I think my 9mo wants to drop to 1 nap already... what do I do?!

[peepip]

For the past 2 days he's been taking horribly short naps. At daycare he took 1 35 min nap and 1 20 min nap!!!

Today I decided to let him play until 11am and see how he goes. His usual routine is this:

W between 6-6:30
Breakfast and milk @ 7am and 8:30am
S 10am
A 11:15am (sometimes 11, sometimes 11:30)
Lunch and milk @12pm and 2pm
S 3pm
A 4pm
Dinner @ 6pm
Milk @ 6:45pm
Bed 7:15ish

He also has mid morning and afternoon snacks. Lately his two naps have been around 35 minutes or less...

His awake times are already so long I don't know how I could even fit in 2 naps if I extend them...

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Has he always been low sleep needs or do you think this is just a blip? My DD3 went to one nap by 7.5 months so it is possible but she is abnormally low sleep needs (My 9 year old needs moee sleep than she does lol).  Is he walking? If not you may find he needs less A time once he is completely mobile as they tend to wrar themselves out a lot more!

[peepip]

Hi!! Thanks for replying 
Yes his sleep needs have always been lower than average... unfortunately

He's been waking early too the past few days (5:45am)

I have no idea what to do he seems under tired for all his naps yet he's getting so little sleep so maybe he's over tired?!??

[creations]

I can't tell for sure from your EASY times but it looks like he's been doing 1 nap of 1hr or 1.5 hr and a second nap of 1hr.  If this is right, and now they have both shortened, then you might be better looking for one longer nap and one CN.  As he's started to wake earlier I'd probably increase the morning A time like you did today, moving that first nap later and encouraging a longer nap of 1.5hr (or 2hr) and then a shorter A time and shorter nap.
Something like
WU 6.30
A 4hr
S 10.30 - 12
A 4hr (or 3.5hr if he'll go down)
S 4- 4.30pm
A 3hr
BT 7.30

There's a chance you will find a suitable 2 nap routine to keep you going for another few months.  Even if you can't get a full 1.5hr maybe you can get a 1hr and a 30 min, still two naps.  The amount of sleep seems little but with sleep spread across the day it's often easier for them to cope and therefore preferable to having just one nap.

Mine started showing signs of dropping to one nap at 9.5 months and actually moved to one nap at 11 months.  Although it was hard to get him to take a second nap it was worth continuing to try for it because once he moved to one nap he became OT and I needed to resettle every day.

[peepip]

Thank you! I tried lengthening the awake time yesterday for his first nap and he slept 40 mins then woke up and whingey for 29 mins then fell back asleep for another 30 mins... not sure if that's a win or not?? His second nap was 3.5 hours after his first nap ended and he only slept for 20 mins 

I'll keep persisting and hopefully he will get the hang of it.

Not sure if this related or not but at the same time his naps started deteriorating he's also suddenly gone from doing 1-2 poos per day to 4-5! It seems really weird to me but they're normal in texture so I don't know what to think...

[creations]

That first nap really sounds like he would like a longer nap. I'd stick at that A time for a couple of days and if the same happens add another 5 or 10 mins on and see if it helps him get through the transition.
If A times are very long and it's getting harder to fit the day in then I'd probably think leaving the second nap at 20 mins is all you can do.  If it ends up 30 or 40 and you can still fit in a decent BT without it getting too late then that's fine but otherwise it might be time to accept a very short second nap without trying too hard to extend it.

Could he be more mobile now?  Great mobility and movement could be getting his bowels moving more?
Or he is eating different things?

[peepip]

Thank you! He is pulling himself up on things and can glide along but can't walk or stand alone yet. This has been the case for the past month though so I don't think it's that. I did just realize he finished 4 days of antibiotics last Friday so that could be why he's all out of wack! Really hoping it's not a cows milk intolerance...

Thanks so much for your help. Yesterday he did this:

A: 6am
E: 7am
S: 10:40am (woke up and fussed for 10 mins though after 40 mins)
A: 12:20pm
E: 12:30pm
S: 4pm
A: 4:35pm
Bed: 7pm

He didn't sleep well though. Woke up at 10:30pm and was hysterical and took us over an hour to get him back to sleep. This is very unusual for him. He also woke up early at 5:30am but fell back asleep until 6:50am, which is good! Probably because he needed to make up for his night time shenanigans!

[creations]

Not too bad for the day naps really. I mean it is a bit lower than some but as pp said her LO dropped to one nap really early, so some do just need less sleep (or more at night and less in the day).
Hopefully the nights will settle down with this routine.

[peepip]

I guess at the end of the day I'm more concerned about him getting enough overall sleep. On average he tends to only get 12 hours for a whole day (1.5-2 hrs day sleep and 10-10.5 hrs night sleep) I feel like it's way too little but I guess there's not much else I can do to encourage it??

If he starts his day at 6am is a 7:15 bedtime too late??

[creations]

12 hours does seem low but some LOs are like this.
The most telling aspect of whether there is enough sleep is his mood. If he is generally happy and has energy then he is probably getting enough. If he is falling down, bumping himself more than usual (all babies bump around but I mean increased), grumpy, short tempered, and body language such as eye rubbing, yawning, then he might not be getting enough sleep.

There isn't really a BT that is too late as such. If your day ends up longer because you are fitting in two naps then BT will naturally go later.  I know our BT went as late as 8pm for certain phases of routine changes and other people go even later.  Yes the night gets short but because there are two naps in the day LO can be well rested.  I would look for at least 10hrs at night.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I agree with crestions...baby's mood will say a lot about whether the amount of sleep is right for him. We were getiing about 12 hrs in 24 at that age too, and it was all she needed. Bedtime was 8/8:30 pm for us, had been since she was born...wake up maybe 7 or so? lol cannot remember exactly but her nights were generally 10.5/11 hours. Did not get 12 hours nights until we dropped the nap and then only for a short time.

[peepip]

I have another question possibly related to naps; what would cause him to consistently wake at around 4am every morning? He will wake anytime between 3 and 4:30 and lately it has been difficult to get him back to sleep. Usually he would just fall back asleep on his own in a very short time (10 mins) but now he's staying awake for around an hour even with our help. Is this part of a regression?? Could it be teething? He doesn't seem like he's in pain, he's whingey more than crying.

[creations]

It could be part of the 2-1 sleep disturbance, possibly being OT or UT in the night and therefore waking and finding it hard to get back to sleep. Or it could be teething. Teething can be painful enough to disturb sleep (LO wakes instead of transitioning between sleep cycles) but then not so painful to be howling in pain, but rather just annoyed about being awake.  There are a number of other possibilities too though, illness coming on, external noise, being a bit too cold or too hot.  It's not always an easy answer.
Does he seem well rested in the day with his naps?

[peepip]

He's fine before and after his first nap, but after the second nap and before bed he's not in the best mood. Sometimes he's fine but usually he gets pretty grumpy. He does wake up happy in the morning though, even after only 10.5 hrs (with night wakings)

[creations]

And you're not capping that second nap are you? He's naturally waking with it short?
Would he refuse to go down for it any earlier?

[peepip]

No, he wakes up naturally from all naps. I put him down between 7 and 7:15 and he doesn't fall asleep until 7:30. Should I put him down earlier??

Edit- wanted to add he's been in a foul mood in the mornings too, the past 2 days so I think the lack of sleep is starting to effect him 
I feel like I'm doing all I can to help him sleep more but he just can't/won't. Is this likely a phase?

[creations]

If he'll go down earlier for BT then I'd try that, thr is a chance he will wake the same time the next morning but having had a longer night sleep.  Thing is, he could also do the same length night and wake earlier - it's a bit of a gamble. I'd try it for a couple of days though. It does sound like he needs more sleep.

The other thing you could go for - if he refuses an earlier BT - is to extend the second A time so that he sleeps longer for his CN, however this means later to bed for the night too as he will likely need a decent length A time before agreeing to BT yk?