Author Topic: Reducing activity time after short nap - general rule of thumb?  (Read 1929 times)

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Offline MamaBrown

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Hope someone can help me!

My LO has just turned 5 months and we have been on easy street until a few days ago. LO was having lovely 1.5 HR naps throughout the day and STTN. Over the last few days however, he is having 45 min naps. My question: is there a general rule of thumb of how much to reduce activity time by after a short nap? I think I read somewhere that you should reduce it by about 20 mins?

Current activity time is 2 hours.

Any advice would be appreciated!!

Offline Martini~

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Re: Reducing activity time after short nap - general rule of thumb?
« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2015, 08:43:43 am »
Hello Honey - could you please post your routine?

Re activity time after shorter nap - it  depends. Sometimes they need shorter A especially if nap was OT, but sometimes if first nap was too short and resulted in UT nap, if the next one will be even shorter you will have another UT nap and OT kid in the end.

2h is a short stretch for a 5mo, you could slightly go to 2.5h A probably so you can have longer naps. Have you seen this link?
What are A times and how do they fit into the EASY plan?
~Marta

Offline MamaBrown

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Re: Reducing activity time after short nap - general rule of thumb?
« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2015, 12:31:21 pm »
Hi there

Routine has unfortunately gone out of the window over the last 3 days.

Here is what we have done today - a bad one:

Awake: 6.30
E: 7am
A: 1hr 45 (I am planning to extend this tomorrow)
S: 8.15 - 9.25 (1 hr 10 mins)
E: 10.30
A: 1 hr 50 mins
S: 11:15 -11:45

LO has been awake since 11:45 and I don't know what to do. I'm getting to the end of my tether and I'm really frustrated. Bless him, LO isn't grumpy, he just looks so tired and I feel so terrible that I can't seem to get this right : (

I just need him to get a good nap in and I'm sure I can get him back on track....

Offline Martini~

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Re: Reducing activity time after short nap - general rule of thumb?
« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2015, 12:50:10 pm »
Could you APOP one nap in a stroller or whatever just to catch up on OT?
~Marta

Offline MamaBrown

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Re: Reducing activity time after short nap - general rule of thumb?
« Reply #4 on: August 20, 2015, 12:55:52 pm »
Sorry, what's APOP?

I have found that when Lo does have a short nap, if I put him down at the 2 hour mark that sometimes balances him out because he has a good 1.5 hr sleep. I have swaddled him and am trying it now.

I don't really want him to fall asleep in the stroller or in the car seat - I've put so much time and effort into establishing a good nap time routine and using ssh pat when I need it that resorting to the stroller Would just undermine all of that....

I don't know, I'm so stressed I can't seem to think straight :(

Offline MamaBrown

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Re: Reducing activity time after short nap - general rule of thumb?
« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2015, 13:09:01 pm »
Update: the 2 hour mark did the trick and LO is sleeping. I really hope he gets over an hour, I would be very happy with that!!


Offline Martini~

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Re: Reducing activity time after short nap - general rule of thumb?
« Reply #6 on: August 20, 2015, 19:56:37 pm »
Oh Hon please don't be so stressed. Really no matter what you do there will be much more crappy days and crappy naps. Couple of crappy naps transitions in front of you:).

APOP means accidental parenting on purpose. When you are doing sleep training it's not the best option to do it, but for a sleep trained kid occasionally just to catch up and keep OT at bay, it's really useful. Used only once on couple of days, it won't harm and it will help you to keep your sanity.

You need to extend A times honey as this seems to be the biggest problem I guess and is resulting in short napping. I would consider two options. Either push all A times and aim for 2 longer naps. Or keep first nap as it is and push second A or keep it like it is today so your second nap will be the longest one. In terms of routine at 6mo you could go for:

1/ 7am eu
9:30 nap for 30min - wake at 10 if needed
12:00/12:30 nap for 2h
4/4:45 short nap for 15-20min
7bt

2/ 7am wake up
10:00 am nap for around 1:30
14:30 pm nap for 1:30
7pm BT.
~Marta

Offline MamaBrown

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Re: Reducing activity time after short nap - general rule of thumb?
« Reply #7 on: August 21, 2015, 02:33:58 am »
Thanks for the advice! Option 2 seems the best one, and I completely agree about pushing the activity time. I will have to do it over a few days - he's currently at 2 hours so will go for 2 hrs 15 this morning and see how we do for the morning nap.

Thanks so much!

Offline Martini~

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Re: Reducing activity time after short nap - general rule of thumb?
« Reply #8 on: August 21, 2015, 05:17:46 am »
Keeping my fingers crossed!
~Marta

Offline MamaBrown

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Re: Reducing activity time after short nap - general rule of thumb?
« Reply #9 on: August 21, 2015, 07:55:02 am »
Well, we did 2 hrs 15 this morning and  LO has gone past the witching times of 30 and 45 minutes! If he can get past the hour mark but doesn't get to 1.5 hrs, do I stick with the 2hrs 15 mins activity time?

Offline MamaBrown

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Re: Reducing activity time after short nap - general rule of thumb?
« Reply #10 on: August 21, 2015, 08:36:59 am »
Ok!! The 2 hrs 15 mins got a 1 hr 20 min sleep : )

Shall I continue with this A time for a day or two to get LO used to it or shall I add another 10-15 mins to the next A time?

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Re: Reducing activity time after short nap - general rule of thumb?
« Reply #11 on: August 21, 2015, 09:30:15 am »
stay with that  A for couple of days and then we will see:)!
~Marta

Offline MamaBrown

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Re: Reducing activity time after short nap - general rule of thumb?
« Reply #12 on: August 21, 2015, 09:33:08 am »
Wicked, thanks so much for your help and support!! X