Dropping naps at <8 months old?

[specialk]

Sorry if this has been asked a million times before.

DS has always been a crappy napper. He would only nap for 30 minutes or so at a time and was impossible to get down. Lately, he has been taking a longer nap in the morning (an hour- 1.5 hrs) and then will not nap in the afternoon at all. He's exhausted and rubbing his eyes and look like he's about to keel over,  but he isn't cranky. He just won't sleep. We've tried rocking, a little bit of CIO, singing, driving in the car, walks in the stroller- nothing. When we finally stop trying, I swear he gets this huge grin like knows he's won.

I feel like he needs more sleep than this but don't know what else to try. Any suggestions? I can't really push his bedtime any earlier because I already basically get out of work, pick up him, and start the bedtime routine right away. He is usually down by 6:30.

He will be 8 months next week, if that matters.

[anna7602]

Does he STTN? How many hours of sleep is he getting per night? I forget what the targets are for that age, but I remember when my daughter dropped napping altogether, her nighttime sleep got longer and averaged the same hours total per day as when she was still napping.

DS consolidated his morning and afternoon nap a couple of weeks ago and now sleeps longer for that one nap, so still almost the same amount total as what he used to get between two naps.

[kershnic]

How long are you waiting from the end of the first nap to attempt the second?

[nextbigthing]

I have no real advice, but my 4 month old is the same way. He maybe naps a total of 1.5-2 hours all day in 30-40 minute spurts, but he'll sleep 11-12 hours straight at night. I pick him up from school around 5:30, we come home take a bath and he's usually hysterical by that point wanting his bottle and bed. He's down for the count between 6:30-7 each night.

Does your DS sleep through the night? If so, maybe he's just not a napper. DH and I look at is as we'd rather him STTN than nap during the day.

[specialk]

Jun 30, 2015 10:11:50 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

Does he STTN? How many hours of sleep is he getting per night? I forget what the targets are for that age, but I remember when my daughter dropped napping altogether, her nighttime sleep got longer and averaged the same hours total per day as when she was still napping.

DS consolidated his morning and afternoon nap a couple of weeks ago and now sleeps longer for that one nap, so still almost the same amount total as what he used to get between two naps.

He is sleeping the same amount during the night as he was before. I am lucky that he's a good night sleeper- he might roll around and whine for a bit a couple of times a night, but he generally goes until at least 5-6.

[specialk]

Jun 30, 2015 10:17:12 GMT -5 kershnic said:

How long are you waiting from the end of the first nap to attempt the second?

Usually we just go by his cues. He seems to get tired about 1.5 hrs- 2 hrs after his nap so at the first sign of sleepiness, we try to get him down.

[kershnic]

Jun 30, 2015 10:20:05 GMT -5 specialk said:

Jun 30, 2015 10:17:12 GMT -5 kershnic said:

How long are you waiting from the end of the first nap to attempt the second?

Usually we just go by his cues. He seems to get tired about 1.5 hrs- 2 hrs after his nap so at the first sign of sleepiness, we try to get him down.

Hm, I was going to guess you were waiting too long but now I wonder if you're trying too early. Damn sleep is hard. My kids did really well with about 2 hours between wake up and nap 1 and then about 3 hours between nap 1 and nap 2. At that age they were still sometimes taking a 3rd nap too. But mine have always been good nappers but just started both STTN recently at like 15 months so I'm probably not the sleep expert. .

[specialk]

It is hard! He's a mess in the morning and seems to really need the nap- he starts whining and rubbing his eyes about an hour and a half after waking up, so stretching it would be hard.

Maybe I just have to take his lead? I don't know.

[sporklemotion]

Ditto @stilljustash. If he's not super cranky and is sleeping well at night, I wouldn't really fight it. I can't remember when DD1 dropped to one nap, but once she did, we couldn't fight it. However, her nap got much longer (from 40 minutes to about 2 hours), so t probably evens out.
We will sometimes do a stroller walk to let her chill, or will read her books in her crib, if she is clearly exhausted and stumbling around but won't nap. Like your DS, she doesn't really get cranky.

[smock]

DD went through something similar around 8 months. She would often only take one nap at daycare, and on the weekends we'd always try for an AM and PM nap, but she almost always skipped one of them. For her, it was a phase, and she dropped into a very predictable 2-3-4 schedule by maybe 9 months. So you might want to just keep doing what you're doing, and hopefully he'll get back into a good nap routine soon!