Nap timings - 10 month old

[BlueGecko]

Hi all

I've had great advice before off you MNer's so I'm posting again to see if anyone can help.

My Dd has just turned 10 months. Breastfed. Good eater of a variety of foods.

Been sleep training to get her off the boob to sleep which is going ok. Using a gentle method of sitting in the room with her. She can now self settle - and she can do it with minimal fuss when she wants.

Typical day:
Up for day around 6:30/7. Bf pretty much straight away.

Breakfast at 8am.

She was then put in buggy to do school run at 8:30. Often if I called in shops / got chatting to other mums she'd be in her buggy till 9:30. Despite looking tired she wouldn't drop off.

Get home, bf and scamper about till 10am.

Put in cot for nap at 10am. Struggle to get her off to sleep and often will only sleep 20 mins.

Lunch starts around 11:30/12.

Put down for another nap about 12:30/1. She'd often sleep for 1.5 to 2 hours.

School run again. Home.

Tea - 4:30/5.

Bf at about 5:45/6 downstairs.

6/630 bedtime routine starts upstairs.

In bed for 6:30/7. Often a struggle to get her off to sleep. Sometimes a Lot of screaming which I think is maybe due to over tiredness? Sometimes I worry that she's hungry as she doesn't seem to spend much time bf these days. But I'm trying not to feed her again once in her bed as I know she wants to fall asleep on me!

She doesn't have a dummy. She often wakes once or twice for a feed in the night. I'm trying to wean her down to one bf about 11pm.

Trying to bf her in the day is a job as she is soooo nosey. I often don't think she takes enough. But after limiting milk in the night, last night, she fed really well when she woke this morning.

My main question is - does she still need her morning nap? It's consistently only 20 mins.,.,

Anyone have any other observations on our routine?

Thanks :)

Drop the nap.
Eat at 11.30 into cot for afternoon nap straight after by 12
Slowly as she gets used to just avingb1 nap push lunch back slowly.

I'd say at 10am she's over tired. That's why she struggles to go off to sleep.and also likely why she isn't getting into a deep sleep at that point so is waking after 20 minutes.

School holidays are about to start, so I'd use that as a means to establish a 9am nap.

Thanks both. Differing opinions - which echoes what I think regarding the morning nap. Sometimes I think she needs it, sometimes not.

FATE she has been having the opportunity to sleep in her buggy though at 830/9 but not doing so....in this heat recently I've had a big sunshade on the buggy which has blocked out some distractions. If she's needed a nap then - why hasn't she taken the opportunity? She can fall asleep in her buggy.

How would I know when she's ready to transition from two naps to one?

My ten month old is at peak readiness for her first nap about 2-2.5 hours after waking. I've found if I get her off then she'll do a good 90 minutes. If I miss the window and she goes down later, perversely, she'll only do 30 minutes, needs the next nap earlier than if she'd had a good sleep, and then has too long and gap between second nap and bed. That's just my baby, may not be the same as yours, but on your schedule we would have the problems you describe and it would be overtiredness. An earlier, longer nap allows for a later second nap, so not such a long wait till bedtime.

My DD will sleep in pushchair but only if already overtired - otherwise she's too nosey! Is there a way to get her to sleep into the pushchair so you can set off with her asleep (feeding or rocking maybe?) - or get her down as soon as you get home to see if that's enough of a shift?

My lo is 8 months but she seems to have taken after her siblings for daytime naps. They've all (around this age) had naps around 10am and 2pm, then asleep for (most of) the night between 8 & 8.30pm.

I agree that she's overtired and needs a sleep around 10, then drop the lunch time nap & try for around 2-3pm

At this age of move the first nap to be in the cot. Dark room, same environment as night time.

10am and 2pm would be ideal for naps. But a 2pm nap for my toddler wouldn't work because of a 3pm school run. So i did 9am and 1pm naps. Both in the cot from about 6 m9nths onwards.

Thanks all for taking the time to respond.

She goes in her cot for a nap at 10am and again in the afternoon. My point about the buggy was that she was having the opportunity on the school run to nod off before 10am in the buggy if she wanted.

I've got an older child so now we're more likely to be out and about in the day anyway which is going to throw our schedule out over the holidays.

I'll put her down in her bed earlier tomorrow at around 9am and see what happens.

She's hard to read with very little sleepy signals. She's also extremely active - constantly occupied and on the move. Won't sit still for a minute.

She slept this afternoon from 1:30 till 3. Tea at 4:30, bf at 5:45 and bedtime routine started at 6. She's been in her bed since 6:20 and is now whinging through the bars at me

The buggy could be too stimulating, too much going on.

I know what you mean by going out and about throwing a schedule out the window. Maybe put her to bed later?

Daisy do you mean in the evening? What's the reason for your thinking? Is it so that she'll do more 8-8 rather than 7-7ish?

I would say at 10 months she still probably needs 2 naps. My dd is nearly 10 months and will rarely fall asleep in the pram, only if she is very tired.

I realise they're all different but my dd naps for about 1 hour or 1.5 hours in the morning. She goes back to her cot straight after breakfast, some mornings that can be before 8am and some mornings it's after 9am, it often depends whether or not I need her to nap early so we can get out somewhere.

She then has another nap straight after lunch for around 2 hours, sometimes a bit longer. She usually goes down around 1pm.

She goes to bed for the evening around 6:30 or 7pm.

Yep in the evening, dd is nearly 8 months and had a nap between 1&2pm (bit earlier than usual) and has just gone to sleep now, she'll sleep through but might wake for a feed as she's cutting her first tooth.

So, amazing night. Dd self settled in her bed by about 7:15pm woke at 11:15pm for a quick bf and then slept through till 6:45/7ish this morning.

Breakfast at 8, and a scamper around the floor before and after.

Put in her bed for a nap this morning at 8:55 and she's protesting dreadfully. Basically complained and screamed for the last 38 minutes...

Which is the same issue that I have when I put her in at 10am....

Glad the night was better. Does she having anything like white noise? My lo can't sleep without it, maybe give that a try?

You cannot make any judgment based on one day. It takes about 3 weeks of consistancy to see the effects of a change in routine, in my experience.

I'm becoming a bit confused as to the reason for your thread. You asked: "My main question is - does she still need her morning nap?"

And most people who have answered have said yes, she probably does still need the nap. That is to be expected, since 18 months old is the average time to drop to 1 nap days, while 12 months is not unheard of for this, 10 months is very, very early. My youngest kept 2-nap days until 22 months. More sleep is better sleep.

So you have had some opinions, if you are certain your child is best dropping the nap, then drop the nap. It's not like there is a problem in following your instinct, you will know your child better than anyone here. I don't understand why you asked in that case?

FATE I asked the question, I'm happy with the answers I've received. I'd prefer her to have two naps.

We put her in her bed st 8:55am and she basically screamed until 10am so we got her out and went about our day. I don't know if that was the right thing to do or not quite frankly. How long do you try and get them asleep?

My dh is of the view she stays in her bed until she falls asleep.

I don't want her screaming for an hour in protest - she wasn't left to scream alone btw.

Is it normal for a baby to scream in protest that long?

In the end we got her out and she happily played with her brothers duplo. Then fell asleep at 1115am in the car on the way to a restaurant and slept for 30 mins. Which I recognise isn't enough.

My son is older so I'm not back in the swing of baby sleeping habits. But we're doing our best which is why
I'm asking for advice.

What worked for me was letting dd cry for a short while (a few minutes) and then going back in and settling her, but not getting her out of her cot. I wouldn't leave her if she was really upset however. I was going back in continuously until she fell asleep, but it took less and less time for her to settle herself as time went on, and after a week or two she generally started to settled herself when I put her down, unless she's not feeling well, teething etc.

They're all different and she sounds like she'd do quite well with lunch at 11, nap from 11.30 and perhaps a power nap at 4.30-5. Could work?

I say 9am nap and 1-2pm nap

Thanks for taking time to respond to me.

Please can someone answer - how long do you personally give it to get your baby to nap before you give up? An hour this morning of screaming before nap aborted. What would others have done in this situation? Carried on? Given up? How long do you give it before aborting?

She ended up sleeping between 1:45 and 3:15 in the car this afternoon.

Started usual bedtime routine and she's been crying since 18:50 - so over 50 minutes. That's with me sitting, talking quietly to her to calm her, pottering about so in and out of her room a bit, shushing her etc. The usual things I do - sometimes they work but each sleep (nap and night) takes FOREVER to get her asleep. Even when she's not screaming she's rolling about, playing with the bars, touching the screws on her cot, kicking her grobag, playing with her feet etc.

BlueGecko-are you putting her down too early? My DS is 8 months and if he wakes 6.45/7 he will not nap until 9.30am, and thn sleeps for 90 mins. Sometimes I can even push him to 3 hours awake time and he still goes down well and has a good nap. Then when he wakes from that morning nap, he is awake 3 hours before another 90min nap. Just a thought.....

Jasquers i don't know is the honest answer. I usually put her down at 10am. I'm at a loss to know what is right for her... 😢

I just know that she fights sleep. And I'm not the only one who has come to that assumption. My dad said "I've never known a baby to fight sleep so much".

Which is frustrating as the first 3 months of her life she was barely awake! Umpteen people commented how they never saw her awake. She'd wake to feed and go back to sleep.

I'd suggest leaving her to it. She's nosey and with you popping in and out to soothe, you're probably winding her up. If you're not keen on that, sitting on a chair in her room and facing away from her might be an option?

I agree with others the morning nap should be seen as an extension of the night sleep. So 2/3 hrs after waking. Ideally in the cot. With a shorter version of the nighttime routine.
I give my LO half an hour to settle for the nap if they don't settle by then I go in and calm them with a book or gentle play in the cot till naptime is finished so 1 hr in the cot in total. So they get into the idea that they are in the cot for that period of the day sleeping or not. They are creatures of habit so it's all about consistency.
Then early lunch and nap for 12. If they haven't slept. 3hrs later if they have.
Also my break through with night waking and weaning was to put them down early. Really early like 5:30 so that they have lights out by 5:45 and asleep by 6:15. Then once they are no longer overtired they will sleep easier for naps and bedtime and you maybe able to push bedtime a little later.
Quiet time of play for 15mins in the cot after they wake in the morning and after every nap also helps them enjoy being in the cot.
If you can't do a morning nap in the cot then the snoozeshade over the pushchair to cut out the light and the stimulation may help.