I'm trying to figure out what my 7 month old boy needs - he seems to be a low sleep-need baby*. If something wakes him at 10 hours asleep he won't really go back down. I think we are in the middle of the 3 - 2 nap transition but I rarely let him have two naps because it is supremely important to me to make it to a 7.30pm bedtime - not least because he sleeps 10.5 hours a night on average. Also because that's the only way he'll see his dad for 15 mins or so each weekday.
I have experimented a lot with his A time and it is hard to get him to go down even at the 3 hour mark unless he is oevrtired from a very early waking/short first nap. 3 hours 15 is semi-reliable
Our typical days at the moment:
WT 5.40-6.30 - *this has been at the earlier end for about a week but I try to keep him in bed til 6. It varies every day though, sometimes because a noise wakes him - I can't do much about this. *
E 6.30
A 3H15 TO 3H30 *if he woke very early*
SOLIDS 8.00
S 9.00-9.15 - 45 mins. *I usually wake him from this so the second nap doesn't get too late*
E 10.30
A 3H15
SOLIDS 12.00
S 1-1.30 - 1 hour - 1 hour 20. *Sometimes as little as 40 mins, usually will resettle if I give him the chance*
E 2.30pm
A 2H30
S - 4.30pm - this is very consistent and always in the pram. I make it earlier if his lunch nap was awful. He seems to need this sleep to make it to bedtime although it is always 15-30 mins only. I doubt he would take this nap in bed, he needs to be really tired to settle to sleep on his own by this late in the day which is partly why I hesitate to cut down to 2 naps, I worry if the second nap is too late in the afternoon it will always be a short nap because his biorythms make him less sleepy by this point, and it will mess up our days.
SOLIDS - 5pm
A 2H30
E (bedtime milk) 6.30pm
BT 7.15, asleep by 7.30
He sleeps through until 2-4am, feeds once, then sleeps til morning.
I had advice last time I posted here on cutting him down to 2 naps but I worry we will slip to an early bedtime. Maybe I should just allow his first nap to be the long one? I'm letting it run on right now and he's been down over an hour so he clearly could take a long nap first thing.
* edit to add - by low sleep needs I mean he does fine on about 2 hours total day sleep and 10-11 hours at night. That is less than a lot of the babies his age I know who do more like 12 hours at night and 3 in the day.
