6 mon old - Short naps, early morning, over tired or under tired?

[Katie Field]

I have a son who is 1 week shy of 6 months.  I have been sleep training him for 13 days.  Prior to that he was put to sleep swaddled with a pacifier and rocked to sleep.  I started sleep training because he would wake multiple times from naps and at night and I would have to put his pacifier in.  Now he goes to sleep independently without a swaddle or a pacifier.  After a week of really hard work and PUPD, he now goes to sleep very well independently but my remaining issue is that he often wakes from naps after 30 or 40 minutes after which I need to do PUPD, or he naps for only 1 hr and wakes happy which throws off my EASY timing.  Also, sometimes he takes an evening nap and sometimes he does not.  And sometimes he wakes very early in the morning – sometimes he goes back to sleep and sometimes he does not – all of this really throws off the timing of my days.  I don't know if he is over tired or under tired.

Below is my detailed log of the last 5 days.

Sat Sept 27
6:15am    – Woke for the day and breastfeed
8:55am   - Down independently for morning nap (A of 2 hr 40 mins)
-   Slept for 40 minutes then woke happy, played for a few minutes, then stated to cry but fell back to sleep independently when I played remote music (process 15 mins).  Slept for another 10 minutes then woke crying hard, I did PUPD 3X over 10 minutes and he fell back asleep.  Slept for other 1 hr 25 mins.
11:30am   - Woke from morning nap and breastfeed. (Total S of 2hrs 15 mins, broken up)
12:30   - Solid lunch.
2:35pm   - Down independently very easily for afternoon nap. (A of 3 hrs 5 mins)
3:45pm   - Woke, tried to get him back down, but time to breastfeed. (S of 1 hr 10 mins)
5:00pm   - Solid dinner.
6:50pm   - Fell asleep in stroller for evening nap. (A of 2 hrs 55 mins)
7:30pm   - Woke from evening nap. (S of 40 mins)
9:00pm   - Down independently very easily for night.
1:40am   - Woke to breastfeed and then down easily.
5:23am   - Woke, played, then cried, then PUPD, back to sleep by 6:00am
6:30am   - Woke for the day.

Sun Sept 28
6:30am   - Woke for the day
6:55am   - Breastfeed
8:50am   - Morning nap of only 25 minutes in stroller as we are out. (A of 2 hrs 2 mins)
10:50am   - Breastfeed
11:30am   - Solid Lunch
12:10   - Down independently very easily for afternoon nap. (A of 3 hrs)
-Slept for 1 hr 8 mins then cried our and went back to sleep independently, after another 40 mins cried out and went back to sleep independently.
2:18pm   - Woke from afternoon nap. (Total of 2 hrs 8 mins, broken up)
3:00pm   - Breastfeed.
4:15   -  Solid dinner.
5:12pm   - Down for evening nap with PUPD but only slept for 20 minutes and would not go back down.
7:00pm   - Breastfeed.
7:40pm   - Down independently, cried a little but settled himself.
2:42am   - Woke to breastfeed and then down easily.
5:35am   - Woke, played, then cried, I remotely played music and he independently was back to sleep by 6:00am
6:45am   - Woke for the day.

Mon Sept 29
6:45am      - Woke for the day.
7:00am      - Breastfeed.
9:25am      - Down independently, cried a little but settled himself in 10 mins. (A of 2 hrs 40 mins)
-   Slept for 26 mins then woke happy, played for 20 minutes, then for 40 minutes I did PUPD and back to sleep.  Slept another 35 minutes then woke.
11:26am   - Woke from morning nap and breastfeed. (Total S of 1 hr, broken up)
12:30   - Solid lunch.
2:00pm   - Down independently very easily for afternoon nap. (A of 2 hrs 34 mins)
3:11pm   - Woke from afternoon nap happy. (S of 1 hr 11 mins)
3:30pm   - Breastfeed
4:45pm   - Solid dinner.
5:50pm   - Down independenty for evening nap with a little crying but I woke him up after 40 minutes as I didn’t want to day to run too late.
8:25pm   - Down independently after 10 mins on his own, he did not initially seem super tired.
12:30   - Woke and cried off and on for 10 mins, I played music remotely and he went back to sleep on his own.
2:40am   - Woke to breastfeed and then down easily.
5:53am   - Woke, cried, I went in to do PUPD and he was rutting so I breastfeed him and he want back to sleep.
8:00am   - Woke for the day.

Tues Sept 30
8:00am   - Woke for the day and breastfeed
9:25am   - Solid breakfast.
10:58am   - Down independently very easily for morning nap. (A of 3 hrs)
12:18   - Woke happy and breastfeed. (S of 1 hr 20 mins)
2:15am   - Solid Lunch
3:08pm   - Down independently very easily for afternoon nap. (A of 2 hrs 50 mins)
4:18pm   - Woke from afternoon nap and breastfeed. (S of 1 hr 10 mins)
6:00pm   - Solid dinner.
8:00pm   - Down independently very easily for night.
12:40   - Woke, cried a little, but went back to sleep on his own.
1:40am   - Woke to breastfeed and then down easily.
6:30am   - Woke for the day.

Wed Oct 1
6:30am   - Woke for the day and breastfeed.
8:00am   - Solid breakfast.
8:54am   - Down independently for morning nap. (A of 2 hrs 24 mins)
10:03am   - Woke from morning nap. (S of 1 hr 9 mins)
10:40am   - Breastfeed.
12:00   - Solid Lunch.
12:45   - Down independently very easily for afternoon nap. (A of 2 hrs 42 mins)
-   Slept for 30 mins then woke happy, played for 15 mins, then cried, I did PUPD 2X for 5 mins and back to sleep by 1:35pm - still sleeping now 1 hour later

My questions are:
-   Are 2 naps of only 1 hour each enough?
-   How can I get him to sleep longer for naps?  He is over tired or under tired?
-   How can I get him to stop waking from naps after only 30 minutes?
-   Should he be having an evening nap?
-   What time should he go to bed?  I am worried that if I put him to bed by 7pm he will woke for the day at 5am.
-   How do I get him to sleep longer in the morning, and not woke at 5:30 to play?

I am really pulling my hair out and would love some type of consistent routine even thou I feel I am really trying to follow the Baby Whisper advice!!!! 
Help would be appreciated!!

[Katie Field]

Sorry, a few other things to mention.

Prior to the days logged below, I tried shorter A times before the afternoon nap, but I found he would wake after 30 minutes and play for about 45mins in his bed before going back to sleep, which is way I thought I needed an A time of closer to 3 hours.

Also, he currently does not have any teeth, but I feel he is teething (has been for what seems like a month).  Could teething be casing any of my issues?

Thanks!

[Katie Field]

Hi there,
Its me again.
This is my first time posting to this site and I am just wondering if I have done it correctly and if a moderator is going to reply with some advice?
Thank you!!!!!!!!
Katie

[jessmum46]

Hi hun, yes seeing your post sometimes if you've replied to yourself a couple of times people don't look as they think you're already getting advice, just a tip!  If you need to add anything you can use the 'modify' button

We mods are not experts by any means, just mums like yourselves. We do encourage all members of the forum to chip in and offer advice but I'm sorry that on this occasion nobody has done so yet.

I'm just trying to settle my LO for a nap but will get to you as soon as I can if nobody else jumps in first x

[jessmum46]

I'll try to answer your questions first

- two 1h naps probably isn't enough for most babies at this age. Ideally you'd be looking for either two naps of 1.5h+ or one shorter nap and one of 2h+
- I think you probably have a mixture of OT and UT naps going on, but your A times are a bit variable so its pretty tough to interpret. How do you decide when to put him down?
- 30 min naps tend to be OT
- I would think looking at what you posted you'd be better doing two naps only, once A times are 2h45-3h that tends to be the case. I'd avoid an evening nap unless the day is a total disaster and even then keep it short, 20-30 mins.  You'll need to do a shorter day for a while ie bring BT much earlier
- BT is usually best around 12h after WU, slightly more just before dropping a nap and a bit less afterwards. My LOs have never gone to bed later than 7pm but the only time they have consistently woken at 5 was when their routine was all wrong or they were very OT going to bed
- sorting his routine out should help the early mornings, provided he's going to sleep independently and you're not doing anything to encourage the early starts ie getting him up, a feed, taking him into your bed etc

Hope that helps to start, let me know what you think x

[Katie Field]

Thank you very much for your reply.

You asked how I know when to put him down.  He is a bit confusing, sometimes he will show signs after only 1 hr or 1 1/2 hr, like rubbing his eyes, but usually I just do something different with him, or feed him baby cereal and he will wake up again, then evenually he will become tried again, rub his eyes and fuss a little.

I am finding that most of his morning and afternoon naps are only between 1 hr 10 mins and 1 hr 20 mins. 
I have also been finding that for the last 2 days he has been waking more during the night, say go to bed at 7:30pm, but wake at 11pm, 2:30am, 4:30am, and wake for the day at 6:30am.  I only feed him once at the 2:30am.
Since he only naps for a total of about 2 1/2 hours do you think I should go back and having an evening nap?  Lets say that his afternoon nap ends by 3 or 3:30.  Would I be better to have an evening nap at about 5:30-6:15 and then bed at 8 or 8:30 or would I be better just to keep him up till 7pm to go to bed?
After he wakes from a nap of 1 hour 10 mins should I try to get him to go back down?  If he only naps for 1 hr 10 mins in the morning should I make the A time before the afternoon nap shorter?  Say 2 1/4 or longer say closer to 3?

Thank you for your help!!

[jessmum46]

I would try a consistent first A time for a few days (ie watch the clock) and see what that brings you in terms of nap length. Given you are getting 1h10-1h20 naps which are often UT, I would shoot for a first A of 3h, then another 3h after that unless the nap is under an hour, in which case pull it back to 2h30-45 depending on how short.  Those wakings at night are likely to be related to the 3-2 so I think you need to push on and get rid of the CN. Total day sleep of 2.5h isn't that bad at all, and if you offer a third nap you'll have a much longer day, a shorter night and a more tired LO as a result.  My rule in this transition was that if second nap ended after 3pm I would do another 3h A time and then bed for the night ie 6pm.  If second nap was over before 3pm we tried a short CN and normal BT (which was around 7pm).  Have you read the 3-2 FAQs on the naps board?