longer wake time...what happens to naps?

[Meg's Mom]

Oh, thank goodness - we are on the right track!

Happy to help 

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Seriously Michelle, the help is so appreciated! I honestly don't know what I'd do without this place!    Thank you.

I'll keep you posted.

Sharon

[cazao]

hi guys. sorry i didn`t realise anyone else had replied and then i checked and there`s all this stuff. THANK YOU everybody!!.

Michelle, if you can throw some light on our schedule, which has been all over the place the last few days that would be great. Yesterday was...

8am wake and bf
9am solids
11 - 1 nap
1bf
2.30 solids
4.30 - 5.30 nap
5.30 bf
7solids
9.30 bed.

Today was 8am wake
11-12 nap
wouldn`t go down for 2nd nap until 4.20, and only did then because i bf her to sleep...she was way overtired but hadn`t given any tired signals or fallen asleep like she normally does out strolling for the afternoon nap. i woke her after an hour.
9pm bed.

for the last little while she was doing a long (2hour) nap and then a 45minuter in the afternoon (she`s never done a long afternoon nap), with bedtimes 7/7.30 but that`s all gone to pot the last couple of weeks. she has got a couple of teeth probably on the way, and may be on the edge of some developmental stuff...she`s probably near crawling. don`t know if this makes a difference but she`s also a really big (97th percentile) baby and a big eater. i`m relieved you think she`s too young for one nap, though i can see how she may be pushing already for it.

so... i know things will be messed up for a bit, and i`ll have to just go with the flow, but it would be good to know what kind of pattern to aim for. i`m very very happy with the 8am wake up (please can we keep it  :lol: ) so if that means she`s in bed a bit later that`s ok. i was concerned about the late bedtimes because i thought some sleep expert guy had said that they should be in bed by 8pm because the early part of the evening is when they get the best sleep or something??? anyway... can you give me an idea of a day we should be aiming for and then at least i`ll know what to shoot for if things get chaotic. also, i`m interested in what you say about set times for naps...can you say a bit more about the dis/advantages of that, and how do you keep them awake till the next one if they miss the first?

thanks SO much.

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Hhhhmmmmm..... dd went to sleep at 7:45 last night. Yeah! I thought.... We woke her at 6:45... still so far so good....then she won't sleep until 11! Get her to sleep for an hour then it takes 1/2 hour of pu/pd to get her to sleep for her second nap which was again...4 hours later!!! She slept exactly an hour again. So now it's 5, she's just woken up and if today is any indication she won't be tired again until 9!!! Which throws us right off again!

I guess we just ride it out and keep trying for 3.5 hour awake times...

Sharon

[lil'monkey]

Well, today we had a 45min am nap and a 1.5 hr pm.

Michelle, do you think that I should keep these naps as they are?  I don't want to rob her night time sleep just so I can have 2 1.5 hr naps.  As dd goes to bed 7:30 and wakes 6-6:30 am with no fuss (except for a 4 am talkfest for 15 min and then back to sleep).   :roll:

[Meg's Mom]

Hi Girls!

Well I must say first off I am now in the same boat as you - so I guess I should be following my own advice!!  Except my LO is older so we may actually have to move to 1 nap.

One at a time:
Lil' Monkey - I would stick with where you are just now.  You had one 45min nap but previously had a couple of good nap days, so I would recommend you stay where you are and see how the next 2 days go.  If she continues (3 days in a row) w/ the 45min am nap you may want to test moving the time forward slightly and see if helps, but doesn't effect pm nap or bedtime.


Cazao – I think the same advice as I gave to Sharon – Mum to Ella Rose applies to you also.  So shoot for:

8am wake up (never heard such a thing, if it works for you don’t see any reason why not)
11am – 1hr (3hr A)
3.30 – no later then 5pm (3.5hr A)
9 bed – (4hrs A)

For the set nap times – I have read (Mindell, sleep consult for babycenter and author) that they should have set nap times at this age to help set their internal clock.  She doesn’t say much more but I found it helped us as they can really hide those sleep signs (as you all have witnessed).  When I first moved to set times, we would go to her room and I would think…she is not tired, she’ll never sleep.  But she did!  Put her on the changing table and she would start the eye rubbing – when we had none of that 2 mins ago!

Sharon – hang in there, we had a similar day so I can feel for you!  Let’s keep trying before making any more changes.

Everyone-
Now you can also play w/ these, push 1st nap to 3.5 and / or bed 3.5 to find what will work w/ your LO.  I know my LO likes her bedtime so even though she woke from her pm nap at 4.30pm (which she did today) she was fast asleep by 7.30.  Also, I am recommending waking them after 1hr for am nap to protect the pm nap and bedtime.  But if they start crawling, you may find they are more tired and can go back to the 1.5hr am nap and it won’t cause any harm.

Also give them the full hr to fall asleep - if they don’t then keep them up until the next nap time – how?…however you can: water play – outside for a good dose of fresh air (but not the stroller if they will fall asleep) – visiting friends or neighbor – favorite game - etc.  My LO will practice walking forever if I let her.

Lastly, are all of your babes falling asleep independently??

Hang in there and i am with you ... literately  :wink:

[Matthew's Mommy]

Hi there!  Sounds like a few of you have hit a few bumps, which, as Michelle mentioned, are developmental.  The suggestions that Michelle offered are excellent and will help you get back on track. 

I find that sometimes Brendan will have a short morning nap, but his afternoon nap is long (1.5 hours)  As long as they're getting a good afternoon nap in, I wouldn't worry.  Sometimes, as they become older infants, their morning nap will shorten a bit and their afternoon nap will stay the same. This is fine.. but I wouldn't go towards one nap just yet.  If they're past 11 months, then I would start looking at the one nap (haha Michelle!).

Also, sometimes older infants will throw in few 45 min. naps and then return back to longer naps. Usually this is developmental.

[Meg's Mom]

Cute Jane!  :roll:

[matt&chris mom]

Can I join this discussion? I need some suggestions.

Chris who will be 11 months in 4 days has had one nap per day for the last 5 days. He's fallen asleep at the same time for the last 3 days although I have had to physically hold him down while rocking because he wants to crawl away and play. He is taking about 45 minutes to fall asleep. I have previously been breastfeeding to sleep, but he is fighting this too. He isn't showing any sleepy signs. His nap times have gone from 1 hour and 15 minutes (5 days ago) to 2 hours and 45 minutes (today). I know I need to work towards laying him down awake but since we have 10 months of feeding to sleep I am trying to take it slow. I do try to breastfeed as part of the wind down but he only feeds for a minute or two. When he tries to crawl off my lap I just hold him and rock him. When he tries to keep crawling away I show him the crib and sometimes I put him in there for a few minutes and when he wants out I start rocking again and signing if he's crying. Once his eyes start drooping I slow down with the rocking and I just hold him until I know he will lay down without trying to get up. He will open his eyes and I will just kind of rock his butt a little until he closes his eyes again.

Is he definitely leaning towards one nap? He was previously taking two 45 minute naps up to an hour maximum. Every now and then he had a 2 hour nap. He's also teething and waking a lot at night.

He usually wakes anywhere between 6:30 and 7:30 AM. Any suggestions?

Minerva

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Thanks everybody... I think I will definitely play with the longer awake time in the am vs. pm as I just put dd down (8:15) and she pretty much went straight to sleep even though she was only up at 5. I know that's almost 3.5 hrs. but I thought it would be worse as she usually does 4. (oops I hear her..I jinxed it!  :lol: ) I think maybe 3.5 x3 like Mimi does would be best for us. It's just so hard to get her to sleep these past few days before 4 hrs. Though dh and I were just talking about how she has so few sleepy signs anymore! Just starts to look kind of "sullen." Like she just gets a slight scowl. So maybe I am just missing the signs or maybe she is truly fighting the nap due to everything going on. Either way time will tell.

And yes we are following the advice you previously gave and dd always goes down awake. (okay okay I held her once for a few minutes too long as it's the only time she actually snuggles!  :lol: ) No but seriously, we do put her down awake and she has been an independant sleeper for the most part. We've never fed her to sleep, rocked, jiggled, etc. In fact it took us awhile to realize half the time she just wanted us to get out of her face and give her some peace and quiet!  :lol:

I honestly don't believe dd will nap after 3hrs in the am but I sure we can figure it out and maybe even just going to a one hour nap in the am after a few days will help. If she only sleeps one hour in the aft. too we could keep our 11 1/2 hours overnight! (Glory be! heh heh)

Michelle so sorry about the irony of you now experiencing the same thing!!! And it really could mean one nap!! blargh....

Matthew's Mommy... welcome back and thanks for your input! It's most appreciated.

Sharon

[cazao]

thanks guys. i`ll try your suggestions michelle and see how that goes. i appreciate it... :lol:

[Matthew's Mommy]

Matt&Chris Mom-- Sounds like your little one is on the way to one nap.  The taking 45 min. to fall asleep is normal.  Good work at decreasing the feeding to sleep!  Sounds like everything is working well for you!

[MorganLeigh]

Just have to keep reminding myself that she needs more awake time! Morgan is 9 months btw. Im just so set from when it was every2 hours and she fell asleep so easily. I think her sleepy cues are changing which is making it more difficult. I guess I take the new "whine" and associate it with tired and I end up trying to put her to sleep for an hour to realize she isnt even tired yet. So I need to be trained it seems ha! She usually wake at 6:45 ( house is tiny and thats when DH gets up ) My biggest issue is getting her to sleep at 7:30 bc thats when DH gets home, she wants to wait and she knows he will be home soon, so she fights it. Im gonna have to start making him wait outside for a week I think. Because she hears him come home and stands right up and wants to play with daddy till 8:30 or 9..then getting up at 6:45 cranky. So after typing this I realize my issue is night sleep, guess that will lead to better naps. Ha! I may have fixed my own problem, we will see. Its just that today she woke up at 6 due to a poor nights sleep so I know naps will be a mess. Well I wanted to joint he topic and see how you gals we doing, Ill check back after a few naps!

[cazao]

hey morgan`s mom. we may have a too late bedtime too..dd gets up at 8amish and goes down 9/9.30pmish but i`m just reading `healthy sleep habits, happy child`, and although i refuse to listen to anything that doesn`t support BW-ing ( :lol: ) he does make a big deal of sleep and naps fitting in with baby`s circadian rhythms etc and there are `natural` times during the day for napping (mid morning and early afternoon) and early bedtimes allow babbies to sleep better. i watched dd today and she definitely showed sleepy signs about 10.30am (when strictly speaking i wasn`t going to put her down till 11am) and she`s having a lot more problems going down now we`re on this wierd late schedule. i thought it was due to teething, but now i think it may be the lateness as well. anyway, long story short, i`m going to bite the bullet and attempt the earlier routine suggested by michelle in this thread (waking her at 7am  :cry: ) and aim for a 7pm bedtime. i`m pretty sure that will help. jus re-read one of the BW chapters as well and Tracey refers to babies going to bed too late at this age and that causing problems. so the poor daddies get to miss out  :cry: ....and we get to have our evenings back  :lol: let us know how it goes for you....

[Meg's Mom]

Cazao: I'll be thinking about you when we get up at 7am too (hee, hee)  :wink: