Please help me out here

[allyson]

My 8 month old takes the WORST naps. she is never tired during the day and can go for long streaches. I ma so tempted to keep her up until she yawns or shows me tired signs. I feel like I am fighting a battle getting her to take naps. I have tried everything.. and even taken logs to compare one day to the next.

my mom watched her and that day she woke at 7:30 and she just watched her closely and at 11:30 she yawned and fell right asleep and slept for 1.5 hours and then took another catnap at the end of the day. this was the ONLY time she has taken a long nap./

they are usually 35 minuted know matter what I do. wake to sleep, leave her to see if she'll put herself back to sleep. anb I am going insane. She used to take 3 45 min naps with an occasional 50 min one and now she is totally changing.

I feel like I have no control of her schedule and I am so afraid of her getting overtired that I think I am jumping the gun and putting her down when she is not tired enough.

I am so frustrated and don't kinow what to do. I cannot even schedule my day around it because she is all ove the place.

is she one of those babies that needs nore Atime and one big nap? or what . she is a great night sleeper and usually does 12 hours.

I really do not know what to do, but I am tired of stressing over it and I know she is trying to tell me something and I can't figure out what she is doing. any help would be great

[Meg's Mom]

First, let me say i hear your frustration!  I am going to email one of our other nap mods who has a 9mo old, she may have some very recent experience that may help.  Also, i remember very clearly have nap trouble at this age (again, i might add!).  It is very important to give this age lots time to settle themselves in the crib.  I was winding her down too much and she entering the stages of sleep in my arms, hence not able (didn't know how) to sleep longer as she move from one sleep cycle/stage to another.

It would be helpful to know:
-what A times are you trying to put her down?
-does she fight naps or fall right asleep?
-what does your nap wind down look like?

The fact that she took a long nap for your mom is very, very interesting!  What happened when you tried to repeat this?

I know this nap thing can be so, so frustrating!

[Taylor's Mommy]

Hi There! 
Like Michelle said, please post your routine so we can get a better idea of what's going on. 
8-9 months have been really challenging for us as well and we did a lot of tweaking to finally find what seems to work most days, which is limiting her am nap to 1 hour and then we get a 1.15-1.5 hour pm nap.  The equation for your lo may be different, so at this time it may take some patience, but what have you got to lose right? 
Currently Taylor's A time is 3 hours in the am and roughly 3.5 in the afternoon (she has been at this A time for the last 2 months).
I'll check back tomorrow...Hang in there!

[allyson]

Hi guys thanks for reading and replying. her day looks like this.

awake at 6-6:30am
bottle 6oz
cereal 8:15
bottle 9:30ish
nap after bottle (I do not feed her to sleep she falls asleep in her crib. she is a very active baby so she will only take her bottle when a bit tired)
usually awake 30-40 minutes after (if falls asleep easily) or sometimes fights going to sleep.
Activity
solids at 12 noon
bottle at 1:30-2ish
nap for 30-40 minutes again if falls asleep easily, if not takes a while to get down
activity
solids at 4ish
bath
bottle
bed at 6:20ish (since her naps are so short she needs a early bedtime)

If I put her down at 4:30ish for a catnap and bedtime is a bit later she night wakes. When I put her down at 6:20ish she sleeps for 12 hours straight.

The day my mom had her she woke at 7:30am and my mom kept her up until she yawned and put her down at 11:45 believe it or not and she slept  for 1.5 hours and then took a catnap in the afternoon at 4.

I know she is waking at the 40 min mark and I have tried to help her throught it and I am just stimulating her  by doing so. Yesterday I just left her there and she put herself back to sleep after a bit for 15 min or so.

My main thing is she needs a schedule nap times so her biological clock can adjust and have good quality sleep. having trouble.
She has been teething for  a while now and I know this can disrupt things, but regardless she needs to nap.

any help would be great.... thank you so much.

sincerely, a very perplexed mommy

[allyson]

We have made progress. I have made set times for naps and that is what we are sticking with 9-9:30 and 1-2ish. depending on wake time in the morning.

I used to give her a bottle to wind her down or rock her with her pacifier and I think those things were just stimulating her. she would fight me and try to not go down for a nap and I would take her out of her room and try again later. then getting overtired. and the cycle would keep going and then she would take a short nap

now I bring her up. read her a book change her diaper and put her in her crib with her blanket and pacifier and leave. the first day she fussed and then cried for about 20 minutes and I went in and checked on her.

today I brough her up read her a book and put her in her crib and left. she wined (not cried) for 10 minutes and fell asleep

and it has been 50 minutes and she is still sleeping.........

being older (8 months) I think she wanted to put herself to sleep and I was interfearing. cool with me. I will stick to this new scheduld and decide when naps start and finish . not leave it up to her. I think she needed the guidence and opportunity to do it herself. we will see how it goes. so far so good...

[Meg's Mom]

Sounds like a good plan - I found another post that i wrote on exactly this plan when my LO was this age...i you may find it helpful.


https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=51763.msg358104#msg358104

Let us know how you get on.

[allyson]

thanks for that. that is exactly what I am doing now and it is helping tremendously. her am nap today was 1.25 hours and her afternoon was 40minutes so Imay have to work on that one. but her total sleep was 14 hours so maybe that was all she needed. I may tweek the afternoon nap. she did 9:15 and 1:45 today so maybe I'LL extend little by little and see if that helps hertake a longer nap.

thank you for that email

[Taylor's Mommy]

Congratulations Allyson on your progress so far!  Please let us know if the success continues