Transitioning 9.5 month old from 3-2 naps
Hello,
I have a 9.5 month old boy and he currently takes three naps this is approx schedule.
Between 7-8 am wakes has bottle.
Approx 9:30am goes for a nap which is 1- 1.5 hrs
Gets up has solids about 11-11:30 ish
Goes for nap between 1:30 and 2 for 1-1.5 hrs or so
Has bottle about 3 or 3:30pm
Has third nap between 5-6pm ( this is the cat nap for one hour which we usually have to wake him for dinner of solids. He sometimes doesn't do this nap even when he is really tired. But lately has been doing it consistently
About 8:30 or 9 we transition with bath, bottle, stories and bed.
He usually last 2-2.5 hours between naps. We would really like it if he could have an earlier bedtime but don't know how to go about this and still make sure he has five feeds ( feeds between 3-4 hours apart). He sleeps through the night, he does wake and babble, move around but goes back to sleep on his own. so we don't need to go into his room
He goes to sleep on his own for naps and bedtime really well.
Is it unrealistic for him to cut out the third nap. I keep going back and fourth on the idea of dropping it just not sure how to go about. When he doesn't have it he is extra tired and it takes a lot of constant over the top entertaining so he isn't fussy and if he has it he is so late going to bed.
Any thoughts and suggestions appreciated, sorry for the long message just wanted to give enough info to set the stage so people could give the best suggestions and thoughts.
Thanks!
Re: Transitioning 9.5 month old from 3-2 naps
In my opinion, you are keeping him up too late to cut out the 3rd nap. I don't think there is anyway you can expect for him to stay up, and not grumpy, from 3:30 to 8:30. That's a big 5 hour stretch.
Question - why do you need to have 5 meals? Are each of them the same amount and time apart? We do 4 feeds a day and the last one is only about 2 hours from the 3rd.
Charlie transitioned to 2 naps this week, here's our schedule:
8 - awake and bottle/food
10:30-1:00 nap
1 - awake and bottle/food
3:30 -5:30 nap
5:30/6 - bottle/food
7:30 - last bottle and in bed by 8PM.
Personally, I would try to shorten the amount of time between meals and give him an opportunity to sleep 12 hours at night. I think you will find any sleep he is missind during the day is made up at night.
GL!
Hi~ Sorry to jump in considering I don't post very much! I just thought I would give you my schedule with 2 naps (my DD is 11.5 months)!
7:00am wake/bottle
8:00am solids
9:30am nap (2 hours)
11:30am wake/bottle
12:30pm solids
2:00pm nap (2 hours)
4:00pm wake/bottle--dropping this for just a snack
6:00pm solids
7:00pm bottle/bedtime
I agree with the PP that said to try and get the 12 hours of sleep at night. Try stretching out the wake times in the morning and afternoon so you don't have such a long one in the evening. About the time my DD was dropping the 3rd cat nap she was extending the other wake times as well. Maybe add like 15 minutes to each wake time to start with. Also, your LO might be going thru a growth spurt in which they tend to sleep a little longer...maybe that is why he is taking it now. HTH!!
Thanks for those that replied. I agree it's too much for him to stay up that many hours at the end. I fear with just four feeds that he will wake in the night hungry and he hasn't had a night feed for about 4 or so months now don't want to get into that again. The doctor had no problem with us staying at 5 feeds. He has three bottles and two solid meals and no snacks yet. We were told to not do anymore solids as he has already reduced his intake of formula as it is due to solids. We are to go to three meal la day at 12 months and at that point start snacks.
Today started his bed time routine at 8pm which is bath, bottle, brush teeth, stories and bed. So he was in bed a little earlier and his bottle time was 2.5 hours from supper of solid food. We did decide to give him the third nap today but didn't sleep was too busy standing up and banging on his crib. I don't know what the solution is to get him to bed earlier. I am considering the last bottle tomorrow be 2hrs from solids and see what happens. Often if he has another too close to the other say before three hours has past he will be too full and not drink all his formula so that is a concern also.
Anymore suggestions are helpful, thanks!