Help with Routine & Sleep - Almost 10 month old

[nugget13]

Hi,

I was wondering if someone could take a look at our routine and see where I can tweak. He turns 10 months old next week.

He used to sleep to 7am but for the last couple weeks has been waking at 5am - 5:30am demanding a feed. We used to dreamfeed but cut that out about a month ago (that's been his only night feed for months now). He was fine for a couple weeks we did that, but last couple weeks have been all about 5am wakings. I don't know if he's demanding food because he's waking at that time or if he's waking because he's hungry. Which brings me to his routine.

There are a couple things happening with his sleep. Firstly, he's not falling asleep on his own at bedtime anymore - which he has been doing for months. He needs someone to pat him which is odd because he falls asleep on his own for naps. Also, he's been napping way more during the day. I stopped trying to "control" his naps a couple days ago to see if he'd sort this out on his own. It hasn't. His bedtimes are getting later and later, but he's still waking very early in the morning. I think he's getting overtired and I'm totally confused as to what I should do. (I'm not too concerned about patting him at bedtime, I just think it's a symptom of his overall routine/sleep issues happening right now.)

I should add that we traveled a couple months ago and that screwed up his routine. He was fine for a while after we got back and got him back on track, but last few weeks have been so confusing and he's just totally off in his sleep.

I'll post our routine for the last couple days which is atypical but has led me to the end of my rope:

6:00 - Wake and breastfeed
7:00 - Breakfast
8:45 - Small snack
9:15 - Nap
11:20 - Woke and breastfeed
12:30 - Lunch
2:15 - Small snack
3:00 - Nap
5:00 - Wake and breastfeed
6:30 - Dinner
7:00 to 8:00 - Bedtime routine, bath, feed, etc
8:00 - Bedtime (which can take anywhere from 30-60 minutes nowadays)

I was maintaining no naps after 4pm and we used to have dinner at 5 and he was down for bedtime at 7. He still fussed and needed us to fall asleep, however, we were still getting very early wakings. Some nights we've started getting wakings at 2am and 4am - which hasn't happened in months either.

The last couple days, I've let him dictate his naps because he just seems so tired all the time and it's thrown our tenuous routine out the window. I was trying to push his morning nap later but they started getting really short (45min) so I stopped pushing and let him go earlier now. I suspect that's not helping, but I just don't know for sure. Also, I have been nudging him to those times. He's been rubbing his eyes and wanting to sleep at the 2 1/2 hour mark but I don't want to backslide into 3 naps. He used to easily do 3.5 hours of waketime...I just don't know what's changed.

Any help or advice is welcomed.

TIA!

[nevinsmama]

Hi there! Well that is a lot of day sleep for a 10 month old! If I were you, and keeping in mind this is something you will need to cut out later on, but, I did this with both my LOs just to keep our sanity around. I would feed as quickly and quietly as possible at the blasted 10 hour waking and then try to go back to sleep and hope it works! If the first nap doesn't automatically shorten up due to more night sleep then I would cap it at 1.5 hours and see how the rest sorts out. Many 10 month olds are closer to 4 hour A time and if he does go back to sleep after the feeding, if that is what you want to do, then I would work on pushing that out gradually. Also, with the tired eyes at the 2.5 mark makes me wonder if there are teeth riffling around in there? Maybe just go low key if he is struggling. Things will get better! Hope this helps!

[nugget13]

Hi!

Thanks so much for your reply! You confirmed what I'd been thinking...

Pushing out of the first nap and capping it at 90minutes seems to have worked for a couple of nights - he slept till 7am today. Hopefully this will continue! My follow-up question is what to do about the second nap. How to fit it in? Where to fit it? When to cap it? Thanks!

Btw - you are correct about teething. Uppers are coming in.

Thx.

[nevinsmama]

I would do 2nd nap about 3.5 hours after end of 1st nap and let it be 2 hours if he wants it and it doesn't cut into the night sleep. The idea with the 2-1 is trimming back more and more on one of the naps and hopefully the 2 naps merge into one decent nap! Needless to say, this can take a while! Glad you are getting some rest!

[3littlemen]

No other ideas, but just keeping tabs on where you're at... struggling with similar things but 1 month younger.

[nugget13]

My worry with letting him go as long as he wants for second nap is letting him sleep past 4-430. No concerns with that? Will this not affect his bedtime routine/tiredness? How late should he nap till, allowing for a 7pm bedtime (ideally)? Or it doesn't matter?

He was up about 6:15 am today but that's fine. He had an odd night where he wedged himself into the short side of the crib around 4am and then panicked when he couldn't move. It probably threw off his night sleep a bit 

Thx again!

[nevinsmama]

I would hold that 2nd nap at no later than 4 if you are wanting a 7ish BT. I would keep capping that 1st nap and letting the 2nd one go ( within reason) and see what you get, you may need to trim more off the 1st one in interest of the day not getting too late and not getting 2nd nap drama. HTH!