Evenings with 7 month olds

The girls are getting pretty good at taking predictable naps...until late afternoon/early evening. They get up around 7am, nap for about 30min to an hour around 9am, play and eat and go down to nap again for about an hour to an hour and a half around noon or so. They're usually up by 2:00 and ready to eat and play. They play hard all afternoon and don't get sleepy at all until its time to eat again around 4:30 - 5:30. For some reason, my good sleepers go into battle mode if I try to get them to take a quick 30 minute nap at this time. But if they don't get one, they're way over tired for bedtime (which is 7:00 - 8:00 here). Am I doing something wrong? Or are they just at an awkward stage??

FWIW, we really don't want to put them down for the night before 7:00 because that hour or so is our precious family time. Plus when they go down earlier, they get up earlier and I am NOT a morning person. Waking at 6:30 and playing in the crib until 7:00 is early enough!

Thanks for any advice!!

 

I have to make sure mine get that 45min - 1 hour catnap before dinner (around 5ish) or I have the same problem..

I would say your babies are just at an awkward stage maybe a growth spurt?

I am not really sure as your babies are a bit older than mine...

Good luck! I'll be interested in what others say about it too.

 

I think that stretch after 2 pm is way too long for a 7 month old. My twins wake at 3 pm and go back down at 6.30 pm. My oldest is 3, she wakes up at 3 too and is back in bed at 7.00/7.30 pm as well. I would try to push their afternoon nap later (we have 9 am and 1 pm) and hope they nap later in the day (that may take some time) and move the bedtime closer to 7 pm, but if they keep waking up at 2 pm you may even have to look at 6/6.30 pm.

 

I'll be interested in the responses, since we are dealing with the SAME THING!! Our kids go to bed at 7:15pm, like clockwork. We wish they could stay up a little later, so we could spend more time with them after work...but, it's not happenin'!

They are just a few days older than yours.

I bet once they get through this big developmental stage, things will change (yet again!). My boys just started crawling, so I'm hoping that nap time will get better. For awhile, all they wanted to do was practice crawling in their cribs.

Bring on the advice!

 

We're kind of going through the same thing here... they wake at 7ish (used to be more like 7:30, and now it seems to be getting closer to 6:30 (too early!). Naps are at 9:00 and at 1:00. The morning nap is usally 45 minutes to an hour, but I never wake them if they sleep longer. Next nap is 1:00, or a little earlier if they're fussy. I used to put them in their swings around 4:30 for a cat nap but they are officially too old for their swings as of last week (grabbing the mobiles and too squirmy), and I just don't think they'll nap in their cribs at that hour. So....if we're out and about, they'll usually sleep in the car for a quick catnap and they're good, or I'll put them in their papasans (almost too big for those too) in front of the TV (I know...) with the lights dim, as kind of a quiet time. Or else, they'll usually go to bed around 6:15 instead of 6:45-7:00. So...maybe move the second nap closer to 1:00? I know your family time is precious, but so is their sleep....I know I'm fortunate DH is home by 5:20, yet he still hardly gets an hour with them...

Good luck!

 

This is very interesting to me as my girls are only 5 days older and are doing the same thing! Here's our schedule so far ...

7-8am wake and bottle
9am cereal and fruit
10am nap (usually 1 hour)
12pm bottle
12:30-1pm nap (usually 1-2 hours)
4pm bottle
5pm veggies or meat
7pm bottle and bed

In between the last nap and the last bottle we're good until around 5:30, but both refuse to take naps. I'll lay them down and all they do is scream. I'm not sure what to do.

 

I'd try to extend that morning nap. I have to go in at the 30-minute mark and rock Evan back to sleep. On an excellent day my guys sleep from 8:45ish to 10:45ish (this is an excellent day!) and then from 1:30 to 2:30 (Evan) and 3:00 (James). Evan needs a 20-minute cat nap around 4:30. They go to bed between 6 and 7 and generally sleep 11 or 12 hours.

An early bedtime doesn't necessarily mean an early wake time - often it's the opposite - sleep begets sleep (can you tell I'm a HSHHC fan?!). Sounds like your girls might not be getting enough quality daytime sleep and they might need to go to bed earlier.

Anyway, just my two cents. I am by no means an expert! We're going through our own sleep issues here (James wants to wake up and play in the middle of the night!).

 

I agree with Sophiesmom. Is it possible to start transitioning them to a 2-nap a day schedule? It requires them to stretch their naps a little longer (particularly they'll need to sleep at least 45mins-1hr in the morning) My boys were able to do this with some getting used to. We switched to 2 naps around 6months and it made all the difference. I've noticed an amazing increase in their stamina between naps as well (but that could be more of an age thing).

Wake at 7am
1st nap around 9 (1-2 hours)
2nd nap around 2 (1-2 hours)
Bedtime at 7pm (no later)

We've followed Healthy Sleep Habits (HSHHC) pretty religiously, and the boys have tracked the exact same patterns they describe in the book. I shudder to think what we would have done without this book .

 

Hey there all you other 7 monthers! This is what's going on around here as we're trying to transition everyone to two naps...

wake around 7-7:30am (I too am NOT much of a morning person so the later the better, but not too late)
bf and then cereal within an hour of getting up
bf again sometimes before nap around 9-10am depending on when they got up (1-2 hours)
bf before we go out to run errands or see DH for lunch or bf while out at DH's office
Evan sometimes takes a short stroller nap between 12-1pm
bf then give teething biscuits around 2pm or so
another nap around 3pm (usually 1 hour, nice if 2 though)
bf around 4pm AND 5-5:30pm
solids by 6:15pm
bath around 6:45pm
bf 7-7:15pm
Evan gets up atleast 4 times a night average and Livie gets up twice on a good night from 7pm to 7-7:30am

That's a good day...we're flexible and most days even if they don't fully NAP, they lay quietly in their cribs for a couple hours total.

It means they get enough sleep during the day to not be overtired by bedtime but not too much so that they don't want to sleep around 7pm which is our firm bedtime.

We'll work on improving Evan's nighttime routine soon, but not yet...

Good luck and it does sound like you should transistion to two naps...I like having a long predictable one in the morning (usually) and winging it in the afternoon, it works for us!

 

You women are the BEST! I'm glad to know I'm not alone! And to top it off, they've both started waking up in the middle of the night now too...ready to play. They've slept through since 3 months old! Now they wake up crawling around the crib or sitting up and playing with whatever is in the bed with them (even if its just a paci).

DH and I are going to work them toward two naps a day. Hopefully that will do the trick!