offline jdancer

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Re: 5 month old back to short naps
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2014, 18:41:38 pm »
Thanks for the idea :)

I did try that over a few days, and it was disastrous! So OT. 

The nightwaking has gotten better - I used to feed everytime he woke without looking at the clock, and over the last few days I wouldn't feed him if it had been less than 3 hours since his last feed - last night he went five hours!

He also (yesterday) started sitting up on his own a bit - could it have been that?

If I go back to watching his cues instead of timing his A time, will he gradually increase A time by himself? I am just so impatient, I'm afraid everytime I try to tweek his schedule it turns into an OT disaster :(

Thanks again!

Offline TB9

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Re: 5 month old back to short naps
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2014, 11:17:52 am »
If youbcan go by cues, then give that a try for a bit and see if he settles into something himself.  I always had to go by cues with my LOs and it worked out well.

If he is just learning to sit, give hime lots of practice during his A time, hopefully any sleep disturbances caused by it will passshortly :)

Offline jdancer

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Re: 5 month old back to short naps
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2014, 14:30:59 pm »
OK, so, I'm realizing that the real problem is the morning A time.

Wednesday: I tried to extend his A time by 15 minutes.  It usually takes 15 minutes to wind down, and when I put him in his crib, he is asleep pretty soon.  So, when he woke up at 7:50am, I started wind down at 9:50 - thinking he would be asleep by 10:05/10:10.  However, he cried and cried and cried, even when I was holding him,, so I thought "OK, he's OT."  This was confirmed when the nap only lasted 30 minutes.  The rest of the day was fine with 2h A time, afternoon nap = 1.5h and catnap = 40m.

Thursday: Decided to go back to 2h awake time in the morning to avoid OT.  He woke up at 8:30 (from a 7:00p bedtime Wednesday night), and I started wind down at 10:15.  He still cried (not so much), and didn't get to sleep until 10:40/10:45.  This nap lasted 35m.  He still took his 1.5h afternoon nap after 2h A time, but absolutely refused his catnap that evening.  I put him to bed early (AT = 3h) at 7:00 (we usually go to 7:30 or 8).

Today: Woke up at 6:30 :( Tried to get him to sleep longer, but to no avail.  He was sleepy and rubbing his eyes the whole A time, so I had a difficult time figuring out when to start WD.  Ended up starting at 8:20 and then he cried and cried and cried until I finally gave up and breastfed him (which I hardly ever do so it's not usually a prop) and he passed out at 9:00.

I'm confused.  Should I be extending AT and cutting catnap, or is something else going on? I know he might be teething, but then again I've been thinking that for 3 weeks now, so I don't think anything is imminent.  His reflux is acting up again, but I'm not sure why since we just upped his meds two weeks ago.

Since he did so well being awake for 3 hours last night before bed, should I just go with that? Should I just jump to 3 hours at some point, since inching up to it is still resulting in OT? I know he has been awake at various times for 3-4 hours (not intentionally, but he will only fall asleep at home unless he's absolutely exhausted), so maybe I could give that a go for the morning?

I'm just frustrated because he's so tired all the time, but won't sleep properly during the day.  Night is somewhat better, but he did get up an extra time last night.

Thanks!

Offline TB9

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Re: 5 month old back to short naps
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2014, 19:27:34 pm »
Reflux flares will definitely cause bad napping.  Is he drooling a lot?  Sometimes the extra drool can trigger a flare.  Has he had a growth spurt in the last two weeks since his last meds increase?  Has he started solids recently, or been introduced to any new foods lately?

Offline jdancer

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Re: 5 month old back to short naps
« Reply #6 on: June 26, 2014, 15:37:57 pm »
He is drooling a lot, but no growth spurt that I've noticed.  We haven't started solids yet, and the only thing I could think of was that I've had a few acidic foods in the last couple of days. We started a probiotic yesterday, so hopefully that will help too.

The two naps seemed to be going well for a few days (maybe he just needed more time to adjust), but today he fought me for an hour before his morning nap (i think i put him down too early at first) What irks me is the fact that i know I'm inconsistent with how I'm putting him down...because I don't know when he's in pain versus over tired, I have been nursing/rocking to sleep several times the least few days, as well as at bedtime because he ends up needing a feeding at 7 (bed time) and I need to hold him upright for 30 minutes afterwards and he usually falls asleep. I don't mind it sometimes, but other times I just want him to go to sleep!

As far as cues go, if be its rubbing his eyes at 2 hours (like today), should I go ahead and put him down, or wait until "nap time"? I know he's still little, so I don't want to push him to stay awake too long, but how do I find that balance between OT and UT?

Offline TB9

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Re: 5 month old back to short naps
« Reply #7 on: June 27, 2014, 11:19:31 am »
It really depends on the baby!  With dd1 I could push her a little bit more to get to naptime, with dd2 once she showed her sleepy cues I had to put her down for nap asap ro she would wake from ot.