My lovely mommies-I am having trouble with my 9 month old taking her morning nap. She just recently started protesting it and she NEEDS this nap. Her naps just got longer (she takes 2 ) when she turned 8 months. Here is the some bakground-she wakes around 6/6:15am (her bedtime is 6:30/6:45pm-she just can't make it later than that) and we usually nurse at 7am with her going down to nap between 8:45-9 and sleeping around 40 minutes (sometimes longer) then she has breakfast around 10am. Her four top teeth poked through last week so you can currently see them all but they are not fully in.
OK. The past 3 days I have tried 3 different things and they have not worked. I'd love some suggestions but please no judgements. I have been judging myself plenty about my choices.
Day 1-Put her down to nap for about 20 minutes she is babbing/crying. Then silence-I think she has fallen asleep-nope, almost climbed out of crib. I calm her down and nurse her to sleep so as not to throw off the schedule too much since we were having a babysitter in the afternoon. She then napped for almost an hour and a half and I woke her-hating that-so she could eat breakfast. PS, her last nap ended up being too late (and very long-who knew?) and screwed up bedtime.
Day 2-She is making no signs of drowsy so I move up breakfast to 9am hoping she would sleep after. Nope. We go out and she falls asleep in stroller at 10:40. Hate the stroller sleep. She woke after 20 minutes and had a short nap in the afternoon and was just tired all day.
Day 3 (today) I put her down in the crib for ONE HOUR. She was on and off crying and babbling. BUt, an hour??? Am I insane? Then we had breakfast and went for a walk. I just nursed her and she went to sleep at NOON. She has been up since 6am. No good for her.
I'd love any suggestions and need her to take this AM nap. THANK YOU if you actually took the time to read all of this!
When she gets up at 7AM give her breakfast. She should then be ready
for her morning nap around 9:30 . When she gets up let
her play a a bit and give her lunch around 11:30 or 12ish. After lunch
head out for the day, let her nap wherever, car stroller, dinner at 5PM
play and then bedtime.
She is changing her schedule! I would suggest taking a couple of days and just following her lead. She may be headed away from two long naps into one long nap and longer night sleep. You could also try keeping her up later at night and seeing if that makes her sleepier.
It sounds like you are trying to force a nap to stay on schedule- which we have all done! Ask yourself... does she need the nap or do you need the downtime? I remember being a little angry when my son gave up his morning nap b/c that was my time to get things done! He's two now and I am so thankful that he still takes a solid 2 hr nap in the afternoon. The thing about babies is that they have their own schedules and change them regularly without notice!
My daughter went down to one nap at 9 mo old. My son took two naps until 18 mo - so who knows??? Why the early to bed and early rise schedule?? Is that her choice or yours? I would put her to bed at like 8pm, then she would wake at 7-8 am (Keep her room dark with darkening shades or even black trashbags). Then nap after lunch from like 1-3pm? That was my daughter schedule at that age.
Sounds like her nap time is changing. I would suggest it be just moved later in the morning and see if she does better. Make sure while she is awake in the morning to give her tummy time, or let her crawl.. She sounds like she may be standing soon on her own.. The teeth, the more active behavior means she is going through a very advanced growing spurt.
Maybe her nap needs to be at 10 or 10:30, then slide her afternoon nap. Again really work on her activity sounds like she is really wanting to move on her won.. Do you have a door way jumpy? An Exersaucer also would be perfect for her.. It may really be great for her right now and allow you time to do some chores.. It will also wear her out a little.
My oldest daughter started protesting her morning nap at about 9 months. My baby never took 2 naps. She was so afraid she would miss something and would only sleep when her sister was sleeping! It sounds like she may be ready for 1 nap a day, probably not what you want to hear, sorry! :) When we transitioned to one nap we just moved everything a little earlier until she was adjusted. We at lunch at 11 and she was down for a nap at noon. She usually slept for 2 to 3 hours, so it was a nice chunk of time for me to get things done! Then bedtime was a little earlier. Eventually she was able to stay up until 12:30 or 1. Now she's 25 months and she naps from 1 until 3 or 4, and then bed between 7 and 8. It works for us, you just have to find what works for you guys. Good luck and I hope you figure it out soon! Tired babies are no fun!
Hi There,
If you still want her to take her morning nap at the same time, maybe she needs less night sleep. You said she ended up pushing her naps back the other day and that screwed up her bedtime. Why not push her morning nap a little later, then her afternoon nap a little later and bedtime a little later. If she is getting almost 12 hours at night, she just isn't in need of a nap 2.5 hours later. Maybe if she goes to bed around 7:30 and gets up at her normal time, she will be ready for a nap around 9:30. Then you could do and afternoon nap around 2:30 and bed again at 7:30 or so. She might be getting to a point where she needs less sleep and she is going to give it up somewhere.... we got 2 naps out of our kids until just after their 1st birthday, but we did play with the timing of naps and bedtimes when necessary. My kids generally slept from about 7:30 to 6:30 at that age... morning nap was at 9:30ish but we would do breakfast first. If you push the naps a little later she may be able to stay up a little later at night. Good Luck.
Hi E.,
This may not be what you want to hear, but it sounds like your little girl is dropping her morning nap. Kids love to keep us on our toes and change their routines without letting us know, so we just have to go with the flow.
If she's getting 11-12 hours of sleep every night, she may not need the early morning nap anymore. I suggest trying to push back her morning nap to right after her breakfast at 10 a.m. If she takes a nap, then you can slightly push back her afternoon nap to accommodate the later morning nap. Or, if she's like my niece, she may only need one nap a day that runs right over lunchtime. My niece, who turns two next month, takes just one nap a day from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. and has done this since she was about eight months old. She goes to bed at 7:30 p.m. and wakes around 7 a.m. My brother and sister-in-law give her breakfast when she wakes up, a small snack around 9 a.m., lunch just before she goes down for her nap, a lighter second lunch when she wakes up, and then dinner around 5:30 p.m. It works for her, and that's okay by them.
Just keep trying out different times and see what works for your daughter. It may also be her teeth are bugging her and that's why she's having the schedule change. But after reading about what happened today and the past few days, my hunch is she's dropping the morning nap. Think about it positively - your schedule opens up SO much more when your kiddo only takes one nap a day! I loved it when my son dropped his morning nap. It meant we could run errands, go to story time at the library, play at the park and I wouldn't have to worry about him missing a nap. I could be at home for several hours in the afternoon and get a ton of things done because he was napping in 2-3 hour stretches, rather than just two naps at 40 minutes to an hour. It was glorious.
Don't beat yourself up too much. Kids are unpredictable, but we love them anyway. Good luck!
Couple of suggestions. Feed her breakfast pre-nap so she has a full belly. I wouldn't wait longer than 3 hours after she wakes up in the morning to put her down. Believe it or not, she may be overtired by the time you put her down. And I think you were right to put her down in her crib for one hour. See what she does for that hour. She may babble. She may sleep, but leave her in there for that hour. If she's asleep at the end of that hour, then let her stay down an extra half hour, then wake her so she'll be ready for her afternoon nap later on. Also, Room darkening shades. It needs to be as dark as possible in there so she's able to calm down and sleep. I know some people think she may be dropping her naps now but you still should have another few months before she needs to drop to one nap. Good luck.
