Restricting naps to sleep longer through the night

[fabulosa]

I'm not quite sure what to do about DS (nearly 10m) early waking. I've noticed that if he doesn't have a nap, or only has a catnap in the puchchair, during the day, then he is more likely to sleep for about 12h through the night. If he does have a proper (ie over 1.5h) in the day the he'll wake at 6.30 the following morning, crying and be very grumpy and tired until he has a nap. Because he's so tired it's a long nap and thus the cycle starts again. It seems that he's happier if he's gone through for 12h.

I mentioned this to the HV and she said that it sounds like I've answered my own question - ie. seriously restrict his naps in the day to get him to sleep longer at night. Is she right? Does anyone else have experience of having to restrict nap times this young? I hoped to be able to get another year out of naps (and therefore a bit of a break in the day!) at least! Or could it be just because it's midsummer? I don't know what, if anything, to do ! DS1 was never like this but with DS2 it's like dealing with air bubbles in wall paper - I get rid of a problem and it just pops up again somewhere else in a different form!

Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.

My DS is 9 and a half months and needs two naps - one short morning one and a longer post lunch one.

This sounds counter-intuitive but when did he drop to just one nap? Maybe he needs two short ones - possibly a short one in the morning and another after lunch?

He's only ever really had one nap - usually about 2h in the morning. When he was very tiny he'd have one in the afternoon too but that's gone now. He might have a snooze in the car seat if we go out but that's all. 2 short naps could be a good idea though, which leads me on to my next question (sorry!) - how to get him to take them? At the moment he thinks he can only sleep for a nap if he's taken out for a walk in the puschair. How can we replace this idea with one of feeling tired=going into cot=going to sleep?

Mmmm well my DS only naps with assistance. Basically I put him down at the same time every day and follow the same routine if I'm home (pop in sleep bag with a lullaby playing then feed). So his body gets used to falling asleep.

Does he nap at the same time every day?

what time is the morning nap? You could start trying to push it later and later over a period of time so that he is not using the morning nap as an extension of his night sleep. When ds dropped to 1 nap at 10 months we aimed to get it to 11am so that he was not totally overtired by bedtime. Eventually he ended up with the nap just after lunch which he took until just over the age of 2.

There are some ideas in this article

His morning nap is now at about 11 (used to be 9.30) and he'll go through until anytime up until about half past one. I was thinking that this big nap means that, even though he settles OK at bedtime, he wakes too early and, even though he's still tired, has had too much deep sleep the day before to be able to get back to sleep again. Cue horrible morning for everyone! This morning he woke at about 6, cried for a bit then went silent again. I had to go out to work then so don't know what time he slept to, I'll ask DH when I get home.

He seems to get himself into habits (some welcome, some less so!) very easily and I don't want him getting into the way of waking at 6.30 and being thoroughly miserable all morning.

Thanks for the article, will have a look at it a bit later.

Can you try putting him down for a nap around 9/930 and another one at 1ish? I've read somewhere this age that babies nap around then - even though they don't look particularly tired. I know my DS doesn't look tired but as soon as I start to put him down, he rubs his eyes.

Thanks for the suggestions. Re. early waking, the last couple of mornings when he's woken too early (for us and himself) I've done some controlled crying with him . I hope that isn't desperately cruel but I go in, lie him back down and tell him it's not morning yet, then eventually (about half an hour of griping and half hearted crying) he goes back to sleep. DH then wakes him in time to take DS1 to school and he's a different baby - happy and relaxed. So I think we might continue doing that until he breaks this habit of waking too early and realises that the best idea is not demand to get up and then feel horrible all morning but to - gasp! - go back to sleep.

I'm hoping that that may sort out the nap thing and he'll settle into a routine based on his shiny new civilised wake up time. Not holding my breath, however. Does CC ever work for naps too?

Good news on getting him to sleep longer!

No idea on CC for naps - I guess if you have a routine so he knows he should sleep, it might. But if he's not used to napping, he might not know what's expected iyswim?