Please help! Dd 11 months really reduced how much she sleeps

[Madallie]

After dd1 being an awful sleeper, I knew how lucky I was when dd1 fed and slept and started sleeping through at about 4/5 months. Until about 2-3 weeks ago she was sleeping about
6.30/7pm Til 7.30 am (sometimes later) and taking a nap about 9.30-11 ish then 2-3.30/4.

Now I know how great this is but she needed this sleep. I also know sleep needs drop but she seems to have dropped drastically and Im not sure what to do. I posted before but it is still continuing and in fact getting worse.

Eg today was
7am - wake
10.00-10.30 nap (she wouldn't go before and I wake after 30 mins to try and preserve pm nap)
2-15pm-3.15pm - nap (she woke herself)
Then I put her down at 7 and she is still awake now!!

I don't really know where m going wrong but I'm sure she can't just need one nap or have dropped her sleep needs so drastically. She has gone form 15 hrs in 24 to 12.5 overnight.

Does anyone have any help or advise at all?

[Madallie]

So she's asleep now but that was almost 5 hours after the end of her pm nap which was only 1 hr long.
The only thing that might be different I was thinking was that she is starting to eat a larger amount of solids. She usually finishes dinner at 6 and is in bed at 7. She eats a lot and then she has milk befor bed ( although sometimes seems to force it down and doesn't really want it). Is it possible that now she eats more that this is too heavy on her tummy? Should she eat earlier?

[Chavaloy]

I think you could drop the morning nap and bring the lunch time one forward.

At this stage we did:
Wake - about 6.30pm
Lunch -11.45am (latest could manage without dropping off!)
Sleep - 12.15 - 2pm (give or take)
Tea - 4.30pm
Bath - 6pm
Milk - 6.30pm
Bed - latest 7pm - No waking during the night.

[Madallie]

Thanks chavaloy. Did your dc's sleep needs change very all of a sudden like this or was it more gradual. Think Im just a bit shocked/confused that her sleep needs have changed so drastically and overnight.

[SylvaniansKeepGettingHoovered]

Is she walking yet? Sometimes when they're just about to start walking babies have trouble sleeping, ie when learning a new skill.

However, both my DDs dropped their morning nap at around 12 months so they were just having the afternoon nap, otherwise they wouldn't sleep long enough at night.

[Madallie]

No, not walking and not even pulling up to stand yet, although I think maybe will do soon. She was a late crawler but is crawling like a demon now.

I just thought that her dropping naps/sleep decreasing would happen gradually rather than so drastically.

I kind of feel that I don't know where to even start tomorrow.

[Madallie]

So today was even worse than usual, she woke at 8am cos she didn't go to bed Til late and then had a 35min nap at 10.30 and a 35 min nap at 2.30.

Does anyone else have any advice. Could it be developmental? Should I persevere with 2 naps or should I go to one? If I do go to 1 what time should it be and for how long and what time should bedtime be?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just so confused as to what to do now.

[Lelivre]

Push baby as late as you can in the morning and hopefully get her down around 11-1145 for a long long nap. Before this give a big snack and some milk, let baby sleep as long as they want. Then when she wakes another big snack, split lunch in two as it were as they will sleep through the lunchtime period (hopefully!) worked for mine anyway

[Madallie]

Ah thanks lelivre. That sounds like a good option. Think I'll give that a go. Just a couple of questions if you don't mind me asking.

What was your dcs wake time with a nap at that time and how long did they nap?
What a fe did this happen with yours?
And what time was bedtime?

Hope you don't mind me being a but nosey .

[VroomOnTheBroom]

DS dropped his morning nap (10.30-11.15) at about 9 months, which was annoyingly early. From there he went to napping from 11.30 to 1.30pm, and sleeping at 8, waking at 6 (but waking 2ish times a night). After about 15 months and starting nursery, the naps regulated to about 12.30-2.30. Even when he started sleeping through, it was from 9pm-7am and that's pretty much been the pattern until he dropped his afternoon nap aged about 2 (he's 2y3m now) and he now sleeps about 8pm to 7am - though he's a bloody nightmare to get to sleep if he has one in the day.

Most parents at our nursery are telling the staff to put the kids down for a nap even if they're not acting sleepy; they think I'm very unusual saying "whatever you do, please don't let him sleep!"

[Lelivre]

Hello, I'm struggling to remember to answer accurately but I think about the same age as your DC. Also it can take many weeks to get into a new routine that works consistently when dropping a nap. I think mine struggled to do a 7pm bedtime when they went to a lunchtime nap at first and 6.30 maybe more realistic. This will inevitably lead to early waking and baby wanting to go back to a long morning nap and then struggle with overtiredneas in the afternoon.

If that happens try with distraction and play and food to stretch the morning out, if you fail there try a short morning and short afternoon nap to keep the bedtime and night 'normal' and try again the next day. Once they go to that long long lunchtime nap it's lovely to have the time to catch up or spend time with other dc/'s.

I was very routine orientated with my first as she couldn't tolerate over tiredness, with my second I was co slept and he napped in the sling loads but around 1 he did this long lunchtime nap too and it went on for over a yr. Lovely!

[Madallie]

Mm I'm intrigued to know what snooze1 wrote to go against talk guidelines.