Naps in 8 month old

[WhiteHorse92]

Hi there, I have an 8.5 month old who has been reliably having 2 naps each day up until about a week ago. This is the 7th day in a row he has refused his second nap, he's also not really showing signs of tiredness in the afternoon such as rubbing eyes and crankiness like he does before his morning nap, which makes me think he just wants to drop it. However everywhere I've read it says babies don't tend to drop the second nap until they're over a year old. I've tried bringing his morning nap forward so that he's awake longer between naps in case he's just not tired enough and I'm trying to put him down too early but that hasn't really worked, everytime I try and put him down for his second nap he just sits up straight away and then stands up and eventually starts crying for me and looks incredibly alert. Is there anything I can do or is this a temporary regression or do I just accept he's ready to drop his second nap? It's not really a problem if he is I'm just curious as he seems very young to be going down to 1 nap so would just like to know your thoughts.

Thanks in advance!

Just to add, after taking him downstairs he's played with his toys for 15 minutes then started rubbing his eyes and getting upset so I've taken him back to his cot and he's now gone straight to sleep. However 5pm seems very late to be going down for second nap and I'm now worried he'll sleep for ages and not go down when it's his bedtime so I'll have to push his bedtime back (he normally goes to bed between 7 and 7.30pm but I've been taking him to bed between 06.30 and 7.00pm the last few days as he's not had a second nap but he seems okay with this and goes to sleep for the night).

What's nap routine?

And sorry but I don't let my lo sleep past 415pm and 430pm at very latest - as then that's 8pm bedtime x

Thanks for replying. So he usually goes to bed between 7 and 7.30pm and wakes up between 8 and 8.30am. He then goes for his first nap about 11am which he goes down for easily and he'll usually sleep until 12.30 or 1, he then goes for his second nap between 3.30 and 4pm (sometimes this nap is short, sometimes long but either way he'll go to sleep again at 7/7.30pm. Just the last week or so he doesn't seem to want to go down for his second nap so he's been skipping it and going to bed at half 6 instead. Not sure if this is the right thing to do or if I should tweak nap times? I usually just go with the flow

Wow your bubba loves sleep, slightly jealous. Yes the awake windows seem a bit short tbh, and a lot of sleep overnight.

Personally I'm a mean mum, I don't let my lo sleep past 730am. Or throws whole day of naps off. Is there a reason for the sleeping in late?

Most 8 month old can stay awake a longer so may be why your having difficulty as their not tired enough?

I think I would wake lo at 730am, then loosely follow 234 routine (my lo could never do 4 hours and still can't quite) maybe something like nap at 9/930am wake by 11am. Then 2pm ish sleep depends on when tired till 4pm ish then bed can still be 7/730pm? Still 12 hours sleep overnight

At 9 months my lo is 3 hours sleep. 3.15 sleep then 3.5 sleep.

I've always let him sleep as long as he wants and he seems to want to sleep until gone 8am in the morning hence why it's that late, although I'm aware a lot of babies wake between 06.30 and 07.30 but I never know if waking a sleeping baby is the right thing to do, or if there even is a wrong or right?

That does seem like a better routine though, as at the minute it feels like I'm either only allowing him one nap in the morning or I'm having to push his second nap and bedtime right back.

He's recently started grabbing the edge of the sofa and other things and standing up and cruising around and since he's learned he can do that he's just moving around everywhere, maybe he sleeps a lot overnight because he's so exhausted from it

@WhiteHorse92 What is your lifestyle going to be like after mat leave OP? I only ask because I have a friend who’s DD loved to sleep in late and she happily let them then when it came time for her to go back to work she realised she was having to wake DD about 1.5h before she’d normally wake and it made things much harder for her for a few months so that could be something to watch out for.

I’m a mean mum like @Fancyties 😅🤣 I wake mine too. My DS is a year but still loves his 2 naps. He usually wakes naturally around 6am. If he’s not awake then I wake him at 7am. Tends to be ready for a nap about 9.30/10am. He’d easily sleep for 2 hours at this nap some days but if he does then he’s ready for a nap about 3.30 which is a disaster for bedtime so I cap his morning nap at 1hour maximum. Then he’s awake 10.30ish until about 2/2.30pm and goes down for about an hour. I wake him at 3.30pm if he’s not already awake then it’s 7.30 bedtime. I don’t left him sleep more than 2.5hours total in the day or else it tends to be a disaster of a night. He usually sleeps 7.30pm-6/7am with one resettle.

It's a hard one whether you wake a sleeping baby some say yes some say no 🤷🏼‍♀️ in mornings I do, but not harshly. Leave a light on outside lo room, be a bit noisy in bathroom.

Or the other way, 8am rise.
1030am sleep. Wake 12/1230pm.
3/330am sleep 5pm wake.
8/830pm bedtime.

It depends what u prefer..... To fit in two naps need maybe slightly later bedtime.....

Haha my 9 month old is furniture walking and uses so much energy still 745pm sleep wake 6am to 730am. 3 hours nap in day. Your bubba just loves sleep

As @panettoneseason says capping morning nap could help. Could help but on other hand could make it worse with short naps. Grumpy. Overtired etc. I would do wake up at resemble time first - (muttering enviously not stamping my keypad at all while you get a 8am lay in)then see how that goes.

Phewww @panettoneseason glad I'm not only mean mum about morning sleep.

Yup, agree with @Fancyties - could help but could also make it worse. We spent a couple of weeks winging it and playing about to work out what worked best for our DS 😊
And I second the gentle waking. Ours sleeps with white noise on - we use a Hatch noise and light machine - so I turn the light up a bit and the noise down and he usually stirs pretty quickly 😊

I've decided to only go back to work 2 days a week, on one of those days my partner will be off work and the other one he won't be starting until 1pm so actually no need to wake him up but it certainly sounds like I just need to force him up earlier and then bring his naps forward and keep bedtime the same. I recently went back into work for a couple of KIT days and I woke him at 06.45 for a breastfeed so I wasn't engorged going to work, I put him back in cot after and he'd still go straight back to sleep until after 8. I'm not a morning person myself so I think I became too obsessed with savouring my own sleep

Haha yes we have pink noise, I only have to alter it slightly and that's it bang she's awake, it's like magic!

You have to do what works for you and your family tbh. Let us know how it goes - I would keep that first awake window no more then 2.5hours maximum though. That may help with not sleeping as long in the morning too x

My LO dropped her second nap about 9 months - she now has a long one at 1-3pm.

I tried to keep going with the second nap as much as I could but if they don't want to they won't! I wouldn't worry about it too much if he's dropping it naturally and seems happy with just the one.

Yeah I took him for his first nap earlier at 10.30 this morning and he happily went to sleep for a couple of hours but it's very specifically the second nap he's resisting. He did eventually go down at 5pm as he seemed tired and slept until 6.15pm but because I've let him have a second nap really late he won't go to bed and it's after 8pm . Probably going to try and wake him up earlier and bring his first nap forward and see if he'll take the second nap at the time he was before

Mined had afternoon naps until they were about 3! They dropped the morning one at about a year. My youngest napped a lot he'd be up at 7-8 have a feed then back to sleep at 9 for an hour then after lunch he'd sleep from about 1-3 and then bed at 7 ish. You routine sounds good. I'd just see what happens and watch for his ques like you have been.

Ours started trying to do this around 9 months, and we persisted ‘forcing’ two naps until 11 months, when in hindsight we really shouldn’t have. She only had 28 minute naps though.

At 11 months we gave in and moved her to 1 x 28 minute (she never extended them) nap at 11ish, and then put her down for an early bedtime for a few weeks.

She is still a low sleep needs child though. As soon as she could string a sentence together she refused all naps because ‘it’s not nighttime’ 🤦🏻‍♀️

You could try capping the morning nap to 30/45 minutes, that way he’ll have an afternoon nap earlier. At 8mo my DD was waking at 6:30 nap at 9:30 until 11, then second nap at 2:30 until 4 bedtime at 7:30.