3-2 help please!!

[Kfro]

Ok, so we have been trying to push through on two naps as the cn was causing all sorts of shenanigans. But the two nap routine is currently causing ew's and so ds is gradually getting more and more ot. I have been leaving him in his cot until 6 (he has been waking from five onwards). He doesn't cry but is quite noisy so I try and gently ssh him over the monitor. Often this helps him back to sleep but only for 20 mins or so. I have been counting his a time from the point of getting him out of the cot as counting it from wake up was leading to problems with him not being tired enough for the first nap. His easy currently looks like this:

Start day at 6
E 630 (solids at 730)
A 6-905
S 905-1105
E 1110 (solids at 1210)
A 1105-1410
S 1410-1540
E 1545
E 1745
S 1835 ( usually asleep within ten mins)

His a time went up to 305 about a week ago and I have just increased his last a from 245 to 255 yesterday as he was waking around twelve ish and faffing about as well as Ewing at five so I thought that he may have been going down undertired. This seems to have helped but like I say he is seeming more and more tired and I can't seem to get rid of the ew. The way that he wakes up ie happy and playful makes it appear to be ut but he can't need another push in a times surely? He is only 6.5 months. Was considering capping both naps to 1.5 hours but am worried that putting him down earlier will mean he wakes up even earlier!

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Hi there   Just looking at your routine - you say you count his day as starting from 6 when you gt him up, but what time is he actually waking?  Is it still 5ish?  It is posible that he needs another A push - LOs can quickly increase their A time at this age - but there's alo a lot of developmental stuff going on, a growth spurt, teething, and often LOs are really getting going with solids...  Not to mention the 3-2!  So it's common for sleep to go wrong at this age and it's not always routine related.  For Jack, a 10.5 hour night was standard for a very long time - even now 11 hours is the best we get unless he's really OT.  A lot of that stopped cos he just got older I think and all those things also stopped or slowed down.

Has he started solids recently?  Do you think he could be hungry still?  Perhaps it's time to introduce an evening meal as well - unless you're very early days in which case you might not want to rush it as starting solids can disturb sleep in itself.  is he having a night feed still?  Any teething?  That always caused EWing here.

How long has he been EWing / NWing?  If it's been going on for a while it could be more than developmental...  You say he's getting tired - do you think that's cos his A times are too long (is he getting tired before his nap?), or do you think it's general tiredness from a short night?  Some LOs need a longer morning or evening to avoid NWs - do you have a feel for which your LO might prefer?  If increasing your A time recently has improved the NWs at 12, then it might be he just needs a further push to get rid of the EW too.  Certainly with Jack that's the order of fixing things, anyway!  NWs normally go first, and then EWs when we push A times.

[Kfro]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, he is waking around five ish. Today it was 520. I don't think it is an increase that he needs as he is acting very tired all the time and he has started waking from his naps crying. I reduced his a time by five mins yesterday and he seemed less tired but we still had we this morning. I think a tooth is on the verge of coming through so that could explain it I guess. He is also rolling about in his cot like crazy and getting quite frustrated. I was planning on introducing a third solid meal this weekend. He has been having solids for three weeks but only fruit and veg puréed and a bit of porridge for breakfast so maybe that isn't giving him the extra calories he needs? When is it ok to introduce meat? I know he has a lot going on and I have been hoping that it is developmental but didn't want to continue with same routine if that is the problem. I think ot has been building up since I decided to try and push through on just two naps so maybe that isn't helping. So many possibles!!

[LovelyLilyandJack]

It sounds like he has a lot going on, poor thing Teething could well be the problem - it always made my daughter more tired too, so it could be the same for your LO.  If you can reduce his A time a bit and stay on 2 naps then it sounds like that might help  - you could always offer 3 naps for one day as a catch up if you think he needs it? You may well find nothing makes much difference til that tooth pops through though 

WRT solids, it's been a while since we weaned, but from what I remember you can go quite quickly with introducing different types of food from 6 months. Certainly it's safe for LOs to have meat from 6 months - chicken is possibly more easily digested than red meat - I can't remember I'm afraid.  We did BLW with my second LO and he had quite a wide variety of foods quite early.  We didn't have any allergy concerns though.