passing phase or new pattern?

[soji]

My DD is 10 ½ moonths old.  She has been on EASY since she was a few weeks old.  She has been a good sleeper and we’ve worked very hard on her sleep routine since she was very little.  In the past month, her afternoon nap has gotten more and more difficult.  She used to go down for both naps with very little fuss and would just grab her silkie blanket and suck her thumb and in a few minutes be off to sleep.  In the last few weeks, she will roll/stand/play in her crib for 15-30 minutes in the morning before she falls asleep and in the afternoon she will roll/stand/play in her crib for up to 1 hour before she falls asleep.  Lately, she starts to wail when I walk out of the room, but will stop shortly after I close the door.  When she finally does fall asleep, she will sleep for up to 1½ hours.  This pushes her EASY back throughout the day.  This is her EASY lately…

7 am up/ breastfeed
8 – solids
9:45 in crib for nap 1.  Usually falls asleep by 10:15 or 10:30 and asleep until almost noon.
Noon – breastfeed
1 – solids
2:30 try to wind down and get her in the crib for nap 2.  She’s not falling asleep until 3, but lately not even until 3:30 and then she’s down until about 4:30.  She used to nap from 2 until 3:30 or 3:45 and bf by 4, but now she’s bf’ing much later.
4:30 bf
5:15 dinner/solids
6:30 bath
7pm bf then down for the night. 

At night she’s only taking a few minutes to fall asleep and most times she’s not standing, but just playing with her blankie lying down (spying on the video monitor, you know?) 

Any suggestions on her routine?  Is this a new pattern or is it just a passing phase?  We had to wean her from her first blankie b/c it was little and she kept tossing it out of her crib.  She has a new blankie that she’s finally starting to take to.  She’s also cutting a few new teeth. 

I’m so frustrated sometimes.  It’s very difficult to listen to her thrash around in her crib – talking or standing or kicking around in there.  Most of the time she’s not crying at all, just playing around.  I’ve tried moving her afternoon nap earlier and later to see if it would help, but it doesn’t seem to matter.  It’s like she needs to have 40-60 minutes of play time in her crib before she settles down to sleep in the afternoon. 

Any suggestions?
Thanks!

[KathrynK]

this is so common at this age- it's the start of the transition from 2 naps to 1, believe it or not! Your dd is trying to tell you she needs less daytime sleep and more awake time now.
The most common solution to this is to shorten the am nap by waking her earlier than normal. If she currently has 1.5 hrs in the morning then start by waking her after 1 hr. SHe should then go down much more easily in the afternoon as she won't be as rested.
Also check out the 2-1 nap thread at the top of this board- there is lots of discussion there and you will find some more advice.

[taygensmom]

Sounds like she is now getting too much daytime sleep for her age. I would think she needs her morning nap shorted, where you wake her after 1 hour, and then the regular afternoon nap.

Oh, while I was typing this you got almost the exact same post from someone else! LOL

[em_here]

I agree with pp, my DS was only on 1 nap at 10 months.  If he did not want to go down, boy he let us know!!!

[soji]

thanks everyone.  Do you also think that she should go down around 10 am?  Or should I push her morning nap back further to 10:15 or 10:30?
THanks so much for the support.  I just get so bogged down w/ her routine sometimes and it's really hard being a first time mommy.  I'll check out the 2 to 1 nap board.  I just thought it was too early to go to 1 nap!! 

Thanks SO MUCH!!!!

[KathrynK]

hi again
It IS too early to go to 1 nap but it's still the start of the transition, which is a loooong and gradual process- I started shortening dd's am nap at 10.5mo just like you, and she finally went to 1 nap a day at 15.5mo!
If she goes down easily at 10am I would keep it like that and have longer A time between the 2 naps, but if she takes longer to fall asleep for that am nap you could try pushing it a bit later. It will take some juggling until you find what works best for dd.
good luck!

[soji]

Thank you!!  You kind of answered my next question.  When you say to keep her morning nap short (to about 1 hour) is it 1 hour of actual sleep or 1 hour of time in the crib.  Sometimes it takes her 15 -30 minutes to actually fall asleep in the morning.  So, for example, if i put her down at 10, do I get her up at 11?  Or, if she takes 15 minutes to fall asleep, say 10:15, I get her up at 11:15?

I know this isn't an exact thing.  I'm just trying to get some guidelines. 

ANother dumb question, if I transition her to a short am nap and a longer afternoon nap, she will actually (in theory) get more sleep then she is actually getting right now.  Does anyone else think this is kind of weird?  Babies... man they are sure hard to figure out sometimes!

Finally, how do the feeds work in w/ her new nap schedule?  I'm still bf'ing her, but only for another 6 weeks or so.  I'm weaning her before I go back to work (pt) in July.  So, I guess if she wakes up at 11, then do you think I should wait to bf her until 11:30 or just bf her at 11?  I guess when the babies are eating both bm and solids, the time interval between bfs does not matter as much, right?

THanks for answering all of my crazy questions.  I really wish babies came w/ manuals, and this forum is really the next best thing!

[taygensmom]

From your previous post it sounds like right now she sleep about 1 1/2 hrs in the morning (some can handle 45 min and some need the hour) and 1 to 1 1/2 hrs in the afternoon. So I would cut her morning nap to 1 hour max (of actual sleep time) and then keep the afternoon nap at 1 to 1 1/2 hrs like it is now.

As far as her feeding schedule, I prefer to consolidate breastfeeds/bottlefeeds and solids into one "meal" at this age, instead of "snacking" every 1 1/2 or 2 hrs, but some moms do it differently. So at 10 months your schedule could be:
7:30 - BF and then solids for breakfast (within 1/2 hr after BF)
11:30 - BF and then solids for lunch
2:30 - BF and small snack (if want)
5:30 - Dinner
7:00 - BF

Some LOs at this age do better also with solids before BF, depending on which they prefer more. My son loves solids, so I had to stick with milk first at this age or he would just skip the milk and go for the real food! HTH