nap and sleep times have all gone wrong-please help

[earls]

Hi ladies
this is the first time i have posted although i always read through the posts but now i really need some help
my little boy Arjun is 9months and 2 weeks old
he previously slept like a dream, 7-7 at night and took 3 wonderful naps
he had started fighting his catnap so i dropped it!this a few months ago but he has started taking short naps now
in the morning he sleep okish for 30-45mins, its the afternoon one that has me stumped
i have to pick up my older son from school at 3.30 and leave the house at 3, so i would like for Arjun to sleep at 12.30ish for 2 hours, which then gives me time to give him his bottle before we leave for the school run
he goes down fine, but is waking anywhere between 30mins to an hour later and wont go back to sleep. i have tried pupd, but this rattles his case so usually its pat ssh etc
now..if he wakes at 1.30 he is obviously ready for bed no later than 6.30, i've tried and it eneds up in tears, but then he is also now waking up anywhere between 5 and 6, usually 5
he goes down for his first nap at 9ish whatever time he wakes as i try and stick to the schedule,then his 2nd nap at 12.15 to 12.30
if i leave it any later then i'm worried if he wants to sleep longer he wont be able to as i will have to wake him
i am really at a loss what to do
he is a reflux baby too so is grouchy anyway:o)
any advice would be greatly appreciated

Earlie(UK) and Arjun-9months and 2 weeks

[earls]

could i also add that he now wakes up quite a few times in the night too where he used to sleep straight through
i gave up the df when he was about 6.5 months old
i try and pat ssh back to sleep at nights but he usually gets really upset until i pick him up so i don't think he is having enough sleep

[Meg's Mom]

Sorry you r having trouble:

can you post your schedule like this:

E
A
S/Y

and then add in your notes for your school run.

I'll check back.

[earls]

hi there
here goes:
E-7.00(milk) even though he gets up earlier
Breakfast at 7.45
A-8.00-8.40(playing with big bro)
school run at 8.45, back home for 9
S-9.00(30-40mins)
E-small snack at 10
A-10.11.15(paying with toys, floor play etc)
E-11.15(lunch)
A-12.15ish
S-12.30ish(anything from 30mins to an hour or so)
A-when he is up!
E-2.30(milk)
school run at 3.00
back at 3.50ish
E-4.30
A-4.30-5.45
E5.45-small amount of milk as can't drink the whole lot in one go due to reflux
A-bath time, massage etc
E-rest of milk
S-6.30ish

he then can proceed to wake at 10.30ish(sometimes)
usually wakes between 1.30 and 2.30 most definately
then again at around 4, then again at 5 at which point he either wants to get up but i dont get him up, or sometimes will babble for an hour then fall back asleep at which point i have to wake him at 7.00 but i haven't really then slept from around the 2.30 mark!
thanks for your help

[Meg's Mom]

Happy to try to help -
I think you will need to attack this on several fronts:
1) the night wake - I am not a night waking Mod, but maybe they will have some ideas...it could be his nightwaking is due the lack of day sleep and then picking him re-enforces that waking.  Also look at 9mo growth spurt and hunger.

2) the early waking (i'll send you a PM on this topic) but pick a time to start the day and don't get him up any earlier.  Between 6am - 7am.

3) schedule and awake times: i think your short naps are caused by the short awake times.  It's like i have only been awake a short time, so i am will only need to sleep a short time.

I am going to assume he puts himself to sleep w/o any props for naps and night sleep...correct?  At his age he should be doing between 2.5 and 3.5 hrs of A time between waking, 1st and 2nd nap respectively.

To fit in your school run, I would try some thing like this:
E-7.00(milk) even though he gets up earlier
A-
9.15 small snack
S-9.30 (no more then 1hr)

E-11-11.15 lunch
A-
S-1.30 (hopefully till 3.00)

not sure what you can do about snack maybe bottle in the car if he can hold it himself??

I hope this helps.  Let us know how you get on.

[earls]

hi
thanks for the advice
i am going to try this
i was thinking maybe it was the short a times that were the problem but he seems so tired, so i'm going to try and extend his A time a little each day
he can hold a bottle but will only mess, so i'll have to think about this one
he doesnt drink much at this time anyway so maybe i can think of an alternative
he does sleep indepentently most of the time
he needs a little pat ssh sometimes but generally goes off after moving around his cot a few times and ends up sleeping back to front with his bum in the air  :lol:
maybe after a few days he will be able to stay upa  little longer
thanks again

[Meg's Mom]

good luck, i was thinking about your snack time problem...are in the US?  Babies R us has a bottle that might work (they only need to hold the nipple which my LO could do very early on)...hard to describe, i used it a few times when in a pinch.  If you are interested i'll get you the name of it.

[earls]

thanks, that would be great if you could give me the name of the bottle
thanks again for all your help
he acutually napped really well today(a bit too well i think, over 2 hours but i let him as he's not slept well in  a while. He didnt quite make 1.30 but slept nearer to 12.45 which is still better
he was then a happy baby in the evening as he wasnt overtired.
he did play up a little at bedtime. but went down on his own after about 20mins
fingers crossed for me please

[earls]

please please could you also send me a PM on the early waking situ
thank you so much again

[Jujuyanni]

Dear Megs Mom,

My DD is doing very similar things but she is 6 1/2 months old.  I am also interested in the PM on early wakes as I think once I get this sorted may help for the day to start better.

Would appreciate it.

JUJUYANNI  :oops:

[thitz]

Earls, I had an idea about the feeding.  Why don't you feed him once you get to the school?  Then once you have your other child in the car or while your waiting for him you can feed the bottle.

Tarri

[Meg's Mom]

here is the hands free bottle, not the exact one i used - this is better i think.

http://www.bonnybabies.com/pacifeeder.htm

PMs on the way to you both   

PS: good idea Thitz!

[earls]

thanks for the advice!
i will try and get him to have his bottle at school, i leave a little early as its a nightmare to park so i am usually there 20 mins earlier so i could feed him then!
god, why didnt i think of this earlier
i am also going to have a look at the link for this special bottle as this would help thing greatly too
thank you so much

[earls]

hi ladies
just wanted to give you an update on the napping/sleep situ
i have shortened his morning nap and extended A time between this and his afternoon nap, and for the past few days, hes been sleeping really well so thanks very much for the advice...well apart from last night when he had me up a lot:o) but i think this is due to his reflux
i have been putting him to sleep at around 1ish, before it was 12ish and this also gives me time to give him his bottle before the school run
once i get this bottle you advised on, i can put him to bed a little later and he can have his milk on the way so thank you so much again for your help