Author Topic: Is my 8 month old staying up too late/broken sleep  (Read 921 times)

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Offline stoneybrook57

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Is my 8 month old staying up too late/broken sleep
« on: July 15, 2014, 17:33:58 pm »
Hey guys, I am new to posting here!  I have an infant who will be 8 months next week.  I am trying to figure out why sometimes I will get 1 @ 1.5 hour nap in the morning, then a 30 minute nap in the afternoon and another 30 minute around 4pm.  I worry I am putting him down too late, but i have a 3 year old who only wants me to put her to bed so what happens is that I put him down at 7:30, then he wakes up needing help going back to sleep around 8 or 8:30, but I am with her so he ends up staying awake too long with my husband until I can get him back to sleep.  Then my 3 year old is awake at 7am and almost always he hears her come get me and he wakes up.  He is still nursing to sleep, I don't really want him to have to cry it out and am working on other ways to get him to sleep.  My husband is usually able to get him to go back with a baby carrier, but do you think just even a half hour of staying awake after he wakes up at 8pm is screwing up his schedule?  I am also trying Baby led weaning with solids so im unclear if he's even eating enough but i mainly nurse him.

Do you believe he is overtired?  Here is what i TRY to use as my schedule:

Awake & nurse:  7am
play until 9
sleep: 9:30 - 11 (he seems tired by 2 hours after awake time but wondering if thats on the days where he doesn't get to bed early enough or wakes in middle of night too long).
nurse when he wakes
play 11-2pm
sleep 2 - 2:30 (only get a half hour nap)
awake 2:30 till 5:30
5:30 - 30/45 min nap
8pm - sleep

but most days what ends up happening is this:
4am -wake and just moves around for an hour and then falls asleep at 5am
7am - my 3 year old wakes him up when she wakes up (very loud lol).
9am - starts getting cranky, try putting him down for nap,
9:30-10am - falls asleep for half hour
10am - awake, but rubbing eyes, wont fall back asleep
whiney the rest of the morning
1pm - 1:45 - nap - maybe 45 minutes
still whiney all afternoon
4pm -4:45 - - 45 min nap
8pm - bed, but then he wakes up while im putting my daughter to bed and doesnt always fall back to sleep until 9/9:30.

what can i do?  is this whining and short naps just being overtired?  should i force him to stay awake longer between naps and then try to get him to stay asleep at 730 by maybe keeping him in the carrier at night while i deal with my daughter?


 





 
« Last Edit: July 15, 2014, 17:36:12 pm by stoneybrook57 »

Offline Erin M

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Re: Is my 8 month old staying up too late/broken sleep
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2014, 02:49:21 am »
Hi there!  My first thought at looking at your routine is that you actually need some more A time in your day.  At 8 months, average A time is 3-4 hours -- my thinking is that your 4 AM waking is due to him not getting enough A time during the day.  If you can get longer A times, he'd probably sleep through that 4 AM time and be more well rested.  So, if he's going to wake up at 7 because of your daughter you would want to push that first nap towards 10, aim for a second nap about 3 hours after he wakes up from the first (presuming you get a decent first nap) and to from there.  If he short naps the first nap, will he go back to sleep in the carrier?  Sometimes you have to do what you can to get him used to longer A times.  I'd try to push them out by only about 15 minutes a day at first too so he does not get super overtired at first. 

Does he fall asleep independently at nap time or do you nurse him then too?