7 month 2 nap schedule HELP
Baby is 7 months old. Has been sleeping 7/730-6/630 since about 3 months. Baby can be put down awake and fall asleep independently for both naps and bedtimes. He does not use a bink and is breastfed. I’ve tried with the bink and he refuses. We’ve been doing scheduled naps for about two months instead of focusing on wake windows and it’s been great. About two weeks ago baby started refusing last nap of the day and then started waking up regularly at 5am. I decided I would work on adjusting LO to a 2 nap schedule. Almost two weeks in and it is not going well.
Ideal wake up is 630 so that’s what I’m basing this schedule off of.
Old schedule was l, wake up at 6:30. Wake windows 2.5/2/2.5/2.5 bed time at 7/730.
I’ve tried pulling in bed time to 6:30. With 2.5/3/3.5 wake windows. With a 1 hr AM nap and 2 hr PM nap. It resulted in baby waking at 4.
I tried adding a bottle for extra fluids as I was nervous he wasn’t getting enough during the day with the new schedule as we lost a feed. It resulted in him waking at 1130, 330, and still at 5. He went back to sleep on his own at 1130 and 330 but wouldn’t go back to sleep at 5 without nursing.
So i dropped the bottle and tried going back to our 7pm bed time with2.5/3/3.5 wake windows with a 1 hr nap and 2.5 hr PM nap. It resulted in baby waking numerous times throughout the night again. LO put themself to sleep the first few wake ups but by 3am they grumble for an hour and then full cry so I go in.
I try shh and patting. It does not calm him at all. After 30 minutes of trying. I pick him up. Rocking doesn’t help and I end up nursing him for 5 minutes. He eats and then I put him back down awake. He cries a little and then goes back to sleep.
I don’t know what else to try. Earlier bed time resulted in still waking up at 5. Usual bed time but with more day time sleep (3.5 hours), and he’s waking numerous times. Usual bed time with a longer wake window and less daytime sleep (3 hours) and it’s the same. LO is not happy to wake up for his day at 5 like he was at 6/630 so I don’t think it’s his preferred wake uptime.
Posted Feb 10, 2022, 3:21 PM UTC
I would suggest your wake windows equal 10 hours (ie 3/3/4, 3/3.25/3.75), 3 hours of naps, 11 hour night. You might me asking for too much sleep, and too long of a night, with your current wake windows.
Thanks. I’ll try that and push his bed time back to 7:30. I agree with the 11 hours at night being his max but everything usually defaults to bringing bedtime in and that obviously just isn’t working.
My toddler has always been on the higher end of average of sleep needs. I know LO is lower and can do well with the right schedule. Just driving myself a little crazy trying to find it.
The drop to 2 naps is tough because its almost more about how long baby can stay awake vs. how long they are capable of napping! I always recommend getting to 3/3/4 as soon as possible or else you can get early wakes where you never had them before. Good luck!