Childcare and short naps

[FreddieEden]

It will be Daniel's four month birthday on Thursday and, combined with going to my work Christmas party and everyone saying that I would be back soon, that has made me realise how quickly the time is passing.  The original plan was to allow a month to stop breastfeeding at six months and put Daniel in nursery when he is seven months.  Quite apart from the fact that he won't take a bottle (another story), I just can't see how it is going to work with his short naps.  Yesterday he was very naughty and only took 3 45 minute naps so he was in bed by 6.30, 3 hours after the end of his last nap (though he did considerately drop off without any fuss and then slept through till 7 which is only the second time ever).  But nursery runs from 8 till 6 and isn't really compatible with a 6.30 bedtime.  My mother keeps saying that I'll never see him and he should take longer naps and go to bed later (easier said than done).

Do other people have experience of this?  Can I expect that at 7 months he will be able to sustain longer awake periods and have a later bedtime, even if he is still a 45 minute napper?  I have noticed a dramatic change as he nears the four month mark.  This whole going back to work business is very difficult.  Before I had Daniel I had no idea how much I was going to mean to one small person and how difficult it would be to leave hime (and we haven't even got into separation anxiety yet).  But I think I would be really unhappy as a stay at home mum, particularly with a non-portable baby who only sleeps in his cot, and in any case I earn quite a bit more than DH so it doesn't make sense.

Any thoughts?
Freddie

[Colesmom]

Hi Freddie- Quite a bit of change will take place over the next 3 months.  I would concentrate on working on his naps now, and concern yourself with his childcare schedule closer to the time.  The more time you invest now in improving his naps, the better able he will adjust to a new environment as he will be more well rested.  Could you please post your typical day so we can see how we might help you improve on his day sleep.  My first thought is that he should be on a 4 hour feed schedule.  Is this the case?  If you are still feeding 3 hourly then he doesn't have enough time to get in a proper nap.  Once we see his routine then we can advise on where to go from here.

[FreddieEden]

Hi there,

Well after all that, he has had a near perfect day today.  I don't dare to think that this is a permanent change (could be he is just catching up on all the sleep he hasn't got or end of a growth spurt or something).  But this is how today was and how I would like every day to be!  E tends to be fifteen minutes or so into A, just to allow time for a nappy change and chat as I like to encourage him not to be looking for food immediately he wakes.

6.50 wake (after a full 12 hours sleep with no feeds)
7am E
7-9 A
9 - 10 (ish) S
10.30 E
10 - 12 A
12 - 2.45 S
3 E
2.45 - 5.15 A
5.15 - 6 S
6.15 bath
6.30 E
7 bed (he isn't quite asleep yet but he is quiet).

He goes to sleep on his own for both naps and bedtime, has anything between 0 - 2 feeds in the night (2 more often than not).  He is a big boy, is breastfed and I don't really want to dreamfeed so I'm prepared to let him have the night feeds, though I try to keep them as short as possible so he will take more in the day.  I know he can resettle himself in the night if he wakes and isn't hungry because I have heard him do it.  I had a lot of success with extending his naps from about 8 to 12 weeks old using the dummy.  That stopped working, partly  because he has rejected the dummy in favour of his hand, partly because he kept seeing me and trying to interact and I think partly because he was ready to extend awake times so didn't need a longer nap at that point.  I've been trying gradually to extend awake times and seeing if he will resettle himself after 45 minutes which he does sometimes.  This is the first day in an age that he hasn't woken fully at the 45 minute point and had to get himself back down and the first day in an age that he has slept longer than the next 45 minute cycle.

Freddie