My baby has decided not to nap anymore. HELP

[baygirl500.]

I have a 8 and ahalf month old baby girl who is on the 4 hour easy routine. She has been an angel baby throughout her life and is now not wanting to be put down for naps. I understand that she is trying to get out of her little cat nap in the evening (her third nap around 5:00 in the evening) but she just doesn't want to go down for her morning or afternoon nap at all. She screams and screams. I don't rush in right away because she is tired and needs to sleep. But she seems not to give in anyways.  v :roll: 
This all seemed to happen in a weeks time. She ended up with a slight cold and was having a hard time breathing when she laid down. So I would go in and pick her up so that she could drain her mucous down her throat. She is a baby that never woke up until morning after you laid her down at night.  I am tring to lengthen her play time as she is starting to try and crawl, as well as teething. I think that her true personality is trying to shine now that she can scream LOL. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.
Here is her routine:

7:00 - 7:45 wake
8:00 feed cereal and BF
9:00 - 9:30 was napping
10:00 - 10:45 wake up
12:00 lunch of solid food and BF
1:00-1:30 nap (was napping again
2:00 - 2:30 wake
3:00 Now trying a 4 ounce bottle to give her more liquids (hard stools)
4:00 - 4:30 solid food and BF
7:30 bath and wind down time
8:00 BF and bed  (sometimes I switch the bath and feed time around because sometimes she is so tired that feeding her before bed calms her down)


She used to have a nap at 5:00 - 5:30 for about 30 minutes to 45 minutes.
 :lol:

[Aarismom]

Have you tried extending wake time? Mine is almost 8 months and she's up for about 3 hours before the morning nap and about 3 hours and 15 mins for the afternoon nap. No cat nap. 6-7 pm bed time.

Recently mine started shortening her naps, and I begun to keep her up a little longer. That seemed to solve the problem...or it could be that she's hit a growth spurt. Usually right before a growth spurt she doesn't sleep a whole lot.  Could this be a possibility as well?

Just some thoughts...

*HUGS*
Sonya =P

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

Hello, welcome to the boards!

I've had a look at your schedule, and the first thing that jumps to mind is that (and don't shout at me here :wink: ) she may well be overtired, which could explain the screaming at naptime. It looks like (and please correct me if I'm wrong) she gets two naps a day, both around 1 hour, and sleeps between 8pm-7am. That's 13 hours of sleep, which (if you look at this http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/typical-hours-of-sleep-for-ages-1-week-to-6-years-vt3195.html ) is not bad, but it depends on the baby. I know my ds needs a lot more than this. Also, there is no sleep between 2.30pm-8pm, which is too long for a lo to be awake at this age. Perhaps if you can extend her existing naps, or try to reintroduce the catnap, she may become more rested and relaxed overall.

What is your wind-down routine for naps? Has it changed at all? Unfortunately, things like colds, learning to crawl, etc, can all upset good sleepers, and it's something we have to ride out (believe me, I have personal experience of this :roll: ).

Have you had a read of Tracy's sleep interview? It doean't take long to download, and it's really useful, packed with loads of great hints and tips on what to do:
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/a-special-sleep-interview-with-tracy-hogg-vt3186.html

Here are a few other links which may help you:
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/wake-to-sleep-for-naps-vt43311.html
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/teaching-6mos-to-overcome-45min-naps-vt34567.html

HTH

[baygirl500.]

Thanks so much for your input. I am trying to extend her playtime, but of course I over did it yesterday and she was back to the 45 minute naps. I did download the Tracy HoGG nap routine (extending naps) so I am hoping to try and achieve that goal during this week. Hopefully it happens fast. LOL
I didn't even realize that there was a a way to extend her naps and get her to go back to sleep after she gets up too soon. I hope that it works.
I will let you know after today how it goes.

Erin

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

Good luck

Keep us posted!

[baygirl500.]

Well I finally have the time to go on the computer, so I will fill you in on my last week.
My LO finally broke a tooth on the 27th and is still almost crawling. I tried to extend the naps for a whole week but it didn't seem to work, so I let her get in a 1/2 hour to 45 minute nap in the evening. She wakes up happy and is still going to sleep for 11 1/2 to 12 hours at night. I guess she just isn't ready for the two big naps. Does anyone else have a baby this old that still has the three naps? Is this normal?

Thanks,
Erin

[Colesmom]

Hi Erin,

My DS is nearly 9 months old and still has a catnap.  I tried to get rid of it a month or so back and it backfired completely resulting in horrible night sleep (waking every hour on the worst nights).  Currently he has a 45 min. am nap, a 1:15-1:30 afternoon nap (usually need to extend from 45) and a 30 min. catnap.  The catnap has pushed his bedtime later than I would like (to 7:30 from 6:00-6:30) but he really seems to need it.  When I dropped the catnap he was going to bed at 6pm and getting up at 5am!  Anyway, wanted to let you know not to rush dropping the catnap.  Even if all you can get is 20-30 to help them make it through the last hour. HTH

[baygirl500.]

Thank you so much Traci.  Our kids are exactly the same age, isn't that neat!It is nice to hear from other moms who are going through the tough times as well as the great times with their kids.
I have heard so many kids lose that late cat nap at such a young age, that I thought maybe my LO  needed too as well. But she seems to being doing much better now that I am letting her have it in the PM. She sleeps great at night right now(knock on wood)  
I will have to keep an eye out for you on the boards so that we can chit chat about our kids.

Thanks so much,
Erin