Hi everyone,
My 6 month old sometimes will only sleep for an hour when he usually sleeps for 1.5-2 hours. He doesn't wake up crying or anything; he's completely content. He'll roll around and talk to himself (or his bear). I've been leaving him go until his next feeding time hoping he falls back asleep, which he does maybe 20% of the time. But the majority of these instances he just lays there awake & happy until we go get him.
My question is: do you think it's okay to let him be awake for an hour before feeding him in these instances? And do we push the next nap up or keep it where it is? I try to be as consistent as possible and not put him down for his next nap until the usual time (unless he is obviously very sleepy before then). This doesn't happen every day but at least a couple times/week, usually in the afternoon but today it happened this morning. Also, he is a VERY social baby and since he isn't upset at all, I don't think PU/PD is a good idea here. I think it will ruin any small chance of him going back to sleep. He falls asleep very well on his own.
For example, his usual morning is wake up around 6:30/7 and nurses at 7. Naps 9-11ish and has milk again at 11. Today he woke at 6 and my sleepy self was hoping he'd fall back asleep and I didn't go get him & nurse until about 6:40. He went back down for a nap at 8:15 and was asleep by 8:25. But then he woke up at 9:40 when I would have expected him to sleep until 10:30. We just let him go until 10:30 and he was completely fine rolling around his crib, happily talking away. I guess I just need someone to confirm that this is okay to do occasionally. And he usually goes down for another nap around 1:30 but I'm not sure he'll make it 4 hours; but if I put him down earlier and he still only sleeps 1.5 hours, he'll have a long stretch in the evening before bedtime (bedtime routine starts at 6 and it's just not possible to put him down any earlier).