Split from other topic: night wakings and great naps

[Hayden's mom]

I have a 7.5 mth old and he still takes 2 naps a day plus a catnap.  I often end up waking him out of the nap after 2 hours.  We have trouble with night wakings so I'm sure he's tired during the day from not sleeping well at night.  Should he be taking shorter naps?   I could use a shorter nap as I have almost no time in the day to do any errands b/c he goes back down at 8:30 am and will sometimes sleep until 11:00 or longer if I would let him and then he's down again around 1:30 until 3 or 4 and often still needs a catnap.  I can't seem to keep him up any more for A time.  Suggestions?

[debo620]

Hayden's mom,
when you say night wakings, what is happening then? what time is bedtime and what time is wake-up time?

I agree he is napping quite a bit,
maybe once you sort out the NW, you can cut down the naps a bit

[debo620]

here is a link to average amounts of day and night sleep by age

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=85134.0

[Hayden's mom]

deb,

the night wakings are that he's just awake and crying.  We let him stir but he always escalates his cries and can't seem to calm.  I go in there and pick him up and he'll settle but cries the minute I put him down.  If I go in and just try to put my hand on his back it gets worse.  He's up sometimes an hour or more crying.  If I would nurse him, he'd go right back to sleep but I still do the dream feed and I don't believe he's hungry.  He usually goes down about 7 or 7:30 and is up around 6 or 6:30 because I do work two days a week.  He's a great napper and puts himself to sleep for all naps and at bedtime but can't settle himself during the night.  Not sure why this is?

[debo620]

does he use a pacifier? does he have a lovey ?

As I'm not much of an expert on night wakings, I am going to split this topic and move your question over to the night wakings board....

[Colin Macs Mom]

Can you please post your daily routine? That would help show what's really going on.

[Hayden's mom]

We don't use a pacifier but he is a thumb sucker and he does have a lovey.

Routine
6 am - wakes on his own, BF
6:30 or 7 - solids -- oatmeal and fruit
8:30 - sleep
10:30 - awake
11:00 - BF
11:30 - solids - veggie and fruit
1:30 - 3:00 - sleep
4:00 - BF
we were taking a catnap between 5 and 6 but trying to eliminate this
6:30 or 7:00 - solids, cereal, fruit, veggie
7:30 - BF and down for the night
10:30 - DF

I have not been nursing during the night for over a week now but he's still waking.  It is down to once a night usually around 1 or 2.  Any suggestions?

[Colin Macs Mom]

I think he's getting too much daytime sleep. The catnap should be gone around 7.5 months, and it sounds like that's already in the works so just keep at that. I would limit the first nap to 1.5 hours and keep nap #2 as it is. With no catnap and a shorter am nap I think that will help a lot.

[debo620]

Hey might I aalso suggest something like this:

cut the am nap to 9-10:30
pm nap 1:30-3
bed and asleep by 7pm instead of 7: 30 since not doing a catnap.

[momofclaire]

 I just wanted to add that often when you drop the cat nap an earlier bedtime is needed during the transition to avoid overtiredness.

[Hayden's mom]

thanks for the tips!  We're out of daycare now for the summer since my oldest child is home from school so I think I can work towards that schedule!  Thanks for all your help