What do 1hr. 15 min. naps mean?

[Liam and Shane's Mommy]

I'm still battling the occasional 30 min. nap with my 8 mos. old.  His A time is about 2 hr. 20.  Lately though he seems to be mixing it up with an hour and 15 min. naps which don't get me wrong is way better than 30 min. but he still wakes up cranky.  Anything less than 1hour and 30 and its not enough.   Its impossible to get him back down as it seems to have been just enough sleep so he won't go back down.  Is it that he's waking up right after coming out of deep sleep in second sleep cycle and this is just normal for him?

Is it time to up the A time yet again?

We're also in a transition from 3 to 2 naps which is quite frustrating.

[Aarismom]

Hmm...

My lo is up to more like 3.5-4 hours of "A" time at 8.5 mo...but that may be too much. However, when we try to put her down earlier, she does the 40 min nap thing all the time, or she fights her nap, which tells me she needs to be up later. We're still playing with it to figure out the "formula" for her at this point, so I wouldn't go by that number

Anything 1 hr. plus is usually considered "restorative"...but quantity of sleep doesn't necessarily mean quality sleep, which may be why you get a cranky baby. But that's beside the point...finding a magic "A" time number where your lo gets quality sleep even if it's a short nap is like finding a needle in a haystack.

It sounds to me like your lo is right on the edge of needing to increase "A" time. Try increasing 15 mins and see if that helps. I know that transition is hard. Some days they need that 3rd nap, some days they don't. When you get "A" time closer to three hours, you'll be able to throw out that 3rd nap completely.

Well, gotta go--sounds like my lo is still struggling with 40 min naps...I'll be darned if I can find the "A" time number for her at this point...guess I'll try 3.75 hrs and see if that helps. Maybe some other mom's can chime in?

*HUGS*
Sonya =P

[momtoelise]

I don't have any great advice - just wanted to let you know you're not alone! 

We've also been trying to transition out of the catnap - down to 2 naps/day.  It seems like most days, we end up needing the 3rd one though, due to the first 2 being too short.  The last couple days, dd has also not been settling well for her naps like she used to - so...  I guess I will try extending A time & see if that helps!

Good luck - I know it can be frustrating!!

[Taylor's Mommy]

Totally second Sonya!  With regards to dropping the 3rd nap, I actually just posted that it wasn't until we were up to 3 hours A time that we could FInally drop that darned 3rd nap.  Also, I do agree that he is probably ready to go to the next stage of A time.  I have always found that a shorter A time in the am and a longer one in the pm is very helpful.  So now Taylor is at 3 hours A time in the morning and 3.15-3.5 hours in the afternoon.

And to answer your question, yes, 1 hour 15 is them coming out of deep sleep from their second sleep cycle.  When you say he wakes cranky, is he cranky just for the first few minutes, and then happy, or cranky for the rest of A time?

[mom2william]

I can't offer much advice, either, but I'm so glad you posted about this!  I'm having the same problem with my 9 1/2 month old.  Lot's of days he only sleeps for 1hr/1hr. 15 min. in the afternoon and it is DEFINITELY not enough as he is tired 2 hours later but is too old for the 3rd nap!  It's so frustrating!!  I agree with Sonya in that it is like looking for a needle in a haystack to find that "magic" time they should be awake.  I feel like I've never come up with it for my DS.  :x  Hope you can figure it out soon...I sure hope I can!

Suzanne

William born 3/23/05

[Liam and Shane's Mommy]

Thanks for everyone's responses I guess we need to move closer to the 3 hr mark.  I'll start with 2 1/2 or so and go from there.  Somedays its really frustrating as he never naps at the same time every day.  It makes me wonder if I shouldn't just pick a set time for naps and stick with it.  Right now we're on a routine but he rarely wakes up the same time each morning.

Maybe I''m imagining things but when I see people post schedules for their babies I imagine that their lol keeps pretty close to what they've printed.  I feel like I couldn't write mine out as its different every day.