Is my 8-month-old sleeping enough?

[user10794etc]

He's always been a short napper, but now he's cutting out his late afternoon nap (he's leading that, not us particularly) which means his total daily sleep is quite a lot below the "recommended" or "normal". He seems totally find and rarely cries, but I'm scared because everywhere online talks about how important sleep is for babies' brain development, etc.

His schedule used to be
wake up at 6.30am
30-60 minute nap at around 9a
1 - 1.5 hour nap at 12.30pm
30 minute nap at 4.30pm
bed at 7 - 7.30pm

He has stopped wanting to sleep at 4.30pm recently, and where he previously would be all ratty and crying by 5pm if he didn't sleep, he now stays awake and perfectly happy until bedtime at 7pm. So he goes from 2pm to 7pm awake, which apparently is bad for a baby his age. But he doesn't want to sleep and doesn't even yawn until 6.30ish at the earliest!

I wouldn't actually mind cutting that nap out, I know it's usually dropped around this age, but his other naps haven't lengthened and he's still sleeping really badly at night, meaning he gets about 2-2.5 hours of sleep in the day, plus 11 (minus at least an hour in wake-ups overnight because he's going through a horrible sleep regression right now) at night. So that's 11.5-13.5 hours per full 24hr day.

Is that too little?? Is it bad to stay awake so long in the afternoon? Given that he SEEMS fine (in the day - night time is another thread I think!), should we be worried about his development?

8 months is a normal age for dropping the third nap. I would suggest stretching the first two awake times so that the remaining two naps are more evenly distributed around the day.

I would aim for a 9.30am nap and a 1.30pm nap, if baby can manage these. But be flexible. If baby has a really bad night and exhausted earlier, or if first nap is too short, then allow for earlier naps and having days of sometimes having a third nap and sometimes not.

That's what I was thinking of doing yeah. But the problem for me is that he still has such short naps. Don't most babies on two-nap schedules sleep for a couple of hours each nap. My DS's first nap is often only 30 minutes :-/

Most babies aren't your baby though, to be fair.

None are, mine is the most special in the world!!

Seriously though it's just because I'm worried about his development. I read on so many sites about how they need a certain amount of sleep for good brain development, etc :-s

You've answered your own question there.

Getting enough sleep is indeed important for a baby, for a variety of reasons. Your baby is having short naps. So two short naps is going to mean not enough sleep, therefore it follows that your baby needs to have more naps per day in order to not be over tired.

Meh

My DS is 7.5 months and just starting to drop the third nap. He's never been a long napper either - he'll do 45-60mins in the morning and 1-1.5hrs at lunch with maybe a 30min power nap in the afternoon. I think some babies just don't like snoozing for hours on end.

I think the recommended nap time for 8 months old is 2.5hrs so I wouldn't stress if your baby doesn't seem tired. What I tend to do is really make sure that if for some reason the first nap is short, we get a good 1.5hrs in the second time - sometimes this means a looooong walk in the pram, or allowing him to sleep on me, or whatever. I figure as long as he has one good nap a day it's all good. Not scientific, but there you go!

My almost 9-month old DS is exactly the same! He dropped the third nap a couple of weeks ago and went through a slightly difficult phase of overtiredness but now seems to have settled nicely into the 2 map schedule.

However the 8/9 month sleep regression has hit us hard and his nighttime has gone completely wrong. It has affected naps too. He sleeps 30-40mins, where he used to sleep 1-2hr. But I am hoping it is only a phase.

Also, j think some babies maybe need slightly more/less sleep than others. Perhaps an hour plus/minus is ok? Or so I tell myself to try not to worry!!

OP how are your handling the night wakings? It's tough, esp if sleeping through previously

stealthbanana

Sounds like our boys have similar naps. I've been letting him sleep on my lap to extend the second nap if he wakes up from it too quickly. Hope that won't come back to bite me in the arse later!

Ifyouthinkiwillsleepyoudream

He never slept through but was down to just a couple of wake ups per night for a quick feed. Then a few weeks ago he started waking up screaming every hour or two at most, needing holding, rocking, feeding, etc. in order to go back to sleep. Me and OH are rather sleep deprived!! I believe it is the 8-month regression. His top two teeth are both coming through at the moment too. Luckily things have improved the last 2-3 nights, just through consistency and sheer will-power, he's been a bit better (down to two night feeds at midnight and 4am) and no other major awakenings. I think you just have to tough it out and remain consistent with the way you do things.

Thank you OP! Yeah we have teeth coming out too, which I am sure contribute to the problem. We re trying to be consistent and waiting it out... good luck! Here's hoping there will be progress soon