Daytime Sleep Gone Wonky Since Turned 6 months - Is This Normal?

[LittleMan]

Hi All
Just wondering if this has happened to others of you? Since he turned roughly 6 months old, ds doesn't seem to want to sleep for more than 1 hour and 20 mins at a time (2 sleep cycles) and then only twice a day. Some times in the afternoon he only sleeps for 40mins, then wakes so we do stuff then I have to try and get him to sleep again later! I always try to get him to bed as soon as i see he is tired, but we are sometimes ending up with him waking after his lunch time sleep at 2.30ish and then not sleeping again - it's a long time to dinner and bed from there!

2 naps a day at that age is about right - certainly was for mine - and tbh, soon he will announce that he only wants one sleep a day. Try to reduce his morning nap to one sleep cycle and then put him down for a longer one for the second - that should ease the afternoon a bit. It may take a bit to retrain him, but about 3-4 days should do it. Also, is he moving ? Just before or after they start moving/crawling their sleep tends to go haywire - almost as if their brain is processing all the extra stuff and suddenly they realise they are able to move and so 'lose' you for a while. Also, when they can sit up and stuff, they do get more irritable anyway, so try and do stuff in the afternoon if possible to keep him interested in his environment - visiting, or softplay, or the playground, if the weather isn't too grim. There is a lot going on at this age - changes in food, moving, teeth etc can all contribute to a baby that was previously very malleable suddenly being hard to handle. But it does get better again!

Yes, it happened to DD as well, bit earlier, around 5months. It's hard when they're going from 3 naps to 2 (and later from 2 to 1). So I tried to keep her awake between two naps longer (did it gradually, like every 3-4 days 10mins later), so the second nap would be bit later and she manages to get to the bed-time without getting too tired.
DD is now 7months and I tend to not let her sleep longer than 45-50mins in the morning, so she would have bit longer nap in the afternoon.
It worked for us and now she can go quite long between naps. DD wakes up at 7-7.30am, first nap 10am, second one at 3pm, bed-time 8pm.
HTH!

my 7 month old still has 3 naps. can't see that changing very soon. she wakes at 6 or 7, first nap around 8.30 for an hour. next nap midday for half an hour, next nap 3 pm for half an hour, bed about 6.30.

Hi All
Thanks for your responses, it has really helped. I have been trying everything to get him to sleep longer in the afternoon but to no avail. Thought it might be because he was hungry so when he wakes early gave him a bottle which he promptly refused, so obviously not that. Today he was awake longer in the morning, so went for morning nap at about 9.45am, slept until just after 11am so I gave him lunch quite early as dropping his mid morning milk (he was only taking a couple of ounces anyway), then kept him up a bit longer after lunch and put him to bed at 1.30ish, and by then he only slept for 30 mins or so! We had to go to shops so managed to get another half hour or so out of him later afternoon but that's it! Dinner was late but he ate ok, however that made him too full and hyper for nightime milk! Just when I thought things had got sorted!!! He has also started to grizzle at me when I put him to bed, and also do this thing where he bends back as far as he can whilst grizzling/moaning and then laughs a bit about it! I just find it funny so end up laughing too!
It's reassuring to hear that others have experienced the same thing. Will try to reduce his morning sleep, but slightly concerned that he will end up really grouchy and tired over lunch instead and then still not sleep in the afternoon! Dizzy some days we seem to have a very similar pattern to you, but he goes to bed a bit later as daddy home late, still sleeps 11/12 hours at night though so guess I should not complain!
Thanks again for your comments.