How can I get my 8mo to extend nap?

[thatvegangirl]

Please help!

I feel like I've read every possible article on naps/wake windows/schedules and my eyes are on the verge of falling out.

My sweet DS is 8 months, he was a rubbish night sleeper (we hit the 4 month sleep regression and never recovered) up until we sleep trained at 7 months using PUPD and wait times (Ferber). He's now sleeps through the night most nights - and not a moment too soon for my sanity.

BUT he can't join his sleep cycles in the afternoon. He wakes up around 6:30am has a morning nap 9:30-10am. His afternoon nap was starting at 12:30, but I've just extended his wake window to 1pm incase that'd help, but it doesn't make any difference, he still wakes up after 30/45mins sigh I leave him for about 30mins to try and self settle, which he get very close to doing, but never quite manages.

I end up taking him out for an emergency nap in the pram 4:30-4:15 to get him through to bedtime at 6pm.

He's a veggie and eats 3 protein packed meals a day.

Any suggestions very welcome!

Knock the morning sleep and then have a long lunch sleep after dinner?

Thanks @Christmasfairy2020 but my little guy wouldn't make it to lunchtime without a morning nap, he's be climbing the walls. I think he's too little. But I'm keeping it short in the hope that helps

Could you preempt the wake up and sneak into his room and rub his back or shhh him to try and get him through the wake up window.

He wakes up around 6:30am has a morning nap 9:30-10am. His afternoon nap was starting at 12:30, but I've just extended his wake window to 1pm incase that'd help, but it doesn't make any difference, he still wakes up after 30/45mins.... I end up taking him out for an emergency nap in the pram 4:30-4:15 to get him through to bedtime at 6pm.

So he's having 3 naps a day, that are all 30-45 minutes?

In which case, he's not ready for only 3 naps a day and probably needs 4 (or maybe more!). I wouldn't drop to 3 naps a day until the first two naps are consistantly over an hour (and closer to 90m). Otherwise you just end up compounding exhaustion on top of an already exhausted child - which ends up making for increasingly difficult and fretful sleep.

Rather than increasing awake time, I would reduce awake time (so more naps per day). I'd set a maximum awake time of 2h, or before if baby is clingy and grumpy.

Do your 6.30am awake time wants an 8.30am nap at the latest. Then if waking after 30 minutes at 9am then I'd be starting to settle for next nap at 10.30am so asleep by 11am, and so on.

@thatvegangirl would you mind me asking what PUPD and wait times (Ferber) is/suggests as I'm desperate to get my 8 month old to sleep through the night and just can't seem to manage it. (A full nights sleep would be so amazing). Thanks

My LO is a terrible night sleeper and extra terrible atm in the midst of teething and a sleep regression...

But...he is quite good at napping. Dunno how that works but I’ll take it 🤷🏻‍♀️

As PP said, your LO might be overtired. When mine had 45 minute naps he had 4-5 naps a day and his awake windows were about 1.5 hours. When he transitioned to 3 naps he had 2 x 1 hour naps and 1 x 45 minute nap. His awake windows were still only 1.5-2 hours. Now on 2 naps he takes 2 x 1.5-2 hour naps and his awake windows are 2.5-3 hours.

Maybe try shortening awake windows and adding in naps?

One thing to add...I couldn’t stand the 4-5 nap stage. Mainly cause he was fighting every nap at that age and it was such a stress 5 times a day! So I ‘forced’ long naps by any means necessary. At one point I was walking about 3 hours a day with him in the sling so he’d get 2 long naps. Also, if he woke after 45 mins, I’d resettle myself to extend his naps. He got the message eventually 😂

Leave him to settle between cycles for longer than 30 mins but keep going in to reassure every 10 or however long you feel comfortable with. He will get it eventually if you do this consistently.

Also try white noise and a pitch black room.

No advice sorry, but watching with interest. My 7 month old is the same. Amazing overnight but really struggles with naps. He wakes up a the 30 minute mark on the dot. Im baffled as to how he can link cycles at night no problem. I do anything I can to extend the nap, so like pp has mentioned we do a lot of walking. What is even more baffling is that if I resettle him at the 30 minute mark he can then go on to do another two hours without needing to be resettled. Today for example he fell asleep in the pram while we were at the park with my DD, woke at the 30 minute mark so i took him out and cuddled him back to sleep then put him back in his stationary pram. He then went on to sleep for another two hours, including being transferred from the pram into the car seat. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I'm so grateful for the night time sleep that I feel I can't complain but I do feel your frustration!