What happens if you put an overtired baby (9mo) to bed early?

[ClareBaldingsHair]

Say I put him down at 5.30, will he wake at 5.30am? Or will he wake at normal time all refreshed

He just seems to have 2x30 min naps in the day at the mo which really isn't enough and he's got so overtired/overstimulated with xmas

Could you put him down a little earlier (4/4.30) for another half hour, then do bedtime at 7ish?

Where does he nap? A half hour nap is an overtired nap so give yourself a time for putting him down for a sleep (at that age it was exactly 2 hours after whatever time she last woke) regardless of his cues - I wpuld put dd in her buggy in a dark room. Usually she would settpe herself, but if not, I would sneak in and rock her.

I did this for a while. It did mean an early start, but was worth it for a happy baby. I then kept moving bed time later by ten mins until I reached 7pm. I just had to be really strict about the morning nap not becoming a big catch up sleep.

Otherwise, could you introduce a third day time sleep. It's tough when they only nap for 30 mins.

Thanks both, an extra nap is a good idea but he's at the childminders in the week and she does tea about then. I'll try it when I have him at the weekend.

He naps in his cot fine but pings awake crying after 30 mins when he's overtired which does seem to be a lot of the time. His brother was the same.

I was hoping one early night might just 'reset' him if you see what I mean

CCCH what would be wrong with the morning nap being a big catch up sleep? TBH I feel any big sleep is welcome!

I think what CCCH means is they wake early knowing they can 'catch up' in tge morning - remove that possibility and they will tag the additional hours onto their night time sleep.

At around 9 months old my youngest was going to bed at around 5.30-6pm and slept until 7am or later every night. He had a couple of good naps in the day too, I would try puttinghim down at 5.30 and see what happens.

Thanks for explaining GoldPlated. I don't have trouble with early morning waking UNLESS he is overtired ironically!

Fuzzymum, thank you so much! That gives me the confidence to start trying it!!

I second Fuzzymum, my DD is V sensitive to overtiredness (cue blue murder screaming) and I have always found it best to put her to bed early (5:30 usually but earlier has not been unheard of) and she more often than not will actually sleep in later than normal the next day. Good luck!

What time does he nap? Try set times for naps - around 8.30am and 12.30 if he wakes around 6/6.30am or shift later by half an hour.

I'd be putting him down within two hours of first waking and letting him have a longer sleep until he catches up. My dd has on occasion 2 hours in the morning plus 90 mins after lunch if she's had rough nights eg illness. Doesn't make her wake early (she's 13 months)

Thanks Domestic Goddess that is so useful. Luckily he self settles very well but I remember DS1 screaming for 20 mins at bedtime if he got overtired, it's really horrible

Naptimes are about 10.15 and 1-1.30 (he wakes 7am or later on a good day, 6-6.20am on an overtired day)

I have been putting him down a lot earlier for the morning nap when I can which works really well but is impossible when he's at the childminders as he needs to arrive there at 9.15 and by the time I've left it's usually 9.30. She then does snack at 10

Just what was said below. I had a phase of ds getting up at the crack of dawn. Then having a big morning nap, waking up all refreshed. I was a walking zombie (unless I managed to catch some zzzz aswell). I don't mind early either if he is in a good mood. We stuck with a 6am-6pm routine for ages as it suited us.

DD is getting ready to drop one of her two naps, so rather than her nap at 9/10am, Ive been getting her out and about in the mornings, giving her an early lunch at 11.30 and then nap straight after for 1.5/2 hrs. She is then totally wiped at 4, so the last two days, Ive put her down for naps then - first day for 1hr, today for 45 mins, and doing tea for as soon as she wakes. This has meant that she is going to bed 7/7.15 instead of 6.15/6.30 but im hoping to shorten the afternoon nap over the next week and pull forward the bedtime so hopefully she will get into a new little routine.

It always seems to me that no sooner have they got the hang of one way of doing things, they outgrow it and need a new routine!

His naps look too late especially the morning one. Can you somehow engineer a nap on the way to the CM then he can have an earlier lunch time nap?

Thanks all. A nap en route to the childminders is occasionally successful on the 5 min walk back from school after my raucous 5 yr old has been dropped off but then it will only ever be a 30 min nap in the pushchair so it's back to square one really.

I asked if she could put him down early today and forget the snack but he napped for only 10 minutes! Maybe he was hungry who knows.