9 month old

[Nauvoo]

just need some "fresh" eyes here.
DD3 is 9 months old and doing a 3hr45min A time.  Is this too much for her age?  it seems so much to me but ??
She always takes a 1.5 - 2 hr nap in the morning using this A time but I'm positive she would no matter the A time.  Because often the A time is longer if her wake time is early or if DD1 has a late start with school (as happened this morning, DD3 had a 4.5hr A time and took a 1hr45min nap.)  I hate the longer A times because this pushes the 2nd nap back or I try to get it in earlier and it is quite hard to get her to sleep for that second nap.
So my other question is what A time should I shoot for after a short nap?  short nap as in the pm nap is a short nap, sometimes because I wake her or sometimes she wakes on her own.  I recall DD1 doing 2 1hr15min naps at this age.  I would love to have that again!!!!!!
My other issue is it is really really hard to get a pm nap in with a long am nap.   I am not very keen on doing a long pm nap because of school pick ups.  Would set naps be a good thing here?  and if so any suggestions on those set nap times would be super great!

[lily_layne]

I'm not much help with A times but I can help with set naps. I started set naps with DS around 6 months and it worked really well. At 9 months, our routine was:
WU: 7
S: 9:30-11
S: 1:30-3
BT: 7

You should be able to find times that work with the longer A. Maybe something like:
WU: 7
S: 10:30-12
S: 3-4:15
S: 7/7:30
Or is that not enough A in the pm and evening for her?

[Nauvoo]

I really don't know.  I will try and see what will and won't work.  I love this though!  Her wake up times are extremely inconsistent!!!! So I will try these set times and adjust from there.
Today went
Wake 7am
Nap 10:30-12:45 (dead also when i woke her)
Nap 4:30 - 5:15 (it takes a lot of AP for this afternoon nap)
Bed 8pm


My other two DD were much more consistent,  predictable.  PredictablY short naps and EW's. It's so strange to have DD3 be so unpredictable!

[lauradj]

It sounds to me like your LO might be LSN and is moving, slowly, towards the 2-1 transition.  If you can maintain it, your current schedule looks good to me. 

[lily_layne]

It sounds to me like your LO might be LSN and is moving, slowly, towards the 2-1 transition.  If you can maintain it, your current schedule looks good to me. 

I was thinking the same. If you're having trouble getting the pm nap in, you could try capping the am nap. When DS started refusing the pm nap, we went to:
WU: 7
S: 9:30-10:15
S: 1:15-3/3:30
BT: 7/7:30

[Nauvoo]

Awesome. Thanks ladies!  LSN perhaps.  She does like a long nap each day though but I'm sure her transition to 1 nap will be earlier rather than later.  Capping the nap seems like the right idea but will be so hard for me!  But when that's what is needed! Today was completely off but tomorrow we start with set naps and hopefully within a few days I'll know something!  I suspect she may need more A time between naps than 3 hrs but that capping the may make 3 hrs prrfect.

[lily_layne]

Capping the nap seems like the right idea but will be so hard for me!

It was hard for me too. The BW ladies kicked my butt into doing it and it made things so much better.

[Nauvoo]

Even after a1.5 hr nap she wakes crying/fussing.  But 2 hrs she wakes happy.  But she is a happy baby so I'm sure sheik adjust!

[lily_layne]

I've found if I can catch DS at the right time when I wake him, he's happy. Other times, he is a bit fussy but he calms pretty quickly. I've taken to opening his door and turning on the light in the hall outside his room about 5-10 minutes before he wakes. Usually DD makes enough noise that he wakes without me having to do it.

[lauradj]

Just as an FYI, today we managed to keep DS2 up until 10:30, let him nap until 12:30 (I had to wake him, it was almost impossible!) and then he had a 1hr nap fro 3-4.  So it's very normal for this age.  DS1 was ready for 1 nap at 11.5 months.  DS2 is evidently ready a little sooner though I'm not rushing it.  He still needs a nice big sleep at some point during the day so each day will be different. 

[Nauvoo]

Thanks so much for sharing! !! I do think DD will be ready for 1 nap earlier than my other two.  We are getting crazy early wake ups!  5:08 this morning. I tried for an hour to get her back to sleep!  She went down for a nap at 10:30 because I had school runs!  I expect her to sleep a couple hours.  These early wakings are more common than not.   Yesterday she had a1.5 hr nap and then a 30 min nap at church.   I hate sleep issues!