Short naps for 10mo DS

[bwatson05]

Hi! I'm new to BW. My DS is 10mo and he sleeps great at night. Did successful sleep training and he sleeps from 7-7:40. My problem is his naps. According to BW, he should be sleeping for 1 1/2-2hrs twice a day. He wakes right at 45min. I'm sort of confused as to what time I should lay him down for both naps and how to extend them. I'm also trying to do four hour EASY. I'm not sure if I'm doing it right. Here's my schedule:

7:40 wake and BF
8:40 solids(4oz)
9-A
10:30-10:40 - wind down
sleep within 5-10min
wake up at 11:15 (instead of 12)
at this point, he wants to BF
11:30or 12 BF
12:30 or 1 solids (5oz)
1-2:30 A
S 2:30 -4 (actually 3:15)
3:15 -4 BF
dinner 5:30 solids/water (6+ oz)
6:30 wind down and then bed

I really don't know how to space am and pm naps. Also, yesterday I had to do PD for 1hr and 10 min. I let him sleep for twenty minutes and woke him up at 4:25. He barely made it to 6:30 wind down and 7 bed. During PD, he keeps standing up after I lay him down. He alternates between crying and just looking at me wanting to be picked up. Towards the end, he would lay himself down in anticipation of me doing it. It was sad. Please help. I  did sleep training because he was nursing every 1 1/2 hrs at eight months. Nighttime is fine. I'm confused about 4hr EASY and nap lengths.

[Taylor's Mommy]

HI There and welcome to BW and EASY.  It has been a lifesaver for our family and I'm sure you too will find success! 

First, which book are you reading?  Do you have The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems?  If so, I will point you to the pages that give in great detail the 4 hour easy program and PU/PD for a baby your age.  If not, I will give you as thorough of a synopsis as possible.

Let me know and we will go from there.

Thanks!

[Meg's Mom]

Hi and welcome to the boards.  Congrats on getting rid of the prop and starting EASY!!  Not easy i know, but well done.

My LO is a reformed 45min napper many times over and i have always found at this age the short naps can be fixed by increasing awake times.

Typical A times for a 9-12 mos are:
2.5-3.0 hrs from waking and nap 1 and 3.0-3.5 from end of nap 1 to start of nap 2.

Your A times look within this range, but if he is taking the short nap then i would recommend you gradually increase his A times (15min every coupld days) until the short naps go away.

My LO was never able to do the full nap time times that BW recommends, other reading i have done has stated naps more like 1.0-1.5hr if under 12mos (1hr and no more for 12+ mos) for am nap and 1.5-2.0 for pm nap.

I would also shave some of that time off his night sleep, you must take the sleep as a total.  12.50 hrs at night doesn't leave a lot of time for day sleep if 14hr is the total for the day.  He maybe robbing peter to pay paul (petter is day and paul is night).

I hope that helps!  If not clear, just let me know.  Also have a look at the EASY forum for sample scheudules at  this age if you are unsure about your schedule.  Once he is tired enough you shouldn't need to do pd  :wink:

[HeatherC]

I have some thoughts, but I'd first like to know if he is tired or cranky before nap time.  I'll go ahead and mention to possibilities:
1.  My 10 mo old goes down for first nap 2.25-2.5 hrs from when I get her up.  She takes a few more minutes to fall asleep, but then sleeps 1.25-1.5 hrs.  If your little one is overtired by naptime, this may be why he's not sleeping longer.  And, if he's not rested enough from the first nap, he'll have a hard time sleeping during the second.
2.  However, as the other poster mentioned, he is getting alot of night time sleep, but it may be because he is tired from the day.  I think it might help, as stated, to slowly decrease his night sleep (say in 15 min increments).  He might be sleeping less for the am nap because he is not tired enough.  I would suggest to keep the same am nap time, but either get him up earlier in the morning or put him down later for night time.  That being said, it will be hard for a little while b/c I'm sure he's exhausted at night and ready for bed.  But, once you can sort out the night time sleep length, his am nap should improve, and thus his pm nap will also improve.  I believe it's a related cycle.