Hello
My LO has just hit the 9mth mark and I am still dealing with pretty frequent NW and just trying to get his daytime sleep sorted too, really. I am really wanting to get him to self settle for naps and bedtime, as I'm hoping this will help with his NW. He was sleeping through from quite young, but that all went out the window at 4mo and has never really gotten back on track (expect for a few wonderful nights here and there). My partner is wanting me to do VR, but I am resisting!
He is easy to settle in the morning, although as he feeds so frequently overnight it's almost like he is full until right before his nap. He usually has his last NF around 5am ish and then is not interested at all on wake up. He usually falls asleep feeding for this nap, so haven't yet had much chance to try self-settling! I know he would be ok though, as this has always been the easiest nap.
He is VERY resistant to his 2nd nap of the day, and I often have to APOP this one in order to get him through until bedtime. He is very active and observant of everything going on. 15-30mins before nap I will do quiet time with him and sway gently while listening to slow music. Music relaxes him and he will start drifting off. I try and place down drowsy, but he will often rouse himself, flap arms around and sometimes go back into 'play' mode, pulling himself up on bars of the cot and standing. I am sure that timing has got a lot to do with it. Often I spend 30-40 frustrating minutes trying to get him to sleep in time to be up for a reasonable bedtime.
Bedtime has actually gotten better the last couple of days. I have relaxed him with music, then BF and then maybe another couple of songs. He has pushed me away the last couple of nights, as if he wants to be lying down and he's gone to sleep with a bit of bum-patting and shhh-ing.
Can anyone see if our days need to be adjusted at all? I'm wondering if I need to swap his naps, so the first one is shorter and 2nd one the longer nap. Is it possible to bring the AM nap earlier again, or is this really hard to do once it's been pushed out? We work on A times, and he does around 3.5-3.75hrs, although he seems to be more tired at the end of the day.
One thing that I find REALLY hard is that he falls asleep in the car without fail, and this can throw our whole day off. I try not and go out too much, but I also want him to have a life outside of these four walls (and I need to get groceries too!). He will wake as soon as the car stops moving, and is impossible to transfer. He also thinks he's napped for hours if it's only been 10mins.
I am wanting to do whatever I can to reduce the NW, happy to start sleep training if that's what is needed - so give it to me straight!
Here are our last few days...
0710 - awake
0900 - solids [pear & muffin]
1030 - bf
1040 - 1210 - NAP
1.10p - solids [puree, crackers & quinoa patties]
3.00p - bf
3.00p - tried settling for afternoon nap. He'd had an active day at beach and was tired, although fell asleep in car on the way home for 5mins and then was impossible to get to sleep after that, resulting in no nap!
5.00p - solids [puree, pasta & sauce]
6.00p - bf
6.10p- asleep
6.45p - woke, patted back to sleep
10.00p - nf
12.30a - nf
1.20a - cried out but self settled
0630 - awake
0630 - bf
0830 - solids [pear & toast]
0950 - start to settle
1000 - 1040 - NAP
1040 - bf
1230 - solids [fish, fruit, crackers]
2.45p - 3.50p - NAP [in car, drove around to extend it]
4.00p - bf, not very much at all
6pm - solids [sweet potato, broc, fruit]
7pm - bf
7.25p - asleep
11.20p - nf
2.20a - nf
4.45a - nf & BM
7.20a - awake
7.20a - bf, not really interested
9.00a - solids [pear & muffins]
10.35 - bf
10.45 - 12.20 - NAP
2.00p - solids
4.00p - tried to start settling, he was very awake!
4.15p - 4.30p - NAP in car as was not going to go to sleep in time for decent bedtime
6.00pm - solids
7.00pm - bf
7.20pm - asleep
10.40p - nf
2.40 - nf
5.40 -nf
woke for the day at 7.20