Does this sound about right for 7 month old?

[tiki_mama]

My DD currently has an ear infection and has a molar coming through so i've been trying and make her life easier for all of us by having plenty quiet days and trying to get her down for 2 cot naps each day if possible.

Anyway, as a result her routine has changed quite a a bit and i'm actually really happy with it, but the only thing is her bedtime has moved from 7pm to nearer 6pm (not necessarily a bad thing especially as she's quite poorly i know). if we manage to stick to this routine should she eventually be able to stay awake longer in the mornings and late afternoons so that her bedime moves back to closer to 7? It just seems like we are rushing her off to bed and as she gets older it would be nice for her to be up longer.

Here's the routine:

E: 7am (sometimes this routine will start at 6am)
A: 7.20am (oats or muesli at around
S: 9.15am (1.5 hours in cot)
E: 11am
A: 11.20am (lunch around 12)
S: 2.30pm (1.5 hours in cot) - this afternoon period is her longest awake time
E: 4.00pm
A: 4.20pm (dinner around 5.15, then bath)
S: 6.20pm

[*Natasha*]

This routine looks really good but at this age alot of babies can handle a 3hr awake time especially before bed. I noticed she has a 3hr awake time before her PM nap.
At 7months this is what our routine looked like:

E: 7am Bottle
A: 
E: Breakfast
S: 9.30am (1.5-2hrs)
E: 12pm Lunch
A:
E: Bottle
S: 2pm (1.5hrs)
A
E: 5.00pm Dinner
A: 6pm Bath
E: 6.30pm Bottle
S: 7pm

[tiki_mama]

that routine looks ideal. it's just she has difficulty with the A time in the morning and then before dinner. I know i should be trying to extend her A time gradually but with my lo if she gets overtired she has such a hard time getting to sleep 

i'll wait to see how she is when her ear infection clears up and see what we can do. thanks 

[becky1969]

I'm glad you posted this! My LO just turned 7 months, and I'm trying to figure out if I need to stretch A time again. We are consistently doing 2.5 hours, but I'm thinking in the PM that maybe he should be pushing closer to 3? One thing that's weird is my LO usually has his longest A time first thing in the morning. But lately bedtime has been weird, with him waking 30 minutes after I put him down -- before 6 months old, the time from bedtime to dream feed was his best sleep. Now I'm wondering if it's because his A time before bed is too short. Right now it's typically 2-2.5 hours before bed. Maybe it should be 3?

Here's our typical routine:

7 am Wake
7:30 E Bottle
Solids 8:30
A
S 9:30-11 (he never takes more than 1.5 hour nap in AM, and it sometimes will be 1hr-1hr15)

11:30 E Bottle
A
Solids 12:30
S 13:30-15:00/15:30 (this nap always at least 1.5 hours, and sometimes 2. The 2 naps almost always total 3 hours exactly! I don't know how the little stinker does it without a watch!  )

E 16:00/16:30 Bottle
A
S 17:00-17:30 (if wakes after 15:30 from prior nap, we skip this cat nap and go to be 30-60 minutes early)

Help mommy with dinner prep  , sit with mom & dad at dinner
Bath 18:30
Bottle 19:00
Bedtime ritual
Bed 19:30 (usually awake 2-2.5 hours here, depending on when he woke up, etc.)

Dreamfeed 22:30

[*Natasha*]

Hi Becky,

My suggestion to you is move the afternoon nap to 2/2.30pm and perhaps put him down a little earlier at bedtime if he can't handle the longer awake time. Just until he is use to the new routine and longer streches of being awake.

[becky1969]

Well, LO solved my problem for me! Turns out he can stretch to 3 hours of awake time, so now we've got a great schedule going with naps at 10 and 2:30. It always amazes me how he fixes things on his own! When he was about 5 months old, a nap moderator told me I should be shortening his daytime sleep. After 2 weeks of pulling my hair out b/c LO was getting overtired, he did it all on his own at 6 months. I'm learning to just wait for him to decide when the time is right! LOL!