8.5mo sleep transition?

[Newbie mum]

Hello my dd is 8months and 1week old. She has 2 naps a day. How long should she nap for during each nap?
At the moment she naps for 1.5 hours both times. But for a few days she has napped for 2 or 2.5 hours during the first nap. Should I have awoken her? Should I aim for 3 hours max day time sleep?
Thank you :-)

[Ima shel Alon]

IIWY I would only start capping naps if I see it takes from night sleep or causes EW. If her long naps causes the second nap to be too late and you want her to have enough A time before BT then you can cap the second nap. I'd be careful though because you don't want to cause her to be OT and there ARE babies who can do a very short A time between second nap and BT and sleep good at night - my son was like that. He could have only an hour A time between second nap and BT and the night would still be good, yk?

[Newbie mum]

Thank you for your reply. She is 8.5months old and is now waking a lot at night. Just a few weeks ago She went down to bed, eyes closed 1930-1945 slept until about 0300 when she would have a feed, straight back to sleep until about 0720. I have been working on getting rid of the night feed with the help of some of the other fantastic resident chatter boxes on this site, but now that I have her sleep has gone to pot :-(
I am sure there is an element of teething going on as she has a sharp tooth edge sticking through but having read some of the posts on naps I wanted to make sure that her day sleep is not affecting her night sleep.
She naps very well. Two naps of 1.30mins. The first nap is 2.30mins from waking, shall I try and stretch that one? And I am a bit worried that her second nap is too close to bed time. We have been out today and she is currently napping in her cot. She easily went to sleep at 1540 and if she sleeps for 1.30mins she will wake at 1710..is that too close to bedtime? You talk about setting the second nap time, do you think I should try that?
I just want to make sure that I have covered all bases as to why she is not sleeping well at night.
Thank you :-)

[Ima shel Alon]

If you suspect she is teething then I would wait with major changes.
I would though start and gradually push the first a bit later, even just by 10min because the A time is quite sure for her age. If she gives you 1.5h nap then I wouldn't push it too much because it's not totally broken iykwim.
I would also not let her sleep more than 1.5h for each nap. Usually I wouldn't say that and wait for other signs to know that baby is ready for less day sleep but in your case, because the nights are like they are I would limit day sleep.
Like I mentioned in my first reply some babies, like my DS was, do very well with a shortish A time between second nap and BT so I think it's worth a try before setting the second nap.
HTH and do come back if the nights continue to be rough. If it will go one for a while then it shows us it's not the teeth, but rather routine related.

[Newbie mum]

Thank you. Yesterday for the first time in ages she had a 30min first nap (but this might have also been because the neighbour upstairs was very loud and her room was lighter than normal). I also think that her first A time is changing and she is staying awake longer so can naps be a bit erratic whilst this A time is changing? So it's interesting to read that you thought her first A time was a bit short (she's proving your point!) :-)
Today she was awake for 3 hours instead of her normal 2.5. Went down fine but has just woken after 30mins but has now gone back to sleep with me putting the dummy in and turning her onto her side, so I will wait and see how long her total nap length is.
Do you think the timing is ok? And her naps will settle in a few days? Or should I try different timings?
Thank you :-)

[Newbie mum]

Hello, I posted on here asking whether I should cap my 8.5mo nap length and received some good help. I've started a new conversation as this is a different problem. My dd until yesterday was a fantastic napper! Two 1@1/2 hour naps. Easy to go down...until yesterday.....

Until yesterday she would wake at about 0720 and have her first nap 2@1/2hrs later. I could set a clock by her.
But, yesterday and today she's gone to bed at 3hours so extended her A time. But she has been very hard to put down for her afternoon nap. Not settling.
Today at about 3hpurs from waking from her last nap she was about to go off to sleep in the pram when we got home and I tried to put her into the cot to sleep -wish I had kept walking and let her sleep in her pram as she wouldn't go off in her bed.

Does this indicate she is coming towards the 2 to 1 nap transition? Or just that her A time needs extending more?
 If her A time extends more between the end of her first nap and the start of the second I'm not sure how I will fit the second nap in without being too close to bed. Should I make it a cap nap of 30mins?

Am I correct in thinking there should be at least 2hpurs between end of last nap and bed?
Thank you x

[Ima shel Alon]

A 30min jump is a pretty big one and she might become OT if she doesn't catch up on sleep.
The way one usually increases A time, which is the safer way, is to increase by 10-15min every 3-4 days, that way they have enough time to get used to the new A time and prevent OT.

[Newbie mum]

Thank you. Does the 30min nap (she normally naps for 1+1/2 hours) represent OT? Or UT?

[trimbler]

Hi, what did your whole day look like? If she made a big jump in her first A time she might have been extra tired later on in the day, how long were her naps?

[katie80]

Hi ladies, just wanted to let you know I have merged the two naps threads by Newbie mum, so that all advice can be kept in one place as the threads have a similar nature.

Newbie mum - I think it would be best if you could post a couple days of EASYs as trimbler asked and we'll take a look and see if we can figure out what might be the best way forward.

Does the 30min nap (she normally naps for 1+1/2 hours) represent OT? Or UT?

Typically OT, but can be UT. I would guess OT in your case as it came with a big jump in A time.

[Newbie mum]

Thank you all. Yes will post a day, unfortunately yesterday was not a typical day as we are in the process of buying a house and my lo didn't have her usual two naps. She had one nap and my husband who kindly cared for her overnight (because I am coming down with a cold) said she had a bad night. I was expecting such a night and hopefully we'll get back on track today.

Fingers crossed she doesn't come down with a cold too and hopefully the next few  days wont be too bad with the move..... 

[katie80]

Sometimes you just have to roll with it.  (((Hugs))), hope you feel better soon!

[Newbie mum]

Thanks Katie :-) My lo has come down with the same cold, but she is such an amazing child that she doesn't seem to let it get her down.
Thankfully, she is back to napping well for the past 2days:  1+1/2hr in morning and afternoon and today she self settled back to sleep for an extra half an hour so slept 2 hours in the afternoon. I'm happy about this as she is poorly. Fingers crossed this continues. She still likes to go for her first nap 2&half hours after waking and I know this is short A time for her age, but it seems to work for her so I won't mess with it. But then she lasted 4hours A time before she went down for her second nap (started to get a bit grumpy so I knew it was time for nap) but settled very well to sleep which is much better than the last few days.

Her night sleep seems to be getting back on track too with only one grumble last night for the dummy to be put back in and straight back to sleep. Not sure if it is, but I'm going to count that as SSTTN, if for no other reason than to make me feel happy (stupid I know!). But things change night to night so who knows what will happen tonight..

I hope the extra half an hour of day sleep doesn't affect the night as she will have had 3and half hours day sleep today. Fingers crossed...
Now just have to hope that all doesn't go to pot when we move her into the new house 
Thanks for the hugs, much appreciated xx

[katie80]

Glad she's getting the sleep she needs while ill. Hope the move goes well!

[Newbie mum]

Hello, so..she's over the cold and we've moved house 
Naps have returned to her usual sleep times which is good but she does have some night wakings around 2am and wondered if you clever mums could let me know if you think there is anything I should change to make the night times even better 

She turned 9months on the 1st Dec. No interest in crawling, just wants to stand up (not yet unaided) all the time and is now taking lots of steps when held which is very cute! Eats solids very well and so far enjoys all that she's tried.

Her day time naps:
First nap is 2.5-3hours after waking and she sleeps for 1.5hours. I know that this is a short A time for her age but its predictably when she is tired. This will be in her cot at home.
Second A time is much longer and fits around activities. I try to get her back home for her nap but otherwise it's in the pram etc. The second A time will be 3-4 hours and she'll again sleep for 1.5 or 2 hours.

Sometimes/often the afternoon nap will be 2 hours and occasionally she's slept for 2 hours both morning and afternoon but I think that is when she has had a very busy day eg whilst we we moving.

There is no set time for the second nap and she might wake as late as 5 or 5.30pm but is always tired again
And ready for her usual bed time of 07.30 (in bed).

She has started waking around 0130-0200 and usually just putting the dummy back in at this time means she will go off to sleep but last night she woke and wanted a cuddle and was very hard to settle back to sleep. Waking every time she went back in the cot. We have her a bottle of milk as it is very unusual for her to be upset when she wakes and that soothed her and she went back to sleep until 0820! So perhaps she was just hungry this time. She was very clingy in the day yesterday and so I thought her waking wanting a cuddle fitted this, not sure why but always happy to give an extra cuddle to my gorgeous girl :-)

Do you think the night wakings are just her? Or something I should change in her schedule?