Easy routine for 8 month old- please help!!

[Asha G]

Hi there my lo is 8 months old and currently on 2 naps a day. I have been posting on the naps board as she has been waking early the last couple weeks at around 5/530am (usual wake up has been at 7amish) and so advice I have been given is that she may be ready to start transitioning to 2-1 naps so was advised to cap her first nap but also look at extending her A time (currently 3 hours).

I'm trying to adjust her easy but not sure how to fit it all in with in a 12 hour day...?!
My easy until now has been:

E 7am wake up and bottle
E 830am solids
S 10am nap
E 12pm bottle ( used to sleep for 2 hours but I am now capping at 1.5 hrs if she doesn't wake by herself)
E 130pm solids
S 3pm nap  (usually a 1.5 hours but sometimes longer so I now wake her at 1.5 hrs to protect bedtime)
E 430pm bottle
E 630/7pm bottle
S 7/730pm bedtime

So I'm now capping her morning nap to 1 .5 hours to try and stop her early waking  but if I now start trying to increase her A time as well this going to push the whole routine back and push her bedtime later as well...
I tried to keep her up longer this morning and managed an extra 10 minutes but I really had to keep her entertained as I could see she wanted to sleep... As she gets used to the extra time I will keep extending but again this will affect her routine and I'm not sure how much to cap her nap by?
Should I be capping her morning nap (and afternoon nap)even more to say an hour 15 mins or even an hour? Worried that she won't be able to handle 3 hour A time or anymore than than on shorter naps??

Please help!!!! Any advice is much appreciated as we had quite a good routine until now and I'm keen to try and get back on track!!!! 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

[becj86]

Ok, this is a tricky transition in that its not one size fits all, every LO is different with how this goes. The first thing to try though, in my experience, is to extend A times 1 and 2, then cap the afternoon nap and have a shorter A to bedtime. Keep in mind that at this age, an 11hr night is perfectly fine.

How long has she had 3hr A times? I'd say that she needs more (the EW suggests that she's getting the nap too soon after she wakes and should go once she's getting the right first A time for her). She will show tired signs at 3hr - she's used to it, but that doesn't mean its what she needs now. Having said that, if you increase her A times and she's still having 2 x 1.5hr naps and an 11hr night, that's great and may well stick around for a while.

[Asha G]

Thank you for replying!!!
She has had 3 hour A times for about 8/9 weeks now.. So I have been thinking to increase her A time now anyway .. I can see she is getting  tired but I do try to keep her up past the 3 hours.. The last few days I've managed 10mins extra during the first A time and then 15/20 mins extra during the second A time... I just find it difficult to keep her entertained so that she isn't just grumpy and crying to go to sleep!

If I increase her A time to 3.5 hours ( hoping she will gradually get used to this) then if her day starts at 7am with 2x 1.5 hr naps her bedtime will
Be 730/8pm depending on how longer her last A time is ... Ideally 3 hours would be better as she has 2 milk feeds and I'm Now thinking of starting her with her 3rd meal of the day so then will Need to fit that in .. Plus bath time!!
Nervous that I can't fit it all in unless it's all back to back but then she may not eat very well or take her milk if she hasn't had enough time to digest and get hungry again?

At the moment she tends to sleep 1.5 hours at each nap, sometimes she will wake herself but if not I wake her up... You mentioned capping the 2nd nap- do you think I should cap it even more than 1.5 hrs?

[becj86]

You mentioned capping the 2nd nap- do you think I should cap it even more than 1.5 hrs?

Its best if you can to keep one long nap through the whole transition, one that isn't capped before 2hr. That's to keep her exercising the skill of taking a long nap which you will be grateful for when she does eventually to go one nap. So, logic suggests if you're looking at ~3hr day sleep and she sleeps a 2hr nap in the AM, you'd cap at 1hr for the next nap. That's probably a few weeks down the track though, I'd think, once those A times are a bit higher.

Be 730/8pm depending on how longer her last A time is ... Ideally 3 hours would be better as she has 2 milk feeds and I'm Now thinking of starting her with her 3rd meal of the day so then will Need to fit that in .. Plus bath time!!

Depending on when her last milk feed was, you could possibly get away with a small solids meal when she wakes and BT milk feed. TBH though, I'd operate on the theory that solids is for tasting and fun til age one and if it doesn't fit and tanking up is working well for her, the solid dinner is not essential at this point so just don't do that yet. Milk is the most important nutrition-wise for her so prioritise that.

[Asha G]

Ok I think I'm getting a bit confused here.... so for now I should keep to 2 naps of 1.5 hours?
If I continue this routine then as her A times extend and I try to get her to sleep 2 hours for nap1 as you have suggested will she not already be used to 1.5 hours because of the current routine?

As she is able to extend her A time say to 3.5 hours the her easy will look like this :
Wu 7am
E 830am Solids
S 1030am-12pm ( capping nap to 1.5 hrs if she is stil sleeping)
E 12pm
E 130pm
S330pm-5pm (again cap to 1.5 hours??)
E 5pm
E 730pm
S 8pm

This means she has a 13 hour day and the last A time is shorter at 3 hours instead of 3.5 hours

Do you think this would be a good routine to follow for the mean time until I can get her A time to 4 hours and the I can try capping 1 nap to 1 hour?

[becj86]

Its best not to cap both naps is what I'm saying. Think about being woken when you're not ready to be - you feel tired right, because your body wasn't ready to be awake or you would've woken up, so by capping both naps, you're not necessarily achieving any fully restorative naps in a day. She could become OT capping both naps and/or just not cope as well with increased A times.

What I suggested doesn't change the amount of day sleep, simply caps the afternoon one shorter if she naturally sleeps longer in the morning. So if she had a nap of 1:45 in the morning, you'd cap the afternoon nap at 1:15. Does that make sense?

[Asha G]

Yes that does make sense thank you! I guess I was so caught up on trying to make sure she had 2x1.5 hour naps and capping the first nap instead  that I didn't know what do to do if she over sleeps on nap 2 .. If I don't cap the 2nd nap as well then it would affect bedtime...
I will try letting her sleep nap 1 without calling but then there are times she sleeps 2 hours so I guess I will the have to cap the 2nd nap to 1 hour...
Thank you for your help!!! Really hope this all starts to work soon as my lo is still early waking and I feel exhausted now!!!