aaarrrrgghhh!! my 8.5 month DS is driving me NUTS!!!!

[slammie]

Hi,
I have a very spririted boy who in the last few days started to roll around, stand up, and crawl around the crib when put down for his nap. Despite only 30 minutes of sleep this morning, and after 4 hours of A time, he still took 40 minutes to fall asleep for his PM nap..only because I lay him back down for like the 6th time. I don't believe this was due to being overtired..he actually had no signs of being tired but I was getting worried about how late it was getting so I put him down after 4 hours of A time.
I know this is normal for babies at this age, but my frustration stems from the fact that he has very long A times compared to the babies posted on here therefore by the time he settles down for his nap, his whole day gets pushed out so late.

Here is his typical routine:

W: 6am - stays in crib until 7
E: 7:15 - 6 oiunces
    8:30 - 4 ounces of solids
S: 9:30 to 10am (sleeps for 1.15)
W:10:45 to 11am
E: 11:00 - 7 ounces
    1:30 - 4 ounces of solids
S: 2:45 to 3pm (sleeps for 1.15)
W: 4:00
E: 4:15 - 6 ounces
    6:00 - 4 ounces of solids
S: 7:30

The last few days his activity time has gone to 4 to almost 5 hours!! .
Does this sound normal? Is it possible that he's trying to merge to only 1 nap??

[littleflump]

Hiya

Going through the same thing with 10.5 month old. Didn't realise over the weekend but she went 5 hours before her pm nap...I was mortified. I was busy with my parents and didn't realise at all that 5 hours had lapsed from when she woke from her am nap , AND she wasn't really that tired, but as soon as I took her up and in to her room she started yawning and was out within minutes......Only to wake up after 35 mins

I wonder if the time has come now to transition to one nap, and yes I started thinking that of my LO when she was around 8.5. Some LO's are just poor day sleepers and I think would benefit from just the one nap, I think my one is like that

Anyway no solutions to offer here but completely understand what you're going through.

xx

[Mom to M&M]

Slammie - your routine looks good to me and 1.15 naps aren't bad at all! I don't think he's trying to merge to one nap yet (although spirited babies often do that sooner than others) - more likely it's developmental - things like rolling, pulling up and crawling are HUGE nap culprits. I'd stick with your routine and hang in there and it should settle down soon.

[slammie]

Thanks so much for the advice and encouragement. Well two more days went by with him laughing and rolling on his stomach, sitting and trying to stand up in his crib..so I ended up going in there multiple times, putting him back down to sleep position and sternly telling him naptime. It made me feel upset to do that but it was taking over an hour for him to sleep. After a couple of days, I think he got the message and although he still tried to roll over, he was falling asleep in 10 minutes and doing his usual 1.15 for each nap.
Well, today, he was up for six hours this afternoon poor little guy. My mistake was he drifted off for 1 minute in the car before I could get him home and whenever he gets even a second of shuteye in the car, his nap at home goes out the window. He finally fell asleep while I was feeding him after rolling around in his crib for 2 hours. I was wondering if I should have kept him up until 6pm or so since he was not sleepy at all (probably that cortisol kicking in!!) and giving him a late capnap. I decided to let him sleep even though it was 4:30.

Is this what I should do if this happens again? Or keep him up until lets say 6 or so and put him down for nighttime? thanks!