HELP: 8 month struggling to nap longer than 30 mins

[Lasm2016]

Hi there,

I am wondering if anyone can help me please - my daughter is 8 months old, last weighed a month ago at 17lbs but has always been in the same percentile (around 75th).  She was exclusively breastfed until 7 months but is now bottle fed.  She has been on a 4 hour eating pattern since 4 months but now we are on solids so fed a bit more regularly.

I have always struggled to get her to nap longer than 30 minutes but if I am totally honest, I have been quite relaxed about it because she is a 7pm-7am sleeper (sometimes 7.30am).  I have done the baby quiz is she is a strong Angel baby - very relaxed and chilled out, despite the lack of daytime napping.  However happy she is, the lack of day time napping means she does sometimes look tired  (although always smiling) and I know she isn't getting enough sleep in the day and I feel it can't be good for her development. 

A very typical day for us (regardless of whether all naps are in cot or not) is...(I always make sure at least one nap a day is in cot)

07:00 wake
07:30 6-8oz milk, some porridge and fruit
09:15 nap - 30 minutes (always in cot)
11:30 lunch (protein, carb, veg - approx 6-8 tablespoons) and fruit or rice cake if still appears hungry
11:50 offer milk (sometimes takes nothing, sometimes takes up to 6oz)
12:00 nap - 30 minutes (sometimes cot, sometimes pram)
15:00 6oz milk if nothing taken at 11.30, 2-4oz otherwise
16:00 nap - 30 minutes (in cot if lunch nap was in pram, sometimes in pram if lunch was in cot)
17:00 tea (veg and carb - approx 6 tablespoons or finger food)
18:00 bathtime
18:20 storytime
18:30 8oz milk
18:40 in cot awake
19:00 most always asleep by 7pm, sometimes slightly earlier or later depending on day.

I have tried so hard to do EASY but when her naps are only 30 minutes it doesn't really make sense for me to give her more food after a 30 minute nap and in any case she would refuse it because she isn't hungry.  This results me in trying to "top her up" before 2nd nap in the hope that it will make her nap longer!  But it rarely works.

The last two days however, there has been an improvement and I can only think that it is because she is on the brink of crawling so using up more energy when she is playing after breakfast.  The last two days have looked like this

07:00 wake
07:30 6-8oz milk, some porridge and fruit
09:15 nap - 1h 15 mins (day 1), 1hr 35 mins (day 2) (both days in cot)
12:00 lunch (protein, carb, veg - approx 6-8 tablespoons) and fruit or rice cake if still appears hungry
14:30 6oz milk
15:00 nap - 45 mins (day 1), 35 mins (day 2) (both days in pram)
16:30 nap - 30 mins (day 1), 0 mins (day 2) (both in cot, she didn't want the final nap day 2)
17:00 tea (veg and carb - approx 6 tablespoons or finger food)
18:00 bathtime
18:20 storytime
18:30 8oz milk
18:40 in cot awake
19:00 asleep

Can anyone give any help or suggestions of how to lengthen the napping, particularly tips for napping in a pram?!

My sense is that perhaps the naps in the prams are not helping but there are some instances when we are out and its unavoidable (I have a lot of hospital appointments).  Secondly, we do baby classes which means we are often out when she is due a nap.  I don't want her to miss out on social activities because I need to remain close to the house to be in her cot.

Tomorrow I can put her down in her cot at 9:15 and if she sleeps I will have to wake her early to have lunch and get to baby class for 1130.  My plan was to try and get her to have a long nap in pram so we can walk there but I doubt she will do it.  Friday we have another baby class at 10am and then we need to head straight to a hospital appointment and so won't be home until 1/130pm - if I am lucky she will have had two 30 minutes naps (but often only 1 because of the hospital appointment) and by the time we are home she is very overtired and then could easily sleep 2 hours at 3pm but this is quite late in the day for a long nap.

Short of cancelling all social activities, what can I do?!  Help please!!

Thanks so much

[lolsyb1982]

Hi looking at your A times they seem very short for an 8 month old. I think by then the average is 3.5-4 hours and on 2 naps so you might want to start increasing that first A time every 2-3 days to see how it goes.

What time are the baby classes? Morning or afternoon? It may be with an A increase you can get one decent nap at home and then a shorter one in the pram when you need to be out.

[Lasm2016]

Hi, thanks you so much for replying!

OK, i didn't know the activity should be around that, she always seems tired by 9.15, rubbing her eyes and yawning but I will try to stretch it out this weekend and see if there is any change.  Do you know how much day sleep she should have at this age?  I am thinking 2-3hours?

Mostly the classes are in the morning, one is 10-11 (tomorrow) which used to be fine when she was younger but not now!  The others are 11.30 and 12.30 which are a bit more manageable to work around

Just to make sure I am understanding you correctly... I could aim for something like a long nap at 10am and a shorter one around 2/2.30...

07:00 wake
07:30 milk and breakfast
10:00 nap - 1-2 hours?
12:00 lunch and offer milk
14:30 nap - 30-60mins?
15:00 milk
17:00 tea
18:00 bed routine
18:30 milk
19:00 asleep

And if I need to switch the long / short nap that is ok? so for example, for the class tomorrow starting at 10am, I can try and get her to have a short nap 9.30 until 10 and then have baby class.  This would mean the E and A would be swapped but is this ok?  I could then get her to have a long nap when we get home from the hospital around 1.30/2pm. 

Sorry for so many questions! 

[lolsyb1982]

She's used to that A time so it's quite common for them to act tired. They also yawn when they need a change in activity.
Yes I think 2.5-3hrs day sleep is about right for her age and it won't be long before she starts working towards the 2-1 so you may want to have a look at some of the threads to prepare yourself.

The routine you've written looks good. It may be a bit of trial and error to get the right A times but definitely along the lines of what you're suggesting.

HTH

[Lasm2016]

ok thank you.

you know, now you say that, I have often thought she doesn't even look that tired even though she is yawning /  rubbing her eyes.  Her eyes still look alert and happy.  So maybe the yawn is a yawn of boredom!  I have just been so carefully watching out for the queues of tiredness that it didn't occur to me it could be boredom...

I will read about the 2-1. 

Thanks again.  I will work on this over the weekend and hopefully I will have some good news on Monday, I'm forever hopeful to try something new 

[Scottishmummy]

Just to add...she may find it to much to jump straight to a 10am nap if she's used to a 9.15 one. You might need to try to increase in 15min intervals for a few days e.g. 9.30 nap for a couple of days, then 9.45 for couple of days then 10.

Other thing to add is some babies like a short A time, so if aiming for a long 10am nap doesn't work out you could try what I did with my DS and stick with that short nap in the earlier morning but then push the 2nd A time a bit longer so she has 2nd nap around 1pm rather than 12.

[Lasm2016]

I just want to say a massive THANK YOU!!!!!

Today has been unbelievable.  I put my daughter down to nap at 9.45, as she started to gurn a bit (I thought it would be too much to keep her until 10am, I had actually planned to put her down at 9.30 but she seemed fine).  She slept for 1.5 hours!!!  and then I put her down at 2.15pm, again because she started to gurn a bit.  And she did another 1.5hr - I actually had to wake her as I didnt want her to do more than 3hrs!!  I hope she goes down ok tonight.

I honestly can not believe the difference!  Both naps were in the cot, I imagine that she would only do 30 mins in the pram.  But if I can work on it so she does 2hrs in the morning, I will be over the moon as can get a quick one in the pram later when I am out and about.

Thanks again, you have made my weekend.  One happy mamma!!!  must celebrate with a wee wine tonight!

[lolsyb1982]

So pleased for you!

Shame my 6 month old has barely slept all day and doesn't stick to my plan 

[Lasm2016]

Oh no! Sure it's a one off

I just can't believe the drastic difference in one day! I'm so grateful, I have been trying so many different things for months and then in one day this happens! Hope it's not a fluke!! ☺️

[Lasm2016]

Hi there,

My daughter slept a few days for 1.5hrs but now it seems to be back down to anywhere between 40mins-1hr 10mins. I'm still putting her down between 945-10am. Do you think this is because the first few days she was knackered and now she's adjusted to that new time so it really needs to be later still?  Should I be pushing this further back still? Perhaps to 10/10.15?

I'm asking because the further out I push the first nap I may struggle to get a second nap out of her?? Confused!

Thanks X

[Buntybear]

Hi - you could well be right and she needs a further push in A time! Try another 10/15 mins on the first A time and see id that helps. If she is getting a good nights sleep and then 2 long naps she could be UT now!

[Lasm2016]

Hi again,

Ok so since I last posted things have changed a bit. Not necessarily a bad thing but I was hoping for some reassurance...

My husband had my daughter all weekend because I had a weekend away and he put her down at 11am and she slept for 2-2.5hrs each day. I have continued this because I'm back home visiting family and it's been easier if she has one mammoth nap in between all the family visits etc.

Is there anything wrong with me moving to a 1long nap a day at 9months?! It doesn't seem to be affecting her nighttime sleep yet although it's only been 4 days. I've started to read about the 2-1 transition and I'm a bit worried and also don't know where to start with all the threads!!!

Thanks xx

[Scottishmummy]

It is early for 1 nap, but there is another thread here from someone whose LO moved to 1 nap at 9 mo.  Just keep an eye on her for signs of OT building up (e.g. Change to night sleep or more tired signs/fussiness in the day)

[Lasm2016]

Hi there,

I just wanted to give a bit of an update incase it helps anyone who reads my thread and had similar experiences to me and is looking to resolve them.

Since my last post, around a week ago, my daughter is back to having two good naps.  I don't think she was really ready for the transition.  As Scottishmummy pointed out, she was starting to get quite fussy in the day, which is really not like her.

I have found that she tends to do 1.5-2 hours at 10.30/10.45am an then another 1-1.5 hours at 2.45/3pm.  This is only if she is in the cot for both naps...I have gone from having a baby who would only do 3 30 minute naps to a baby that I now usually have to wake to ensure she doesn't go over 3 hours (if she does she is UT for bedtime).  I feel we have found the right balance for now and I am very thankful to those who helped and pointed out that the Activity wasn't long enough.  Stretching this out has meant she has consistently had really good naps, so long as its in the cot!

If we have plans, we generally try to make sure that she gets her first long nap in her cot and make our plans fit around this i.e. meet friends after 1pm etc.  That way when we are out in the afternoon she will do 30-40mins in the pram for the second nap. Before, we were sort of determined that she would fit in around us but since she has been napping better in the day, both my husband and I have seen such a positive difference in her and we value this much more than trying to fit too much in and not allowing her at least one long nap.

Of course this is not always possible and if we are in situations when we are out all day (e.g. we had a wedding recently), we just keep an eye out for her getting a bit grumpy and try to encourage her to nap at this point - usually 3 or 4 30 minute naps.  She is a strong A baby and so the days that this happens it doesn't seem to affect her too much and she will happily go to bed at 6pm and still sleep until 7am.  I wouldn't want this to become the norm again but sometimes it is unavoidable.  We have a weeks holiday coming up soon so it will be interesting to see how we manage then!

Thanks again for everyones help and I hope this might help someone else.  I am sure I will be posting again looking for advice when she starts to transition from 2-1

Laura and Nia

[Scottishmummy]

Thank you for your update, so glad this is working out for you. It's always a bit of a compromise between baby's needs and still having your own life but it sounds like you've found a balance that is working for you all. Lovely to hear xxx