10 month olds have stopped napping well!

So let me start by saying, I think I am about to lose it. It seems like I have spent 10 months two steps behind my babes' sleep patterns and I can't keep up. Recently, we were on a great 1.5 hr am and pm nap trend. They did well and I had a chance to shower, eat etc. but now they are both napping terribly, usually crazy short naps (yesterday one bub did 10 mins, 40 mins and 10 mins throughout the day). This leads to them being totally out of synch, no break for me and generally unhappy babies and mommy. I know they are not getting enough sleep as they do not wake happy. I am wondering if I am behind the developmental curve again and putting them down too late or too early. I don't think they are ready to drop a nap as they are not waking rested and happy. They seem to want to nap, but don't for a sustained period. Perhaps our recent trip and subsequent colds threw them off but regardless we need to get back on track! Can you help? What is/was your 10+ month nap schedule? When did you drop a nap? How can I regain my sanity?

TIA,

Amy

 

It was around that time where I did the 2.3.4 schedule- up 2 hours then nap for an hour, then up 3 hours then a long nap for a couple of hours, finally up 4 hours then bed. I had to work to get them to stay up 4 hours - going to Target for no reason helped. I would leave them in their cribs until .5 hour before their nap was 'supposed' to be up if they woke early. I figured they needed an opportunity to go back to sleep.

 

We're on the 2-3-4 schedule too, but my kiddos went through a period last month where they were also horrible nappers. What reset them was going away overnight-they slept horribly that night because we were in a new place and took really long naps the next day to compensate, and then things just went up from there. I don't know if that would work for you or is an option or was just a coincidence for me, but that's what happened

Also, I've found that they are getting hungrier for real food and sleep better if I make sure to feed them 3 times a day. I also try to take them outside every day so they get sunlight, it helps to set their body clocks.

It may also be teething...

Sleep just sucks at this age, apparently. :unknw:

Good luck! I remember how stressed out I was when I couldn't depend on them to take normal naps. I hope you kids get back on track soon!

 

my LOs wake at 6:15, nap at 9:00 and 1:00.

They have never been long nappers, probably because they sleep 12 hours at night. they usually nap 1 to 1.25 hours. Every once in a while i get 1.5 to 1.75 hours.

After our week vacation and then being sick their naps got short (30-45 minutes). I start leaving them to cry when they woke up and they would usually go back to sleep. The first couple times they cried for 30 minutes but then slept for 45 minutes.
They are only now feeling 100% and naps are not perfect but getting better. I still leave them to fuss if they wake but it only takes 5-10 minutes to go back to sleep.

ETA- not long ago i was playing around trying to find the perfect nap times.. seemed like i couldn't find the perfect time. then i settled on 9 and 1 and just stuck with it. it took a few days but i think they adjusted to the schedule i set. So i would say, pick a reasonable time schedule and be consistent.

GL - i hate when naps get messed up!

 

So it seems like I can either go the 2-3-4 route or fixed nap times. The issue for us is that ever since the time change, their wake times have been pretty inconsistent - any time between 5:00 (arg!) and 6:15. Right now, they go to sleep for their first nap about 2.5 hrs after they wake so today's early riser went to sleep at 7:50! I tried putting him down two hours after waking but he didn't go to sleep until 2.25 hours. Normally nap time starts around 8:30 but if I had waited that long he would have been overtired. We are leaving them in their cribs until 6:15 in the morning so hopefully they will get the message and sleep later. What do you do when your babes wake early both in the morning and from naps? If they wake early from the am nap, I put them down earlier for the pm one but yesterday that trend led to a rare three sleep day. I would be interested to know how others deal with this on the 2-3-4 and fixed nap schedule. TIA again!

 

For us, 2-3-4 works out to 9 and 1, but my kiddos don't wake up til 7. They go to bed between 6 and 7.

 

the bolded parts were exactly the problems i was having. I kept juggling things around trying to hit that perfect window. All I got were babies who wouldn't fall asleep or were waking after 30-45 minutes. :gah: The morning wakeup wouldn't stablize because they were short on sleep from crappy naps. Also the early first nap meant they couldn't make it through the day without a third nap and they were NOT sleeping for the 3rd nap.

I decided to stretch them to the 9am first nap time (regardless of wake up time). the first few days the morning was a little tricky but once they got use to it, it has been great. They have no problem staying up until 9 and at 9 they are ready to sleep and sleep at least an hour. In the beginning you can compromise a little..(like if they were up at 5 i tried for 8:30, maybe 8:00) but always working toward the pre-decided time. (ETA- Same thing for the afternoon nap.. goal was 1:00.)

For early morning wake up we do like you said.. don't go in until you are ready for them to wake up. I found we have to go 15 minutes latter than we want them to awaken. After vacation and being sick we had the irregular morning get up times but just stayed consistent about the get out of bed time. Again, sometimes we would compromise a little, especially when they were still not feeling 100% well or hadn't eaten well the night before. My experience was the wake up time stabilized once naps were better and they caught up on sleep.

Making a schedule and keeping it worked for us. Trying to follow their cues was making me crazy.. and them too.

Hope you find what works for them.

 

I do this exact same thing with my almost 8 mo old twins. If one twin wakes super early I make them stay up close to the normal first nap time around 9 (sometimes will put them down 15 min early if one was up super early). This is how I keep their schedules close to in sync and it keeps my sanity and prevents extra naps. They seem to do pretty well with it. Usually if one got up super early they will give me a long nap. Some people call this the 'dont' put down before XX AM rule'. I never put them down before 830 unless someone is sick or had a bad night.

We try to leave them in their cribs until 630 regardless of when they woke. DD has sometimes woke as early as 5 or 530 and we left her to play quietly and has sometimes fallen back asleep.

 

Hi all,

Just wanted to say thanks for all your insights and advice. Things are improving, which is the best I can ask for at this point. I have definitely been liberated by the concept of fixed nap times so thank you to those who suggested it. So far, I have set a fixed range so naps start between 8:30 and 9:00, no earlier and 12:30 and 1:00, depending on how the morning nap went. One fella is responding well to this. He has also been sleeping a bit later in the morning so the ignoring seems to be working. My other fella has regressed to waking up at the half hour mark for all naps, which is a drag but I will keep working on him. I really appreciate your support and hope to get everyone on board with or new fixed nap times!

Thanks,

Amy

 

My DS will wake at 30, 45 minute point for naps when he is overtired. The only thing that works for him is to leave him be. if i go in he will start waking for all naps after 30 minutes. If i let him cry he usually falls back to sleep (can take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes). For him it takes one or two times of letting him cry before he will start napping well again.
My rule is from the point i put them down for naps i do not go in earlier than 1 hour.

ETA - glad they are doing better!!!!