Gina Ford followers please help!

[oloughlin]

My ds is all over the place with his naps.
I've only reciently started following Gina ford (my ds is 9 1/2mts old) as we were having a big problem with night wakenings (every hour for the dummy) He was getting 2 naps a day, an hour each but thought I'd give the Gina routine a go as she says long naps in the morning could be the reason for early morning wakenings. We got rid of his dummy last week, which went surprisingly well and little crying and we're finally getting a full nights sleep due to reducing the morning nap to 30mins.

His routine is as follows:
7am wakes up
7.15am Bottle (5oz)
8/8.30am Breakfast
9.30-10am Nap (I have to wake him up from this nap)
10am (very small snack)
11.30am Lunch + 2oz formula before bed)
12.30-1.15pm Nap
2pm Snack and 3oz Bottle
4-4.30pm Nap
5pm Dinner
6pm Bath
6.30pm Bottle (7oz)
7pm bed (sleeps through till morning)

Well the last few days have been a nightmare! He goes down ok for his morning nap, lunchtime nap he cries for about 20mins and then only sleeps 30-45mins (ive tried to let him cio and go back to sleep but he just won't) and afternoon nap he won't go down for anymore (cries for 30mins and I know he's not gonna sleep so I take him up) but then come 5pm he's absolutely wrecked cause he's been up since 1.15, but if I put him down for a nap at 5, then he won't be tired enough for bed at 7.
I've tried earlier and later bedtimes and they don't seem to make a difference.
His room is also completely blackout and the temperature is right so I know that's not the problem. I just don't know what to do! Even dropping the evening nap (as he's chosen not to go down for the last few days) has made no difference, except more tired. If I let him sleep longer for the morning naps I'm afraid it's gonna cause early morning wakenings again. He's only getting 1-1.15hr during the day (Gina recommends 2-3hr) I'm so stressed (suffered PND after he was born and feel it's rearing his ugly head again cause I just can't deal with all the crying when he goes down for his second and third nap)
Please help!

Right, drop the 3rd nap. Few are having it at that age. For the lunch nap, will he sleep in the buggy? if so, you might well have to walk for a couple of hours to get him to get in a good sleep habit. Echo the suggestion that 12:30 might be too late for your DS to start the nap, 12 might be more likely.

I'd also think about making the big nap in the morning then a short afternoon nap (but not later than 4pm) and see if the nighttimes do go wrong on that or if he'll cope. Sometimes you have to find a routine that suits your LO and you.

babies constantly change their sleep patterns for no particular reason (that is obvious anyway). i dont know if trying to force a routine (in the sense that you lead and baby follows) is going to help your mental state if you are feeling low already.

Your child is not a robot.

Whoops sorry didn't realise about the Gina ford thing on this site.
To be honest I started it cause I really didn't know what else to do. I know people said that they're routines change all the time and to just go with what suits baby but I panic everytime it changes asi don't know what to do. As a newborn he cried 10 hours a day so I gave him the soother to help and let him sleep whenever he wanted so he's never had a routine and I'm finding it so hard to figure out what works best for him. We had to do the cry it out as when he's tired he'd always cry in our arms no matter what so I felt he'd learn to get himself to sleep if he did it in his room. The soother had to go cause he was using it as a sleep prop and having to get up so much at night to put it back in for him meant I was only getting 3-4hrs sleep at night which made the post natal depression worse.
I've tried letting him sleep longer in the morning nap but he ends up having a fretful sleep that night and waking at 5/5.30am the next morning.
I might try see if I can hold him out longer for the one nap a day and see how he goes.
I really don't feel cut out for this, I love him more than anything but now feel so guilty with all the changes I've put him through this week.
Thanks for all the advice!

GF worked brilliantly for DD2. DD1 wasn't interested. Coincidentally they both got rid of their dummies around that age. They just lost interest. I think that's a red herring. Don't worry about that "change". If he now sleeps through the night, then great. Better for him and better for you. Well done. Really.

With changing the daytime sleeps, I think you have to allow for a bit of transition time. They have to build their stamina a bit. If he needs something around 4 then perhaps take him out for a walk and let him dose for 10 mins rather than have a full blown nap.

I was really keen to get DD2 into a longer lunchtime nap routine too (had a toddler on one nap so wanted them to sleep at the same time) so also used to wake her after 40-45 mins of the 930 nap. It took a week or two but worked in the end. Then I had one day of simultaneous napping - heaven - before the toddler dropped naps altogether.

I really like GF but you have to try to take it with a pinch of salt. It won't suit every child and it won't work every day. It doesn't mean you're not cut out for it.

Don't try to do too much at once. You've successfully removed the dummy, and are getting a long sleep at night (which many can only dream of!) so let this embed a bit before changing anything else. I hope you mean you did a form of controlled crying rather than leaving him to completely cry it out; though really nothing should surprise me anymore.

I wouldn't worry about the 5.30 wake up. Very normal for lots of kids. If you are getting a full sleep at night then can you not live with an early start? Once I learned to accept such an early start I shifted my day to accommodate it and went to bed early myself.

I don't like Gf but know some do but I would say be flexible and don't try and force it. If baby is sleeping through then got to be good! My baby at that age got up at 5.30 and had a 2 hour nap at 11 after an early lunch. In bed by 7. He kind of found his own pattern though I encouraged the nap by putting him in his pushchair and going for a walk.

I would give him one later pm nap nap in the hope that he would sleep longer & not need the third nap and be ready for bed at 7pm.

Just wanted to say don't worry so much, your baby is doing great - getting himself to sleep, sleeping through the night (very jealous), and no longer having a dummy. You have achieved so much in the last week, you should be very proud of yourself and your baby.

Re the naps, I agree he probably now only needs 2 naps rather than 3. I would let him sleep for longer in the morning, and ensure he has another nap in the afternoon when tired (go for a walk if necessary).
(Disclaimer, I am not an expert and my 14month DC2 still doesn't sleep through the night, hence the jealousy above :)

Try to enjoy your baby rather than worrying. They grow up so quickly. (And do change their routines regularly which always catches you out.)

marks place, sits down with a

The only bit of advice i have is just don't do GF! don't

My dis is (10) now and I don't even remember GF when he was a baby. She might have been there but I didn't use books. But DS has ASd so he doesn't follow any developmental plans

What screams out to me from your post is the routine is so transfixed and centred around 3 naps with regular snacks that getting out and about must be hard. Don't forget or underestimate how much getting out tires a baby and so can a useful tool.
Being stuck in a house timing your day to the nth minute must be causing you to feel stressed - combined with PND cannot be helping you surely?

I'd suggest finding some groups in your area. They don't have to be the clingy M&B groups - try the library, swimming pool, sure start centre etc.

I would have thought a 7-8.30am get up, milk and breakfast etc followed by an activity, snack/ lunch then a longer sleep would be better at this age?

And like everyone else says - your doing great. Your little boy is lucky you want the best for him.

agree drop the 4pm nap, I always found when my dc woke after 45mins, 1 sleep cycle, they were over tired, maybe try starting morning nap earlier for longer, 9am to 10am, lunch 11:30 and bed by 12:30pm. aiming for 2:30pm, don't let people make you feel bad about following gf, people here are so derogatory about her, but she only gives you something to hang your hat on. in my experience babies love a routine. whatever gets you through