Author Topic: Desperately need help for 8 month old naps  (Read 1357 times)

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Offline Bronuz

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Desperately need help for 8 month old naps
« on: July 30, 2016, 21:38:58 pm »
My 8 month old girl has started taking such short naps and just seems tired all the time.
We had a really good routine going and I was doing so well reading her tired signs but ever since she started crawling it's all just fallen apart.
We were basing our schedule on an awake time of around 2.5 hours but recently it seems she's struggling to last 1hr!
This morning for example, she woke around 6am we got up had a bottle, pretty much from the moment I got her up she was yawning! And I've ended up putting her back down at 7.30 and she's gone straight to sleep.
She was having naps of anywhere up to 2 hours now it seems I'm lucky to get 30mins. So we're back to having sometimes 4 naps!
I've tried leaving her but she won't go back to sleep, she's constantly rolling over and getting up on her knees, sometimes I think even when she doesn't want to.
I know I probably need to extend her awake time but I just hate keeping her up when I can see she's so tired constantly yawning and rubbing her eyes.
I'm going back to work in a few weeks and desperate to get into a routine.
Her bedtime is 6.30-7.30, depending on when she woke from last nap. She almost always sleeps through until at least 6. Has been waking a few times in recent weeks but settles pretty easy. Might just be a coincidence but she started her night wakings around the same time her naps fell apart. Please help!

Offline lolsyb1982

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Re: Desperately need help for 8 month old naps
« Reply #1 on: July 30, 2016, 21:46:20 pm »
Hi I too have an 8 month old and yes like you say you do need to extend her A times. My LO is now having 4hrs before her nap (although the average is between 3 and 4)
I know it seems cruel keeping her up but you're in an UT/OT loop and the only way to get out of that and her napping better is to keep her going for longer.

What were your A times before the short naps started? I would go back to those and then once she's caught up you are likely going to need to add on at least 15 mins or so.

If it helps this is our day at the moment (although my DD is probably lsn)

Wu 5.30
Nap 9.30-11.15ish
Nap 3.15-3.45
BT 6.45
Lauren




Offline Bronuz

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Re: Desperately need help for 8 month old naps
« Reply #2 on: July 30, 2016, 21:59:34 pm »
Thanks for your reply, we were in a pretty consistent A time of 2.5 hrs sometimes she could stretch longer if we were out and about but usually we were 2.5hrs.
I do remember we went through a few days of putting her to bed and then she would start playing for up to 45 min which had never happened before, I thought I was putting her down to Kate but perhaps it was too early.
As soon as she wakes from this nap I'll go back to the 2.5hrs.
How long should her naps be? What do I do if she keeps waking after 30min? The patting/ssshing technique has never worked on her. Do I just leave her in bed for 90 mins whether she's awake or not? Thanks

Offline lolsyb1982

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Re: Desperately need help for 8 month old naps
« Reply #3 on: July 31, 2016, 09:07:46 am »
You would want 1 of her naps to be at least 1.5hrs and the other either similar or a little less dependant on how long her A times stretch to once she's caught up on sleep.

You will probably need to push her on quite quickly to at least 3hrs as 2.5 is still very short for her age. You may want to do it in 15min increments every couple of days if you don't think she would handle a bigger jump.

How does that sound?
Lauren




Offline Bronuz

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Re: Desperately need help for 8 month old naps
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2016, 09:23:28 am »
Thanks Lauren, I'll give that a go over this week.
Interestingly we had to go out today and she ended up being awake for 3.5 hrs and her next nap slept for 1.5!!!
Thanks for your advice :-)

Offline lolsyb1982

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Re: Desperately need help for 8 month old naps
« Reply #5 on: July 31, 2016, 09:36:54 am »
Oh that's great. 3.5hrs sounds like an ideal A time for her age so see how you go and do come back if you need anymore help.
Lauren