Overtired baby but ....

[arial]

I do not know how to avoid it!.  My LO has dropped his catnap for the past two weeks and he has really had a hard time with just having two naps.  In the past few weeks, I have had to tailor his schedule to try to prevent having an overtired baby, but no matter what, I still end up with an overtired child almost everyday. 

I have been trying to extend his A time to three hours so that he can last until his bedtime, but extending A time has been quite difficult for him.  Prior to him dropping his catnap, his A time was between 2 hours to 2 1/2 hours.  His A time now is between 2 hrs and 45 min to 3 hours, but by the time he goes for a nap he is overtired and he is only able to nap for 20-30 min.  We attempt to put him back to sleep and sometimes he is able to sleep 1 more hour, but other times he wakes up 20 minutes later. 

I have also moved his bedtime earlier.  I used to start bedtime routine by 6PM but now I started at 515PM.   Before, he would fall asleep between 7PM to 730PM but now he usually falls asleep between 6PM to 630PM.  Despite this change in bedtime, he sometimes is to overtired to fall asleep on his own (then I have to rock him to sleep).  When he is overtired, then I have multiple wakings at night that basically exacerbate the problem even more.  If he does not wake much through the night, then he wakes up 2 hours earlier than his wake up time and falls asleep right at his wake up time. 

As you can all see the schedule is a mess and I do not seem to prevent him from being overtired.

This is how my schedule supposed to look like (it gets tailor depending on how he is doing)

6Am -Wake up, eating solids and milk
845AM or 9AM to 1030AM - Nap1
1030AM - Milk
12 noon - Solid
130PM to 3PM - Nap 2
3PM - Bottle
4PM - Solid
515PM - Bedtime routine and gets to bed before 6PM, but may fall asleep between 6Pm to 630PM

HELLLLLPPPP.................  Anyone has any suggestions?  I am really pulling my hair.  My mom wants me to quit work so that I can help my son with his sleep.

[Jaime]

just a thought - neither of my kids could ever handle more than 2 hrs before their first nap.  their other A times could be longer, but not that one. 

[brightside]

Did your LO drop the catnap himself? Is there anyway you can reinstall it until he can handle longer A times? If not, I would just go with a super early bedtime or reduce A times again until he gets back on track. Then keep working on the A times by just 5-10 mins every 2-3 days. I would just avoid at all costs an overtired baby because you can easily get stuck in a vicious circle where A times get even less because they are tired from not napping well.

Remember an early bedtime doesn't always mean an early wake.

[Missy Lou]

hello again.  i can't believe joshua is already 8 months. 

i'm with jaime.  what about cutting the a.m. A time down a little? 

melissa

[andibig]

arial
i know when DD first cut her catnap she could sometimes be in bed for the night and asleep by 5.30pm  with a wake up of 6am.she could never manage a long awake time b4 her am nap but could manage longer later in the day.
just a note to your mom.any transition with naps (ie cutting down the numbers) takes time.its about giving enough time for LO to settle into the new routine.
HTH

[arial]

Thanks everyone for their suggestions.  Happy New Year to all of you gals!!!!

I am going to do as you all suggest, and reduce the A time before nap1.  I did that yesterday and he did better.  He had two naps yesterday, but we had to extend his second nap (he woke up crying after 1 hr, so put him back immediately to sleep and he got an extra 1 hour).

brightside:  my LO eliminated the first nap himself.  I have tried to put it back, but I have not been successful.

Melissa:  Addison is so beautiful.  That is a beautiful dress.  I cannot believe she has grown so much.  Keep up the great work!!

[Missy Lou]

thanks.  i could cry when i realize it's time to start planning her first birthday party.

so joshua isn't taking an a.m. nap anymore?  are you going to try and stay  home with him?  that would be awesome but i know it's hard to suddenly just have one income.
melissa

[arial]

He actually eliminated the mid or late afternoon catnap.  He still takes the 830AM nap and the 130PM nap.

His sleeping problems has gotten worse now that he is teething.  He gets me up multiple times at night and wants me to hold him.

Ahh, no to mention I am considering PU/PD to eliminate having to rock him to sleep for naps since my mom and I cannot handle rocking a wopping 23lb child.

I have started to follow to put him in bed 30 min earlier than his nap time or as soon as we see tiredness cues and put his bedtime music.  We allow him to play in it until tired and fall asleep.  This techniques has always worked for his bedtime, but I never used for naps since I always was concerned that he would play too much and miss his nap times altogether and get the EASY all messed up.  Well, sometimes this works but most of the time it does not and I end up having to hold him a bit to calm him down and for him to fall asleep.

Any way, my Joshua always seems to have many sleeping issues. Otherwise, he is a model baby!

Thanks Melissa for hearing me out.  Show me pics of her birthday party when you have them.  Addison is precious!

[*Mona*]

hi there

we have Los exactly the same age

my dd has been on 2 naps a day for over a month now. I do not put her down when I see her first signs of being tired [yawning, rubbing eyes, pulling ears] but wait until she gets whiny and then change her diaper, put her in sleep sac and off to bed. she stands/sits up in her crib one or two times, I go to her room and put her back down without talking to her and she falls asleep on her own.

You received some good advice here on putting your lo to bed earlier in the morning- 2,5 hrs of activity before this first nap seems definitely enough for him.
and you're doing a great job not rocking him to sleep anymore- it's neither good for him nor for you. he's big enough to fall asleep on his own.

I hope you figure out the best way for both of you to help him nap without problems.

good luck
Monika

[andibig]

arial
are you giving him any meds for his teething.that may help him sleep a little better at night.

[arial]

Yes, he got Tylenol last night.