Can A time decrease as a baby gets older?

[Madallie]

My dd is 9mo ad used to nap 9.45-11ish, then 2-3ish.

Now, she has started to really have problems settling for her pm nap eve though she is clearly tired. I have kept to these times in order to be consistent (as I keep reading everywhere) plus it seemed to be working a while back.

However, she often starts rubbing her eyes earlier now, sometimes as early as 1pm.

Is it possible that she could need less A time now?! I always thought A time increased with age.

I guess I could understand if she was walking/cruising etc but she doesn't do either of these yet (rolls arouns a lot and has started doing what look like 'the worm' going backwards). She doesn't seem to be doind much more than previously to get more worn out.

Should I stick to routine or just put her down when she is tired (more often now is about 1.30pm?

My worry is that she has a short nap (her pm nap lengths vary from 40mins to 1hrs 20mins - most often about an hr though) and can't make it til BT!

There is a big developmental leap at 9m. My DS started napping for 3 hrs am and 2hrs pm during it, and he really fought going to sleep even though he was clearly very tired. Threw me a bit but when he came out the other side he dropped a nap.

I would put her down when she is tired, you might find she sleeps longer. She might be having short naps due to being overtired by the time you put her down.

PS yes we also had needing a catnap around tea time which made bed time later but he slept much better with the cat nap than with me refusing it and putting him down over tired for bed.

Thanks JM

Think I'll have to try puttig her down as a soon as she seems sleepy for pm nap rather than wait util the time that used to work. I'm guessing she's not settling great because she's OT.

I just worry she will only take a short nap if I do this and then I'll have a very tired baby before BT. When she goes down very tired at night she usually wakes very early the next morning too!

But as you say maybe she'll sleep longer at the earlier time or even if not at least she wouldn't have had a chance to get OT in between nap1 ad nap 2 which then gets compounded between nap 2 and bedtime.

Sorry for ramble, thinking aloud!!!

I never anticapted A time getting less as she got older. She used to fo 3.5hrs between naps about 6 weeks ago!
Oh well, just another thing I did not know about babies (and that no one told me either). I'm making quite a collection of these new findings!

madallie - is her morning nap still the same as it was i.e. 9.45-11ish? And what about her morning wakeup time - still the same? what time is she up? and when does she go to bed? If all else is the same & she is just more sleepy then go with it!

Its not generally typical for A times to decrease as they get older, usually what you find is that the morning gets longer & longer, eventually she will just nap once a day around lunchtime, and as she gets older this will move later in the afternoon until it is eventually dropped. BUT they can certainly have phases where they need more day sleep (temporarily) eg growth spurt, when teething, developmental leaps. Enjoy!xx

Thanks Omama.

Her wake up time is usually between 6 and 7. More often that not it's about 6.30 -6.45am

Wellnap 1 is usually 9.30am or 9.45am depending on when she woke in the am. She is really good at going down for this nap. Never really a problem so even if she wakes up on the earlier side I haven't altered the time too much as she goes down and has a reasonable nap. Today for e.g. - Woke about 6.30am, put down for nap at 9.30, asleep within 10 mins and slept will 10.55am.

I then usually put her down 3 hrs after this wake for nap number 2. Always used to be fine! Started resisting this nap although still seemed tired so I thought maybe she needs longer awake time as she is gettig older, so changed by about 10-15mins (e.g. about 2.15 rather than 2) This just made her take even longer to fall asleep!

Now I don't know what to do!

Today so far has been:

6.30ish - awake

9.30 in cot for nap asleep from 9.40-10.55

1.55- in cot for nap 2 - asleep by 2.15pm (altho did cry and moan and fuss)

I don't want her to be up there if she's not tired, but equally I don't want her to get overtired. When I've tried putting her down 3hrs and 15mins after nap 1 it took her 45mins to sleep.

Today (and yesterday) she started looking tired (yawning, rubbing eye etc during lunch at about 1pm. Do you think I should be putting her down then at the moment? A whole hour earlier than normal and after only 2hrs of awake time?

Sorry for so much info and questions! It's just nice to have someone to discuss with, ask advice. Think my family think I'm sleep crazy!

tbh I probably wouldn't go earlier, unless you suspect she is really really in need of it eg teething/ill or had a bad night. 2hrs is a pretty short awake time for her age, especially following a decent nap of 1.5hrs+. I think if you do, she will likely either 1) go right to sleep but take a very short nap, which will mean she is then awake for a very long time before bedtime (and will end up overtired) or 2) she may go crazy because she's not tired enough to sleep.

That said, do you feel she has always struggled to last the 3hrs between her naps before now? If so you could always try shortening it by 15 mins & see whether she settles more quickly - test the water before jumping in iyswim?

IIWM I'd probably hang fire for now, and only change things if she's still resisting after a couple of weeks. I know in the past with my DS, I've sometimes been too quick to change things, thinking a routine tweak was needed, when he simply had an off day, or developmental leaps threw things, and within a week or so he was back to normal.

Thanks Omama, yeah that's what I think I'll do, hang fire for now! I just don't like her crying and fussig for ages up there it stresses me out (have trauma for the months when she just never sceamed blue murder for hours whether in moses basket, cot or my arms!). It's a irrational fear after at least 4 months of her not doint this but I'm working on keeping calm!

Anyway, no she never used to have problems lasting 3hrs but she has been dribbling a lot, biting on her hands, toys etc so think she's is teething (already has 8 teeth at 9month, poor thing!).

Think I'll tough it out another week (been going on about a week now). If no improvement then wil maybe only keep her up 2hrs 45 for a few days and experiment!

I too have sometimes changed things to quickly, only to regret it v soon. I fact a few weeks back she started resisting am nap too. I was sure she was tired so just kept with it (a battle on most days) anyway after about ten days she was back to going down fine!

Thanks for you advice!