9 month old napping in chaos, please help!

[tigerlily0302]

I am seeking advice or any type of help at all.  My son has always been a difficult napper, but about 2 or 3 months ago he finally settled into a very consistent routine of up at 7 a.m., nap at 8:30 a.m. for 1-1 1/2 hours, 12:30 or 1 p.m. nap (1-2 hours), 7 p.m. bed.  We moved 1 month ago, and a week after that, my son learned to get into a sitting position on his own, roll, and crawl all at once.  He slowly started shortening his naps and fighting them, and it has only gotten worse.  Now, if he naps, he only naps for 30 minutes and then wakes up, pops up on all fours, and sits up and starts crying.  I don't know what to do.  Finally, today, he fell asleep for a nap for a little over an hour at 10:38 a.m., but then I couldn't get him to nap for more than 30 minutes later in the afternoon.  Does he need to go down to just 1 nap?  Do I just need to change his nap schedule to something like 10 and 2?  I dont' rock him to sleep or anything.  Does his bedtime need to change?  Is he sleeping too much at night?

[Matthew's Mommy]

What does he daily routine look like now?

He's gone through some changes, which has thrown off his daily routine. I'm sure just a few tweaks are in order.

I'll check back!

[tigerlily0302]

For about a week when all this trouble started, we kept him on his regular routine (7 a.m. up,8:30 nap, 12:30 or 1 nap, 7 p.m bed), except an early bedtime if he did not nap.    Things did not improve at all, and he was missing several naps a week, so we tried a week having him go down at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. for naps, but kept the same wake up and bedtime (except tried for an early bedtime if he did not nap).  Still, we did not see improvement.  This morning he seemed tired at about 8:20 so I put him down, but as soon as I put him in his crib, he rolled over and  sat up (like he has been doing), and he fussed and cried and played for about 30 minutes and stopped seeming at all tired.  NOrmally I would let him be in bed for an hour, but I just couldn't do it today (I was just losing my mind), so I got him up after 30 minutes.  When I went to nurse him at 10, he began to fall asleep, so I quickly took him to his room and put him down, and he immediately began to cry.  Finally, at 10:38, I swaddled him (something I haven't done for several months), and he stayed swaddled except for one arm and slept for an hour...I think because he was forced to remain on his back--I heard him stir at 30 min but he went quiet right away.  When I tried for a nap again this afternoon at about 3, I tried to swaddle him again, but he broke out of it and rolled to his tummy and woke promptly at 30 minutes crying.  The past 2 nights we have also put him to bed at 7:45 instead of 7.  He usually sleeps with some music playing and a blankie (but he has lost interest in his blankie quite a bit the past couple weeks).  Also, he is not usually nursed or rocked to sleep, but I try to do some wind down with him of reading and cuddling...sometimes it is hard because he is very active and squirmy.

[tigerlily0302]

Thought I would add this info:
when he gets up at 7 a.m., i feed him nurse him right away, a little while later I give him cereal.  then I usually nurse again sometime between 10 and 11, depends on what naps are doing, and then give him some solids at lunch time.  THen he eats again usually between 1:30 and 2, and then again at about 5:30 or 6 with solids at that time.  I don't normally nurse him to sleep.

[Matthew's Mommy]

Alright, so let's look at a morning and afternoon nap.

If he wakes up at 7:00,  aim for a morning nap around 9:30.  Before you do his wind down routine, give him a pre-wind down routine-- take him outside for a little carry walk around the neighbourhood.  Something to calm him down-- low key activity.

When it's his nap time, after you wind him down, make sure he is going into his bed awake but drowsy. Give him time to settle himself down. Some babies need longer than others to settle.  I would encourage him to fall asleep on his own, but if he is upset and hysterical, by all means pat his back, and help him calm down in his bed.  And really, stick it out for the duration of one sleep cycle (45 mins) You want him to see that this is nap time-- a time for sleep.

For his afternoon nap,  aim to have it 3 hours from his morning nap wake up (ie, if he woke up around 11:00, then it would be around 2:00) or if it was a short morning nap (45 mins) then make it around 1:00 ish.

The thing is, you have to stick it out and commit to it.  He will fall asleep, and adapt to this routine, but you have to be prepared for the long haul. Setting naps can take 3 weeks. 

Hang in there..

[tigerlily0302]

thanks for the advice.  Actually the past couple days have been better. yesterday morning he napped about 45 min (9-9:45), but then in the afternoon he napped for an hour and a half (2-3:30). This morning he fell asleep at about 10 and napped an hour and a half, but then this afternoon i put him down at 2:30 (3 hours after he woke), and he fussed until 3:10, fell asleep and was up at 3:40.  Do you think I should have limited his morning nap to 1 hour, and that may have helped him sleep this afternoon, or should I just let him sleep as along as he will no matter what?

[Aarismom]

Hiya tiger

Not quite sure how old your lo is...by the sound of it he's over 9 months?

He may be starting the transition to 1 nap, so you'll want to try to keep his morning nap to 1-1.5 hours, I think. Depending on his age, the closer he is to 12 months or more, I would say the shorter the morning nap needs to be, as that's a normal time for transitioning to 1 nap.

You're doing great! Do a little dance and cheer, he's almost down to 1 nap

*HUGS*
Sonya =P

[Matthew's Mommy]

Hi there.. I'm going to contradict the last post.. sorry! :oops:

Just keep doing what you are doing.  You just made a change to his routine, so I wouldn't make any further changes. Keep it the same for 3 weeks (which is the length of time it takes for the circadian system to adjust).

Does his morning wake up time vary or is pretty much the same?

[tigerlily0302]

Hi.  Thanks for the advice.  His morning wakeup time is very consistently the same.  Actually if he does wake up early (usually not earlier than 6:30), I do not go to him, I let him continue having quiet time (he is usually content with this) until 7, so unless he is crying, I do not go to him until 7 a.m.  Most of the time he sleeps up until pretty close to this time.

Also, for the past 4 or 5 nights, he has not gone to bed until between 7:30 and 8 p.m.  This seems to be working well with him napping a little better.  Is 8 p.m. an ok bedtime, or should I move it back to 7 p.m.?

I am hopeful that things are going to get better.  White noise seems to be helping a lot too...we just moved from a house in the country to a house on a busy road and I think he was getting a lot of traffic noise.  I'll stick it out 3 weeks, not waking him up from his naps or anything and see how he settles into this routine and what the lenghths of his naps become consistently.  If the afternoon nap tends to stay short if he naps long in the morning after 3 weeks, do you think I should consider shortening his morning nap to just 1 hour?  I hate the thought of interrupting a nap when I never know for sure if he will nap well during his next nap....I really want him to get sleep when he is willing to sleep!

[tigerlily0302]

I was just curious, if it is common for babies this age to shift their schedule?  I mean is there a reason my son stopped wanting to nap at his usual 8:30 a.m. and 12?30/1 p.m.?  Things are going so-so.  Most morning naps are only about 35 min long and he wakes up crying HARD.  Afternoon naps are ranging from 35 min-1 hour and 35 min.  I haven't been able to get him to go down until 10.  He seems kind of tired at 8:30, but doesn't really seem tired enough to sleep, and I have been afraid to try putting him down early because I dont' think he will sleep any better. He then goes down again in the afternoon between 1:30 and 2.  I have tried moving his bedtime back to his usual 7, but he wont' go to sleep until 8 p.m.

[Matthew's Mommy]

As they mature, their bodies can take longer awake times etc.  Many changes are developmental, and related to their body clocks.