UGH! More nap issues!

[Riley's mama]

My DD was having some nap issues around 6 months, but seemed to resolve them after we started using a more consistent naptime routine and using about a 2 hour waketime rule. More recently, however, that has changed! She is now almost 8 months.

Her schedule was go to sleep around 8pm, wake around 4 or 5am to nurse, go back to sleep until about 7:30am. About a week and a half ago, she started sleeping until 6 or 6:30am. I figure, ok, she's ready to start her day, so I kinda go from there. The problem is that now her naps are awful again and she's cranky all day!!!

More specifically, she seems to be tired already around 7 or 7:30. It seems crazy to me to put her down for her first nap that early. I usually wait until at least 8. She'll usually sleep about an hour but as soon as she's out of the crib she's yawning and rubbing her eyes again! And then the rest of the day just goes downhill and her other 2 naps are usually only about 30 minutes. And when she wakes from those naps it's the same thing, she is still tired and obviously didn't sleep long enough!

I have tried giving her some time to see if she'll go back to sleep, but she will just cry harder and harder. I haven't given her more than 10 minutes because I just have a hard time listening to it, considering it seems that at that point it's been a while and I'm pretty sure she's not going back to sleep!

I don't know if I should try giving her longer in the morning to see if she just needs to wake up later (although I tried this morning and it didn't work!), or if I should adjust her feedings, or what?! It is just hard when I don't know what to do to help her and she's clearly not happy! :cry:

Sorry for the long post. I hope maybe some of you might have some helpful insight. Thanks!!!

[SnuggleBuggles]

I don't think I would "let" her wake up that early. I think that she isn't getting enough nighttime sleep. Get some room darkening window coverings, nurse her and put her back to bed even at 6 or 6:30. Odds are she'll go back down for another stretch. Not enough nighttime sleep sets off an unpleasant sleep situation all around.

I don't know if that will work for you or not but that's what works for us.

GL!!
Beth

[srhs]

...Her schedule was go to sleep around 8pm...
I was just reviewing Weissbluth's info this week, and he recommends bedtime between 6-8pm at this age (mos 5-12). Have you tried pushing her bedtime earlier? He insists it'll help them sleep longer in the am. We've been moving DS's bedtime back by 15 mins or so each night to experiment as he was getting up crazy early some days.

[Riley's mama]

I have the room darkening shades, they did help a little initially. This morning I put her down after she nursed in the morning (6:40am), she was making a lot of noise after I put her down. Not crying, just making noise. So then my husband went in to get her after about 15 minutes and I closed my eyes for a little while until he had to start getting ready for work. But then later he tells me that as soon as he got her out of the crib she was rubbing her eyes!!

So.... I guess maybe I'll try it again tomorrow morning and see how it goes. She took a nap at almost the same exact time today (8:45 to 9:45) but I put her down a little earlier for the next one since she was yawning by 10:15! I had to feed her so I did, and then laid her down again around 11:15.

I feel like I am just confusing her but I don't want her to not sleep enough. I would like to get back to a routine because it's so stressful to be all over the place!!

Should I still use about a 2 hour waketime? If she's supposed to be at 2 naps a day, it seems like that's too short.... So confused!!

[SnuggleBuggles]

Sometimes after I put ds2 back to sleep at 6-6:45 he plays a bit before falling back asleep. I leave him be unless he is totally and utterly unhappy.

My ds2 only ever took one nap a day. I think you need to just go by the child and follow no specific rules. You'll fall into a pattern that works for all of you.

Beth

[slworld]

I don't have a lot of advice but I could have more or less written your post. My DS in just a few days older than your DD and his naps are pretty bad too. He is on 3 naps but only one of them will be an hour long. One is definitely only 30min and the other will vary between 30min-1hr. He was doing 3 1-hr naps at more or less scheduled times but that all changed once we stopped swaddling him. After a 2-week trial we are back to swaddling but the naps haven't improved. He also moved from a 7-7:30am wakeup time to between 6-6:30am. But Weissbluth also says between 6-7am wakeup time is normal I think (he says to leave them alone if they are up before 6am). We used to put DS for his first nap at around 8:45am but now we are having to do it by 8:15am at the latest since he is up so early.

I agree with PP about earlier bedtime. We aim for a 7pm bedtime for DS. But even if he is asleep by 6:30pm his wakup time is still between 6-6:30am, but you can try to move the bedtime up a little everyday to see if it helps. Also if I recall Weissbluth correctly, the first nap is considered an extension of nightime sleep so he recommends a short awake time before the first nap. So maybe doing earlier than the 2hr window should be ok.

I am also wondering if DS needs to switch to 2naps. I am hoping if I delay his 2nd nap he may sleep longer (so basically the same amount of naptime as now). Don't know if it will work but Weissbluth says between 6-9months they switch to 2 naps. The only reason I am not changing to 2 naps now is that we will be making an internatinal trip in about a couple of weeks and with a 12hr time difference his naps/sleeptime will get screwed up anyhow (don't even want to think about how that will work out).

Hope you find something that works for your DD (and please post if you do :)).

[Momof3Labs]

I agree with an earlier bedtime, like 6:30pm. And if she's ready for a nap at 7am, I'd put her down. Keeping her up for another hour will probably just shorten her nap and leave her out of whack the rest of the day. Can you just spend a few days watching her (vs. the clock) and putting her down when she seems like she needs it? Maybe she'll get caught up, so to speak, and then you can work on tweaking her schedule (tweaks are small time intervals - maybe 15 minute adjustments to sleep times) gradually.

ETA: Remember that this weekend is daylight savings, so her schedule will be thrown off anyways (it's a good chance to readjust things a little).

[Riley's mama]

I agree with an earlier bedtime, like 6:30pm. And if she's ready for a nap at 7am, I'd put her down. Keeping her up for another hour will probably just shorten her nap and leave her out of whack the rest of the day. Can you just spend a few days watching her (vs. the clock) and putting her down when she seems like she needs it? Maybe she'll get caught up, so to speak, and then you can work on tweaking her schedule (tweaks are small time intervals - maybe 15 minute adjustments to sleep times) gradually.

ETA: Remember that this weekend is daylight savings, so her schedule will be thrown off anyways (it's a good chance to readjust things a little).

So I was so excited about the daylight savings thing because she had a pretty good day on Sunday (woke at 6:45 adjusted time, and was awake and didn't put her back down). And she took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon! So I thought she was good with the 2 naps. But then she was exhausted before 7. And then she just went and adjusted herself so that she woke up at 5:30am that next morning!! Ugh.

So basically I am back to feeding her around 5:30 and putting her back down to sleep after her feeding. And she's sleeping until about 7 or 7:30. Naps are going a little better now so I think I'll just suck it up since this seems to be working for her for now! Thanks for the advice. I'll update if it changes. :)