Hi moms! My beautiful 7 month old daughter has been doing a great job sleeping. Her typical day is to wake between 8:00-8:30A, breakfast at 9, nap 11A-12P, lunch at 1, nap 2-4:30 or 5P, dinner at 5, bed between 8:30-9P. She wakes anywhere from 4-5A for a small bottle, but right back to sleep. This has been her schedule for quite some time. We cut out her evening nap about a month ago. Last week, she suddenly decided to take incredibly short afternoon naps....45 minutes at the most. Saturday, her nap was 15 minutes, Sunday it was 20. She's really not grumpy - though by about 7P, you can tell she's getting tired. I haven't introduced any new foods in the past week. She cut 2 teeth 2-3 weeks ago, and I don't believe she's working on any more right now. She has had a snotty nose the last few days.....that's the only thing different I can think of. Would that make such a difference in her napping? I thought perhaps she is not sleeping because laying down affects her breathing - but she is fine overnight. Any advice?
Edited to add** My daughter isn't necessarily crabby with her lack of napping, but is very clingy and has to have my full attention until bedtime. Just playing isn't enough, she wants to be held.
Thank you for your responses. I tried a couple different things. One day, we tried skipping the morning nap completely - that was a bad day!! I moved morning nap to 10:00 and still don't let her sleep more than an hour. Afternoon nap the past few days has been anywhere from 2-2.5 hours. I'll take it! I think her runny nose had some to do with it, too. She slept better when I plugged in one of those vapor things with the night light (can't remember what it's called....). The runny nose is gone now, so we'll see how she does today. Thanks again!!
Sounds to me like she is transitioning to an earlier bedtime. My 8.5 month old doesn't sleep quite that much and dropped a 3rd nap w/in the month.
I would like to say that I'm glad that I'm not the only one that has gone through this. My daughter did the same thing. She is now 2-years-old and she has started taking a longer nap again. Although, there are still times that she might take a little "cat nap" instead. I asked her Dr. about this and she said that as long as they aren't grumpy, like they haven't had enough rest and they "rest" for atleast an hour a day that they will be fine. I know that I also started putting her to bed later but getting up at the same time and that also helped her want to nap longer. Another thing that I did was played lullabyes quietly in her room and closed the door to help drown out any outside noises. Then when I took that away, I got an Ionizer (air purifier) to help keep the air clean, of course, but it also makes a soft "fan" noise that helps her rest. I don't know if that would help or not, but I hope that you find your own "miracle" so to speak. Good Luck!
Hi A.! Maybe she's going through a separation anxiety thing, which would cause her to want to check in with you, along with some teething. I would give her some Motrin before she naps or goes down at night to see if that helps with any possible tooth pain. We're in the process of teething too, and the Motrin has helped my 11 month old daughter tremendously. We also have a cold, so the stuffy nose has certainly put a damper on her sleep (which used to be all night long). I am a firm believer that if they aren't getting a decent nap, they probably won't sleep well at night, simply because they are over tired. I have three kids, and with my past experience, more sleep during the day tends to promote better sleep at night. Just remember... this too shall pass (sometimes quicker than we want)!! The baby phase flies by, so enjoy her -- even if she's Miss Cranky Pants!!
Every child is different when it comes to their needs for naps. She may be ready to go down to just one nap a day. My kids cut down to one nap a day early. They would nap from about 12:30 or so until 3. Eventually I got them to wait until 1 to lay down, but in the beginning, it's an adjustment for them to let that morning nap go. My son was totally done with naps at 2 1/2! You can always tell when it's nap adjustment time when you notice they're sleeping habits are changing. I knew my son was ready to stop napping because I'd lay him down at bedtime and he'd sit in there making noises for over an hour.
I am a huge fan of the Good Night Sleep Tight book by Kim West. It has been hugely helpful in understanding my daughter's sleep needs as well as how to understand what she is communicating to me by changes in her sleep patterns. My guess would be that the time when she needs to go down for a nap is changing and that you may need to monitor her more closely to read her "sleep signs" to see when she is ready for bed. When we miss the subtle ones, we may put them down before or after their "sleep window" resulting in very short naps instead of what their body needs. I went through the same thing you are describing with my daughter, so I feel for you. I found the book very helpful and have been very successful with it. Good luck.
don't feel bad.... my son, Jaxon, is 7 and a half months old and he has NEVER slept for more than an hour at a time... its mostly 20-40 minutes at a time and he wakes up 2 or more times a night. He has allergy problems, so he is on Claritin and Singulair. This has been helping a little, but not enough.
My question to you is, is your daughter meeting any major milestones right now? is she learning to crawl or pull herself up? is she going thru seperation anxiety? you said she does have 2 teeth, so maybe the top ones are moving into place but you just cant see them yet?
you can email me if you just want to chat to another momma who is sleep deprived too! ____@____.com
C.
When you say you cut out her evening nap do you refer to the one from 2- 4:30? If so I think you might want to cut the morning one instead and have her nap from say 12-2 and feed her an earlier lunch. The reason I say this is that when you cut out a needed nap time often little ones won't be cranky but clingy, which is still from lack of sleep. I cut out all four of my kids morning naps when I felt they had outgrown them and moved up the lunch time and afternoon nap time so it didn't affect bed time. They say babies (up to 1 year)need something like 12 hours of sleep so if she's not getting enough she will be a different child.
Good Luck
My little one's always been a self scheduler. I've never really had to work at getting her on one. From time to time she'll change things up, I just figure that it's a sign of her growing.
My girl went from 2 naps a day to one really long one, now it seems as if she's wanting a shorter nap and can only take one if she's been away for 4-5 hours before hand.
I would chalk the change up to it's just her growing, just roll with it. It'll be hard since she's wanting to be awake more, but that's a part of parenthood. Time to start looking for things to do with her, break out the learning toys and music.
I hope this helps.
You baby is becoming more alert and interested in her surroundings. Do you have a friend or a family member that can help you out. If I were you I would let things go and enjoy my baby. Play with her and rock her. Take walks on days that are nice. She won't be a baby forever. Enjoy her while you have her. (yes my babies are gone)booohooo
Snotty nose-probably having a hard time laying down...
My 7.5 month old does this same thing from time to time. With us, it seems anytime there is a transition or milestone, her sleep is disrupted. My advice is to just continue to read her cues and I am sure within a week or two, she will straighten herself back out.
Sounds like she is not needing the morning nap anymore. Try to keep her awake and busy until after lunch.
She should be giving up the early morning feeding by now also, I would think. Maybe a little before she goes to bed would help her to sleep through the whole night.
My Emily did something similar. She went through spells sometimes where she was just taking a quick power nap & then ready to go again. I think it's one of those things that comes & goes. As long as she's not grumpy or anything I'd say just ride it out. I wouldn't think the runny nose would really effect it much. If nothing else, I always sleep more when I don't feel good. I wouldn't worry though. Good luck!
A.
I think it is normal...my now 5 month old has only taken 15-20 minute naps since he was about 6 weeks old! And only 2-3 times a day. He does sleep 9hrs at night though. Since I am 100% breastfeeding, I also thought it was very unusual. Since he is very rarely fussy, my dr. said that he'll sleep when he needs it. He just is one of those babies that doesn't like or need to nap alot.
So I think it is normal... just be glad you had those few hours to get things done why you could!
