9 MO Nap Schedule

[mommykate]

Hi! I was wondering if someone could tell me if this schedule is o.k. My daughter is 9 MO, has just started crawling and is also teething right now - which I think has alot to do with the funky schedule. We have been using Tracy's methods for about 2-3 weeks and things are going really well  - except Maggie's nap schedule is kind of wacky, she also gets up at 5 A.M. which doesn't really bother me. Anyway here is her schedule:

     5-530 - Wake up
     545 - BF
     630 - breakfast
     630 - 730 playing
      730 - 8 nap for 1 - 1 1/2hours
      8 - BF
      10 - nap for 1 - 1 1/2 hours
      12 - lunch
      130 - 2 - nap for 45mins to an hour
      3 - BF
      5- Dinner
      7 - Sleep

Is this enough sleep? Is this schedule OK? I'm a bit confused and want to make sure she's getting enough sleep.
Thanks a bunch.
     
     

[Mom to M&M]

I think part of the reason she is waking at 5 am is because she is overtired. And yes, crawling and teething definitely affect naps!

In order to not reinforce the early wakings and short naps, you ideally want that first nap not to start until 9am. But don't extend it all at once - I'd try 8am for 3 days, then 8:15 for 3, then 8:30 for three, etc. Ideally she'd sleep from 9-10:30. Then you want second nap to start between 1:30 and 2 - and you can let her sleep a full 2 hours if she can/will. At her age she should definitely be able to handle 3 hours A time (my DD is 9 months and one week and goes between 3-3.5 hours awake).

[mommykate]

She's super hungry when she wakes at 5 - should I BF then put her back to bed? Here's the other thing, she usually wakes first at 4 - then hubby shhh's her  back to sleep and she sleeps until 5...You are right though, she is definately tired. Today She started nap 2 at 10 and is still asleep now at 11:36.

[Mom to M&M]

I wouldn't feed and put right back to bed - in my mind that only reinforces early wakings - if she can wake early and go right back to sleep, why should she even want to sleep later? Can you add in extra calories throughout day? Cluster feed at night? Why doesn't she have anything after dinner and before bed?

[mommykate]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I forgot to add that I do BF right before bed after her bath, and she does eat some snacks during the day. I think that starting this routine coincided really closely with teething. Does anyone know how much a 9MO should be sleeping in total?

[Mom to M&M]

Of course all LOs are different but I think the average at 9 months is about 14 out of 24 hours. My LO probably gets between 13.5-14 most days.