Could A time decrease due to increased physical ability?

[AGILL]

I'm getting more and more confused and really need some feedback here. My LO will be 6 mo in a few days and recently his routine has been all over the shop. I can't seem to read him very well anymore and it's really hard to pick up on his sleepy cues. Up until about a week ago he was on 4 hour EASY and was doing fantastically. Then he had a lot of changes that came all at once -- his ability to move has increased noticeably (rolling onto tummy, trying to push off on feet, playing with feet on his back, etc.), we started solids this week, and he's teething (again).

At the same time, he started waking up 45 mins into his second nap, which he's never done. So I figured he needed his A time increased a little bit since he was nearing the 6 month mark. So we upped from 2.0/2.25 to 2.25/2.5 to see how things went. The next day improved and his naps were back on track, but the last couple days he's woken up 45 minutes into both naps, plus he's woken up after going down for the night, which he hasn't done for nearly three months. He even woke up two nights ago at 2am and needed to be resettled (again, something that I haven't had to do since he started sleeping thru the night two months ago). I think some of it has to do with him teething because I see him making weird movements with his mouth when he's trying to get to sleep. However I also think it might be because he's now overtired when I put him down. This morning when I started to sense he was getting tired, I took him straight to his room and started his wind down. He went pretty much straight to sleep when I placed him in his cot, and he's now been sleeping soundly for more than 1.5 hours. The only thing is that his A time was reduced this morning by nearly half an hour, so back to 2.0 hours A time. He slept a full night's sleep last night and woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, so the only thing I can put this reduced A time down to is his increased mobility and therefore energy spent more quickly during A time.

Can anyone confirm this info for me, as I feel like I'm beginning to grasp at straws a little bit here. Many thanks.

Alison

[*Mona*]

hi Alison,

can you post your daily routine please?

but to answer your topic question- yes, I think it's possible. when hitting a milestone [and it wasn't just one in his case!] LOs can start behaving differently for some time and as they tend to practice their new abilities all the time, they do get more tired faster.
plus teething- this one can mess a lot!

Monika

[AGILL]

Hi Monika,

Thanks for coming to my rescue!! Here's more or less what we were doing last week, although because of his nap problems I ended up juggling quite a bit with times. I think that since he's been so consistent for the past two months I became a bit of a clock watcher (also since his sleepy cues became less and less obvious), which is probably why it seems so difficult now.

7:15 wake and BF
9:30 nap (1.5 hrs)
11:15 BF
12:15 solids
1:15 nap (theoretically 2 hrs)
3:15 BF
5:30 catnap (0.5 hrs)
6:30 bath
7:00 BF
7:15 wind down and bed (usually asleep by 7:30ish)
11:00 DF

Also, yesterday he woke earlier than usual (around 6:00am) and I decided to really try and follow him closely in order to get him down for naps during his sleep windows. So he went down half an hour earlier for his morning nap, and slept for almost two hours. Then he went down at the normal time for his afternoon nap and slept for 1.5 hours. However, when I went to put him down for his catnap (after watching for cues), he ended up crying for the half hour with me trying to do PU/PD with him (and failing). So he went to bed 1/2 an hour earlier than usual last night (7:00), but he woke up crying at 8:15 (amazingly he resettled himself -- something he used to do so easily, but this was the only time all week) and also woke up early for his DF.

Again today, he woke up 45 mins into his afternoon nap (after a good morning nap) and now I just can't seem to get him back down once he's awake. It could be that he senses my anguish or something like that. But also I noticed today when I picked him up he was grunting and pushing because he had gas. I have a feeling the solids might be playing a role in this issue (although he did start his early wakings a few days before we actually started introducing solids), but of course I can't be sure because everything just seems like a big mess at the moment.

TIA,
Alison

[DJs mummy]

Alison,
I'm in a similar boat to you at the moment and it's driving me insane.  So I sympathise with you    For a while Hannah has been doing 45 min naps, but I could usually resettle her at the lunchtime nap and get her off to sleep again and she'd usually have 2 hours in all.  These days we're just getting 30 mins at each nap and, as you can imagine, she's not a happy bunny She recently started rolling and is most def teething.  I'm holding on to the idea that her naps will just be magically cured around the 6 month mark.  Well, I can hope!

Sending you lots of calm, sleepy and comfortable vibes for your LO.

[Indigo]

Hi!

I also think it is possible for A time to get shorter due to physical ability. The same thing happened with my baby girl when she turned 5 months and started moving a lot. She must be spending lots of energy because she does not stay still for one second when awake and playing. But I have started to try doing more calm activities with her in the end of A time. I carry her around, read a book or cuddle etc.

Indigo

[AGILL]

Thanks so much for your support ladies. It's good to know that there are people out there who can sympathize.
We had a good night yesterday -- no wake up during bedtime and DF, and then straight back to sleep (he is always awake for his DF, but we keep things as calm and quiet as possible). This morning I heard him wake 15 minutes early, but I left him since he wasn't fussing. Then when I went in to get him, I found him rolled over onto him tummy staring at his nightlight and all smiles. Followed him closely again for sleepy cues and he's coming up on 1.5 hours nap (after a total of 2.5 hours A time, if I start counting from when he first stirred this morning). We'll see how the rest of the day goes, since the afternoon nap is the one that's most likely to be "off". If we have trouble again, I think I'm going to try cutting out solids for a while, just to see if anything changes.

Will keep you posted,
Alison