Should I wake my 8 month old?

[NothingBreaksLikesAHeart]

My DS has started taking long morning naps. He used to wake around 11/11.30 and I'd give him a bottle then lunch an hour later. As I write, hes still sleeping pushing back milk and lunch time to probably 2ish.

My question is should I wake him rather than let him wake naturally? He used to only sleep for 30mins to an hour or so in the morning. Now he'll either not nap this afternoon or drop off really close to his bedtime which makes him far too alert to go down when it's his usual bedtime. Any suggestions?

What time does he wake up and then go down for his first nap?

My babies were in the Gina Ford routines (born early noughties) so I woke them and put them down for naps at exactly the same times every day to keep it all working perfectly, which it did.

I would wake your baby, but i expect i will be the only one to say that!

@clearlyopaque He wakes between 6 and 7 (usually). Bottle on waking, breakfast at 8. Goes down for his first nap between 10 and 11.

@bigusbumus interesting! I've not heard of her but my worry is that sleep is when neural pruning takes place so dont want to interfere with that process, hence my reluctance. Did she say anything about her theory behind set wake ups and impact in development?

I always did the opposite to Gina ford and would assume if he's sleeping longer he needs it for growing or to catch up after some busy times.

If he's having such a long nap at the mo could you maybe try giving him a more substantial morning snack before his nap and then a 'snack' lunch after and see if napping slightly later helps him get to bedtime with just one nap?

My ds dropped his afternoon nap at about 7 months, would nap for ages about 1130 - 230 and then push through to bed at 630/7ish.

I never wake mine. I get annoyed if someone tries to wake me up when I'm still sleeping. I think it's mean.

@RubbingHimSweetly thanks for your post. I think I might try and give him his mid-morning bottle before his morning nap so when he wakes it straight into lunch. He has recently started kind of crawling and rolling around on the floor more so I did wonder whether he was tiring himself out in the morning and just needed more of a rest. Thanks for sharing your experience!

@georgialondon very true! Lol!