8 Month Old Sleep Trouble

[LB1983]

Hi everyone! First few posts here... also posted in naps but I can remove from one place if it doesn't belong.

I have an 8 month old and I've been having sleep troubles ever since he was born... haha.  I even hired a sleep trainer but am still having nap problems.  Through the night is fine and I am fine with our super early bed time, but would go later if it solved morning.

We have a solid consistent routine, dark room, white noise, crib sleep only.  His sleep times are something like this

Wake: 4:30-5:30am... I leave him until 6:30am
E: BF @ 6:30am
E: Solids @ 7:45-8am
S: 9:00am
A: 10:30am (I cap this morning nap as instructed by trainer to preserve second nap... it's been suggested I should cap even earlier @ 10... should I?).
E: BF @ 10:30
E: solids @ 12:00
S: 1:00pm This nap is a mess... he usually refuses for anywhere from 30-60 mins.
A: 1:30-2:30pm He usually only gets a 30 min nap for this nap and it's been like this for a few weeks now.
E: BF after nap 2
E: Solids @ 4-5pm depending on WU from nap 2
E: BF before bed
S: 5:45-6pm depending on WU from nap 2.

So my problems are early morning wake ups and nap #2.  He goes down to sleep for nap 1 and bed time no problem at all...  it's so hard to tell if he's undertired or overtired for nap 2... it's driving me crazy! Any suggestions?

[Baby_A_Mama]

I'm by no means an expert...hopefully someone will help you out but I was recently having some nap issues with my 7 month old. I was told here to stretch out A time and now we're closer to 3 hours and his naps are back to >1hr, instead of 30-45 min. Perhaps nap#2  needs to be later and maybe he's fighting because he's not tired enough yet? 
Goodluck, these babes need to come with a manual.

[LB1983]

Thanks!  I will try 3 hours today for A time between the naps... He was up at 10:15, so I will go for 1:15 for that nap #2.  I really hope we can get back on track with that nap and get some later sleep ins...

[LB1983]

3 hours awake time didn't help.  30 min nap... I have no idea why his afternoon nap is always so terrible.

[Kellyjs]

You could well preserve that first nap as the long one? That's what we did here.

Perhaps look at gradually moving it later. Maybe by 15min or so for now and leave it uncapped up to 2hrs. Then as pp said, do 3hrs to second nap and don't worry if it's short. Then a shorter A to BT as you've been doing. You will need to move it out more in time to encourage a later wu. But tbh, you're getting a decent amount of ONS I just think the whole day needs to be shifted later for you. Shows the total amount of sleep in 24hrs suits, it just needs to be better placed in the day xx

We did this at 8mo if it helps.

Wu 5.30-6.30 (out of bed at 6.30)
A 4hrs 15min
S 10.45- 12.15 (this was uncapped. Woke naturally at 1.5hrs)
A 3.5hrs
S 3.45-4.30 (capped although never really wanted to go longer)
A 2.5hrs
BT 7

[LB1983]

Well no luck letting him sleep as long as he wanted with morning nap.  He slept 9-10:30 and woke naturally at 10:30.  I put him down at 1:30 and he refused to take the nap.  We didn't get a nap at all and had one very unhappy baby all day.   I put him to bed pretty early because he was shattered (5:30PM).

I'm expecting an early morning, but I'm going to try capping the morning nap at 1 hour and see what happens.

[Kellyjs]

You could try that or try moving that 2nd nap even a touch later. 1.5 hrs is completely fine as a first nap as we had that here too. Moving it later in time could well yield a longer nap but you'd probably have to cap it at 1.5hrs anyway to fit in a CN when the A times get too lomg to fit it into one day anyway. I'll post a link for you to have a read through xx

From 2 to 1 nap transition (10-12m and older)

[LB1983]

Thank you... I'm going to try capping the morning nap for a few days and see where that lands up.  If we don't have any luck getting a PM nap, I'll try the other methods.  Thanks so much.  This is getting so frustrating... everyone is quite tired with the 5am wake ups!

[Kellyjs]

It's horrible, I know, but it won't last forever ok? Keep us posted xx

[LB1983]

Yesterday i capped the morning nap at an hour and got 1 hour second nap... not too bad.  Today I capped the morning nap at an hour and got a 25 min second nap.  boo!  So frustrating!

[Kellyjs]

Argh it really is tough trying to get that second A right. It *might work to have 2 x 1hr naps, I've seen it once or twice but generally I think the preference is to have one longer and one shorter one or vice versa.

20mims nap or so could signal discomfort though, I'd keep an eye out for teeth, but it's probably more than likely an UT nap. You could try that A time again tomorrow and see what that yields. If it's another short nap, you could try adding on 15mins to that second A again. Or alternatively cap the first nap down to 45mins and keep the same A time? Xx

[LB1983]

He does have teeth coming in... that could explain a little bit but not all I don't think!  Yes, I am going to give it another shot with the 3 hr awake time tomorrow and see what happens. 

Realistically, I am fine with one longer and one shorter nap really... just not the days he doesn't take two naps at all and I fear that if I don't cap the morning nap, he won't have an afternoon nap period.  I suppose he would if I kept him awake long enough, but I have no idea what his A time should be.  I also worry he will get hungry!

[Kellyjs]

Many people do a top up feed or snack 20mins or so before a nap. You could try that if you feel he could be getting hungry? Just a little A between the E and S is perfectly fine, even if it's just a nappy change then up to bed xx

[LB1983]

That's a great idea... will let you know how today goes!

[LB1983]

So yesterday I capped the morning nap from 9-10 then put him down at 1pm and he slept for 1hr30. I put him to bed at 6pm. He woke at 5:50am. Latest sleep in in weeks! I know it's still early but it's better. Lol. I gave him Advil before his afternoon nap because he is teething... I do wonder if that helped.