Any advice for barely napping 10 month old?

[chloe31]

LG is 10 months old next week. She's waking up on the dot after 30 mins of her morning and afternoon nap - often waking sitting up or on all fours looking confused! She's exhausted by bedtime and I've been trying to get her to bed early to compensate for not much day sleep - so yesterday her day looked like -

7am wake
10am nap for 40 mins (a good one!)
1.45 nap for 30 mins
6.30pm bed

She wakes a couple of times in the night to feed. I wake her by 7am on the advice of a sleep consultant but I never like doing it :-( but it seems like she is getting most of her sleep at night to compensate for the crap naps. I've tried moving her naps back, forward, and nothing sticks. She's always been a crap napper but she did get in the habit of taking a good morning nap (1.5 hrs ish) when she was around 8 months - seems like a distant memory now. She's a very alert baby, interested in everything (except sleeping )

I'm trying to just "go with it" as it seems like nothing I can do makes a difference, but I am a bit worried about her - she's fairly jolly most of the time but does look tired (bags under her eyes). I imagine it's partly developmental and am just trying to wait it to see if things settle (until the next thing!) But any advice would be gratefully received.

I don't have any advice for you but we are going through the same thing! My DD (9.5 months) just started doing a decent afternoon nap (anything from 1 to 2 hours) but has gone back to being a 30 minute napper again. She also has a 30 minute nap in the morning. I loved my afternoon break and I'm missing it! But more importantly, like your DD, mine just seems to be constantly tired even though she's very active. 5.30am is the new getting up time here (after a few feeds in the night too) so exhausting for me too.

I'm putting it down to separation anxiety as she gets so upset when she wakes and won't be left to settle herself to sleep at all. Sigh. Hoping it passes soon.

Are you putting her down to nap at other times? My DS is 9mo and would stay awake for hours if I didn't physically put him in bed. I try to put him down when he has been awake for 1.5-2 hours, as he is quite active now and tires himself out and gets grumpy. He will then sleep for about 30-40 mins but that's four times a day most days.

Could you try putting her down more frequently? Sometimes DS doesn't actually sleep but the 'down time' can help him recharge, although he's quite content just rolling around in his cot by himself and other babies might not be.

Can you try 9am for first nap? She might be overtired by 10.

Yes, if my DS wakes at 7am he goes back for a nap at 8.30am.

At that age DS' day was up at 7, naps at 9 and 1 for an hour plus, bed at 6:00/6:30. Religiously! Because he and I were both happy with that. That was the 2/3/4 routine and it was glorious.

Now it's all gone to shit once he hit 10 months. Hello 5 am wake ups!

*10.5months

At 10.5 months you could possibly try for one much longer nap?

Or just try not waking at 7?

I've read that at this age you're "supposed" to be stretching wake times (e.g. closer to 2.5-3 hours after waking). We have tried putting her down with shorter wake times, didn't make a difference. But we could try for a 3 nap day if she persists with 30 min naps. Thanks everyone!

She does make a lot of fuss before naps. Very alert and strong-willed and hates missing out on any fun! I was loving 2 nap days, so much easier. Less of a prisoner in the house and less struggling with a baby who doesn't want to sleep :-(

The 2/3/4 routine is a good one - first nap 2 hrs from waking for the day, 2nd nap 3 hrs after waking and then bed 4 hours after waking from last nap. You need to give it a week or so to see any difference

My lo is 10.5 months and she only had 2 30 minute naps similar times to yours. This week shes cracked walking and now walks everywhere but its tiring her out so much that her afternoon nap has become 1 hour long just of its own accord. Dont worry about it, if shes not grouchy she possibly doesnt need it. They say 14 hours sleep in 24 hours but all babies are different 😊

Thank you that is reassuring! Sure it will sort itself out soon x

if its any consolation i'm going through exactly the same thing too and posted a very similar nap thread a few weeks ago. My daughter is 10 months on monday and has 30 mins for morning and afternoon naps (occasionally this may stretch to 45 mins if we're lucky!) She too is a very alert little girl and into everything and anything at the moment, creates a massive fuss when I put her down and takes ages to go off sometimes as shes squawking so much! Generally at night she sleeps through til 5.30/6am so I shouldn't complain too much, but she does seem tired at times during day and I really feel like she wants to nap longer but just can't?! Oh well.....I guess we just roll with it and see if things improve once moving more etc. Mine isn't crawling yet (even though shes desperate too) so its proving pretty hard entertaining her for so long during the day!!!

I always struggled getting DD1 to nap. Some days I'd only manage 1
X 20min nap. Poor thing was shattered! I tried everything. Nothing worked, even driving her around etc. Then at 11 months she suddenly went to 1 x 45 min nap which stretched out to 1 hour, now at 19 months she goes down for somewhere between 90 mins and 3 hours every day (bliss). I can't tell you what I did differently, it just happened, she suddenly got it. So although I have no practical advice, hang in there!

Though the waking at 7am sounds really weird - did the sleep consultant say why? I've always found that waking DD1 has really bad consequences, she just seems overtired all day and naps worse, not better. But then I'm no sleep consultant (if I was then I'm sure I'd have got DD1 to successfully nap!)

7am is the holy grail of sleep training and consultancy. No idea why as babies aren't little robots. Why you try not waking her at 7am op and see what she wants to do? If she is overtired she could do with catching up on the sleep anyway (as could you I'm sure )

Sorry op wasn't digging at you about the 7am thing btw

Don't worry I wasn't offended :-) I know I have never been sure about the whole waking them up thing, and I hate doing it! This morning she was up at 6 anyway so no dilemma!