Author Topic: (almost) 6 month old 30min nap  (Read 1297 times)

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Offline Kerriam

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(almost) 6 month old 30min nap
« on: April 10, 2018, 17:53:36 pm »
Hi, my son will be 6 months old next week and we are struggling with his second nap of the day. Ever since we changed to a 4 hour EASY, he's been waking up earlier as well so I'm assuming something is really off with the timing. Here's a typical day recently:

WU: 6:15ish
Eat:6:45
Nap: 8:45 (he's usually really tired by this point, rubbing eyes, fussy, etc.) for usually 1.25-1.75 hours
Eat: 10:45/11
Nap: depending on his WU I try to get as close to 1pm as possible but he gets really tired/cranky after 2/2.25 hrs awake but I try to push him if I can but no matter what I've tried he only sleeps here for 30 mins. He'll wake up pleasant but then the rest of the day goes downhill fast.
Eat: 2:30/3 but it usually gets too close to his last nap due to the 30 min 2nd nap and he tries to fall asleep while nursing
Nap:4/4:30 for 30 mins.
Bedtime: 7:00 and no nighttime wakeups

I feel like he should be able to stay awake longer but he just gives me all the signs of being overtired. Occasionally he'll wake up an hour or so after going to bed at night but he's not hungry so I suspect that's a result of being overtired. He's never responded well to me trying to extend his nap. He's a very independent sleeper and gets too stimulated when I try to help him - he just gives me big smiles when I come in and loses it when I leave him again. He's an otherwise really easy baby. Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks so much.

Offline becj86

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Re: (almost) 6 month old 30min nap
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2018, 23:08:11 pm »
Hi :) Sorry your post hasn't had a reply as yet!

That first A time looks ok at 2.5hr and seems to produce a reasonable nap, its on the short end for a baby this age but that's not necessarily a bad thing. If he's having long happy wakings in the early hours of the morning or waking progressively earlier in the morning, then those are good indications that he needs more A time and he's doing what he has to to get it. Making his nap a touch later than it 'should' be by A times can help pull the morning WU later again.

Those 30min naps... I think he's probably OT, at least for the 2nd one. I wonder if there's a trigger for him to wake? White noise stopping or something? My though wrt that is that if he sleeps 30mins and you cannot resettle for the second nap of the day, his A time following that could be slightly less than normal at say 2:15 rather than pushing him to nearly 3hr off a short nap which will certainly yield another OT nap.
Another potential culprit is overstimulation or understimulation. Babies can get fussy and look tired when they're ready for a change of scenery/activity so its worth changing things up if he's fussy and you're trying to extend A times.

Offline Kerriam

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Re: (almost) 6 month old 30min nap
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2018, 11:09:18 am »
Thank you. Since posting this he has been waking up now between 5:30 and 5:45! I’ve been feeding him and treating it as a night waking and putting him back to sleep where he’ll fall right back but only for 15-20 minutes. I’m assuming this is playing into the need for longer A time in the morning. So how do I extend the A time then... do I base it off the 5:30 WU or the 6:15 WU after he went back for a little bit? I’ll try shortening his second A time as well . He’s still giving me only 30 min second naps with 2.5 hr A time so I’ll try cutting that back and see what happens. Thanks!

Offline becj86

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Re: (almost) 6 month old 30min nap
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2018, 11:17:59 am »
Base if off when he wakes for the day. If he goes back to bed for a while, take it from when he gets up, even if he didn't sleep much.