At 6 months, we moved DS to crib for nighttime sleep. I continued with swinging naps, which were a blessing, until 9m when I knew he was getting too big for it and he was starting to stick out his foot to stop the swing.
I started out with timed checks and the morning nap fell into place rather quickly. The afternoon nap started out to be nonexistent, then became a 30min nap. 2.5 months has passed and we have an occasional poor AM nap, but the PM nap (he has only taken 2 naps a day since 9m) has continuted to be either elusive or just 30min. His nighttime sleep was really starting to suffer plus he started waking up earlier. I have gotten some help with figuring out keeping total waketime for the day to a minimum since he has been overtired for 2 months, and it has significantly improved his nighttime sleep. In fact, last night he slept 12 hours straight for the first time ever!!!
I know someone will suggest it's time to move to one nap a day, but since this began back at 9 months, I am unable to believe that he is ready for one nap a day, especially since he show the signs of being tired, and he is overtired and needs to get as much sleep as possible. Because he doesn't nap well (or at all) in the afternoon, I end up having to put him to bed early each night (which results in an early wakeup, but he will go back to sleep within an hour, usually.
Also wondering which method of sleep training would be best since he will throw out all his pacifiers (which if it weans him from the paci, don't care) but he also throws out his loveys...
His typical schedule due to the early wakeups:
4-5am Wakeup, BF and diaper change, back to bed
Sleeps until 6 or 6:30
9-9:30 Nap #1, usually an hour
depending on the success of the first nap, he may be up until 12:30 or 1pm
Sleeps until about 1:30, and I can't get back to sleep, if he ever went to sleep at all
So he goes to bed anywhere between 4:45 and 5:30, depending on how well the day went.
I hold/bob up and down/sing and hum lullabies for the last 5 minutes of the routine for each putdown, for which he usually lays his head down, up down up down and then leaves it down when I'm at the last song, I lay him down, he protests when I leave the room, but is quiet pretty soon after that.
Help! :)
Sorry this was so long.
I did NOT take the advice of switching to one nap. I just decided to accept things for the way they were, but leave him in the room for 30 mins after he woke up too soon. He'd fuss for a few minutes, then play around and talk and stuff. A month later, he has recently napped for an hour for that afternoon nap three times in the last two weeks. Could be a fluke, could be improvement. I switched to AM nap at 9:30 and PM nap at 2:30. It has resulted in later bedtime and also a later wakeup which is a huge bonus.
Yep, time to drop the morning nap! Keep him up beyond that naptime, givel unch at 11:30 and put him to bed after that. Once its going well ,gradually stretch the time out so he's taking an afternoon nap at adecent time.
My boys dropped the morning nap by 9mos old. That way they took a nice long afternoon nap.
I also agree. Time to go down for one nap. My 3rd child actually dropped her morning nap at 6 months (much to my great dismay), so by 9 months it can happen. Have you tried pushing that am nap back 2 hours, so you're putting him down around 11:30. Hopefully he'll sleep for a 2-3 hour stretch and that will make your evenings much more pleasant.
I DO NOT think you should drop to one nap. Naps are a blessing to you and to him and essential to healthy growth and development. I am a big believer in Dr. Weissbluth, who would say you need to put him down for his first nap within 1-2 hours of his waking, which would mean the 9am nap is starting too late for him. If he wakes at 6 or 6:30, put him back down for his morning nap no later than 8 or 8:30 (my middle child literally would need to go down within an hour of waking and would nap 7:30 to 9:30, then another nap 12-2:30 then bed at 5). This nap should last a good hour, hopefully more. he should go down for his second nap no more than 2-3 hours after he wakes from his first. Congrats on the early bed time, he needs it. Once he catches up on the lost sleep and starts to (hopefully) sleep a bit later, you can start stretching his wake times a bit (in 20 minute increments) to get to a schedule that may have him doing the 9 am and 1pm naps again. Also, at 9 mo he should be stopping that early morning feeding (5 am one) and giving you 12 hours. I have three kids, and all were very different, but the one thing that was the same was when their naps started to dissapear too early, it was because they needed more sleep and to be put down for naps earlier. Best of luck. PS My kids, ages 61/2, 3 1/2 & 1 year are STILL all in bed by 6:30 (the 1 year old is now going down around 5:30)
I know you don't want to hear it, but I think it's time to go down to one nap. At 11 months my youngest was down to one long afternoon nap. I had the worst time getting her to take two naps. She would sleep in the morning for a few minutes and then wake up and want to play. It just wasn't worth it anymore! :) Personally, I'd try to keep him up a little longer in the morning, eat an early lunch and put him down around 11:00 or 11:30. Hopefully he'll be tired enough and full enough that he'll sleep for you!
It's so hard to give advice on this because each kid is different. You just have to make little adjustments to your schedule and find out what works for you. It's a LOT of trial and error. You might also try moving his afternoon nap to 2 instead of 1. At 11 months old, he should be able to stay awake longer than a few hours at a time.
Don't give him a bottle when he wakes up-you can check on him-but don't pick him up. When he wakes up at 6:00 -or whatever you feel is reasonable-feed him breakfast. Keep him up until around 11:00-then put him down for the first nap-no bouncing or singing-he needs to learn to self soothe-this was he can get himself to sleep when he wakes up-instead of relying on you. The afternoon nap can be short-early dinner, bath, bed around 7:30 or so. Focus on keeping him awake and occupied and engaged-this , too, may help. The process is difficult-good luck.
