Routine help - 9 month old with early wakings, nts for naps

[natashalil]

Here is what a typical day looks like -

I would like help with re-arranging so i am not nursing to sleep for naps, and now that he is 9 months, would like to do solids as a snack in the afternoon (rather than bf).  I started nts for naps because his naps were getting short - I find it helps him nap for an hour at least. The trick with him is to put him to nap with a full belly - but not nts.

He goes a long time in the afternoon with no nap - sometimes he catnaps, but for the most part no. He is generally happy in the afternoon. I am hesitant to put him to bed earlier - because I dont want him waking up even earlier than 5am!

5am - wake and bf
6:15 - breakfast (solids)
7:00- little top of breastmilk, nts
7-8:15 - nap
8:15-11:30 - activity
11:30 - lunch (solids)
12:15 - top up of breastmilk, nts
12:15-1:30 -nap
 1:30 - 3:30 activity
3:30 - snack (breastmilk)
3:45-5:45 - activity
5:45 - dinner, then activity till we start bedtime routine
7:00 - bath
7:30 - bf
7:45 - sleep

many many thanks

[nevinsmama]

OK, with that 9 hour night you can bet he is OT. Will he go back to sleep at 5 if you BF in the dark and are super quiet about it all. 9 months is pretty old for a CN so if I were you I would work on getting two OK naps in the day. Most 9 month LOs can do around 3.5 hours A. My 2 year old can handle a 6 hour A but I would surely keep that last  A closer to 3.5. If he won't go back to sleep at 5 I wouldn't offer 1st nap until 8:30 or so. How do you feel about a day more like this? Keeping in mind "perfect naps" are hard to come by and may not look exactly like this but the A times more along these lines.

Feed back to sleep at 5 is possible
Wake 7
Nap 10:30
Awake and Eat 12
Nap 3
Wake 4:30
BT 7:30

If you want to feed him to sleep that is your call, how are his nights with wakings and so on? I know putting him to bed later is tempting but if he does wake after 9 hours then hopefully he will go back out and his little body clock may realize how horridly early it is and let him sleep some more. Also, as you weed out OT from shorter naps and long A times you may see longer nights. Keep us posted!

[natashalil]

He wont go back to sleep at 5 - nurse super quiet, lying down and snuggled up in bed, hoping if he falls asleep i dont have to move him and he can just stay there and no luck. Same if I nurse him in a chair in his room, he is up.

The past couple of days I have pushed that morning nap to 8, and it has been 2 hours, which then pushes out the second nap, so no CN which is good. But still no change in that 5am wake up.

He doesnt wake at night, and if he does, he settles himself down quickly, so knock on wood, that part is ok!

[nevinsmama]

If the 2nd nap is lousy I would try a much earlier BT myself in hopes of catching him up a bit. I would hold with a more appropriate routine for several days and watch that last A and see how it goes.