How Much Awake Time at 9 Months?

[M and N's Mom]

My DS is 9 months.  He has had 3 hours A time for a couple of months.  He dropped his catnap at 6 months, and has never been a fantastic sleeper.

For the past week or so, he has been hard to put down for naps, and even then only sleeps for 30 minutes most of the time.  I think we need to extend his awake time, but he really doesn't show sleepy signs much anymore so I'm having trouble figuring out what he can handle.

If anyone has had a lo who doesn't need a lot of sleep, would you share your routine at 9 months with me?

Thanks.

[Finns mum]

It's probably not much help, but I've kind of had to abandon the whole A timing and just base it on my 8 month old's needs each day. I usually put him down for his first nap after around 2 - 2 1/2 hours as he tends to get sleepy quite quickly in the morning. He'll then sleep for anything from half an hour to 2 hours. His afternoon nap then depends entirely on how much sleep he had earlier and his mood - sometimes if he's very sleepy, I'll put him down after a couple of hours A time, but if he's happy and awake, I sometimes won't give him a nap at all until after his afternoon feed. Again, sometimes I'll give him a cat-nap before bed, sometimes not, it just depends how sleepy he is. I started off sticking to routines religiously, but as he's got older, I've found I've just had to follow his cues and stop worrying about how much A/S time. I figure if he needs a sleep, he usually lets me know! 

[macsmum]

if its any help my ds 10 months can just about do 3 hrs of a time then he has to have an hour or sometimes nearly 2hrs

Emma

[* Paula *]

M and N's Mom,

Can you post your routine so we can have a look at it?

Thanks
Paula x

[M and N's Mom]

Well, here was our routine until last week:

7:30 Wake and BF
8:30 Solids
10:30-11:30 Nap #1
11:30 BF
1:30 Solids
2:40-3:45ish Nap #2
4:00 BF
5:30 Solids
6:15 BF
6:45 Bedtime

Now...he is refusing naps, and once we get him to sleep he only sleeps 30-45 minutes.  I really think he is ready for more Awake time but I'm having trouble reading him to know how much.  I know 3 hours is pretty long, but he has actually been at 3 hours for a couple of months.  Twice this week (today included) it has been 4 hours before I could get him to sleep.

[*Mona*]

hi there.

your routine looks very similar to our routine now, except for the morning nap which is usually 2 hrs, BUT my dd is 7 months today so 2 months younger than your LO.

of course all babies are different but I've seen many posts of moms with 9 or so month babies saying their LOs would be going from to 2 to 1 nap a day. so maybe that's what's going on now for you?

anyway, I'm sure Paula will help you on this

[* Paula *]

Is your lo going through any developmental milestones at the moment?  This could also cause short naps.

Our DS transitioned to 1 nap at around 11 months, but it could very well be that your lo may be ready to transition - I have heard of lo's as young as 9 months wanting to transition.

If you think that your lo may be ready for 1 nap I would move lunch closer to 11:30 and aim for your lo to be in bed for 12pm.  you could also offer a BF at 10:30 before lunch.

I would watch for your lo getting over tired, as you don't want this to happen as it can cause havock on the night time sleep.

Here is a link from the Naps board from transitioning from 2 naps to 1.

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=41952.0

HTH's

Paula x

[calebs mommy]

My son is also 9 months old.  I have found he can do 3 hrs before his morning nap and then about 3 hrs 15 mins- 3hrs 20 min before the afternoon nap.  Oh, and he does about 3.5-4 hrs before bedtime.  I know what you mean about not showing sleepy signs as well anymore.  They are just so busy at this age.  I have started to watch the clock to help gage his cues.  If I put him down before these times, he won't nap well.  If I were you, I would try just 5-10 min longer and see if that makes a difference.  Good luck to you!

[*Kimberly*]

My lo went through a period a couple weeks ago where he was really fussy at naps.  I thought he wanted to be up longer so I would extend his A time.  It turns out he wanted less A time.  He used to handle 3+ hours of A time and now he has backed down to about 2.5 hours.  I think it is because he is so active that he is tiring himself out.  Here is our routine.

7am Solids
8:30am Bottle
9:30-11:00/11:30am Nap
12pm Solids
1:30pm Bottle
2/2:30-4/4:30pm Nap
5pm Solids
7pm Bottle
7:30/8pm Bed

Hope that helps.

Kimberly

[M and N's Mom]

LOL!  These munchkins sure confuse us!  It is just trial and error I guess...Tink's lo needed less A time, Caleb's Mommy needed more A time!   

I think it must be more A time he needs as I haven't been able to get him to sleep before 3.5h-4h for the past couple of days!  I feel like I am spending every day trying to figure out when he is going to nap

Anyway, thanks for everyone's comments

[* Paula *]

Keep us posted on how you get on and what is working for you and your DS.

[M and N's Mom]

Is there a "best" way to extend A time?  What I mean is, since I'm having trouble reading his sleepy signs now, should I just pick a time on the clock and try for that?  Do I need to try the same times for a few days?

We have been at 3 hours awake time (at all 3 awake times during the day).  He still seems ok with 3 hours before bed, but seems to want more the first and second awake times.  BUT he either seems too awake (like I've tried too early) or overtired/overstimulated (like I've tried too late). 

Our wind down includes going into his room, closing the blinds, turning on the fan, and sitting in the rocking chair to sing a couple of songs.  Now all he does is stand up on my lap, climb around, etc.  What I can't tell is, is he not ready yet, or is he overtired?

Should I just pick a time...maybe 3 hours 15-20 minutes and keep trying that for 3 days before I give up and try a different time?

[M2L]

M and Ns Mom, our LOs are just about the same age and we are also in a period of transition with naps! 

Lindsay is not a big sleeper and she usually goes for 3.5 hours of A time before her morning nap.  I watch the clock and her cues.  Sometimes she will go down earlier and other times she will will go down a little later, but no more than a half hour each way.  On a typical day, she will start to tire around 8:40 am and so we start our nap wind-down and she is usually asleep by 9:02 am.  Seriously.  I could set my watch be her.  The nap is 1.25 - 1.5 hours long.  She may or may not nap in the afternoon. 

It might be easier if I do it this way, basing it on a 5:30 wake time:

5:30 am wake
6:00 am BF
7:15 am Breakfast
9:00 am nap
10:30 am wake and play for abit
10:45 am BF
12:30 pm Lunch
2:45 pm BF
4:30 pm Dinner
5:30 pm Bath
5:45 pm BF and wind-down routine
6:30 pm Asleep in crib
10:00 pm DF

If she does nap in the afternoon, she usually dozes for abit around 2:30 pm, and then I bf her after that when she wakes up.  As a rule, she does not sleep more than 13 hours in a 24 hour period.  On the odd day that she wakes later from a morning nap, I skip the mid-morning BF and go straight to Lunch (she just eats more solids).

HTH.

Francyne

[*Kimberly*]

I think the easiest way to do it would be to pick a time, say 3 hours from when he wakes up and try it.  If he does not seem tired then the next time you could try for 3 hours and 15 minutes from when he wakes up.  I would also watch what he is doing around the time you start his winddown so that once you know you have the right amount of A time you have some idea of what his cues might be.  It wasn't until I did that, that I began to notice some sleepy cues that I had been missing.  Does that make sense?

Kimberly

[jumblebox]

Our DS is 8mo 1wk, but he's been always had a longer awake time than others. (He's extremely spirited.) For a long time, his A time was around 3 hrs each. BUT, he rather abruptly decided he wanted longer A times. Our eating schedule is waaay out of whack, but here's an ideal day of wake/sleep:

6:00am: wake
9:30 - 11am: 1st nap
3pm - 4:30pm: 2nd nap
7:30pm: start bedtime
asleep by 8pm

Usually, if he wakes significantly early, he'll extend one of his naps by 45 mins. But basically, his awake times are 3.5, 4, 3.5 hrs. Two 1.5 hr naps, about 10 hrs at night. (All adjustable by morning wake time.)

That 4 hrs awake is killing me!!