My 8 month old recently stopped taking his afternoon nap and I let him scream for about an hour, which is all I take, and go in and get him and he's fine and is content to play for a while by himself, until the final hours before his bed, when he's crabby and over tired. Any help on this issue would be great!! I cannot keep going from 9:00-6:00 with him without an afternoon nap!!!
i would read the book Healthy sleep habits, happy baby by dr. weisblut for some suggestions. I think trying some slightly different bedtimes and also looking for signs of tiredness very closely. Also my little one after a while would sit and talk to her animals and then fall asleep.
I would try to limit his morning nap. Let him sleep for 30 - 40 minutes. This little morning nap should get him through the morning, but ensure that he is still tired for his afternoon nap.
Hi T.,
My second daughter outgrew her second nap very early also...somewhere around 8 months. I eventually got her to go down at 10 and then 11 am, so that she would be awake for 4 hours, nap and then go to sleep for the night 5 or 6 hours later. This breaks up the day. Now that she's 14 months old, I've gotten her to take a nap at the same time as my 3 year old. Somewhere between 1 and 2 pm. Do it gradually and it will work itself out. In the mean time, keep putting her down in the afternoon just so that she gets some quiet time even if she doesn't sleep.
hi there i have an 8 month old litlle girl also born in may. she decided about a month ago she didnt want to take her afternoon naps. since it was to hard at night when she didnt have an afternoon nap i took away the morning nap. its takes a while to do but i started with just trying to make the morning nap shorter. also i would do my best to play with her so she didnt want to go to sleep. now she only takes one nap but its from 1-3pm it is a lot nicer when it comes to bed time because she is not to sleepy. also sometimes she will take a small mornig nap like 20mins then still take the afternoon nap. it takes a little time but i know for me it was worth the hard work
What time does he "wake for the day" What time frame is his morning nap?
At this age they typically wake for the day between 6-8. Morning nap needs to be short and begin within an hour and a half after his wake time and not go past about 10:30. A good goal for afternoon nap is 12-2, not after and push bedtime earlier. My 1st was a fabulous sleeper until 8-9months and then it all fell apaprt. Read Healthy Sleep Habbits Healthy Child by Marc Weisbluth. His research helped me understand my babies needs and his ideas helped get us all on track again
when my oldest was a baby, he would sleep twice a day for only 45 minutes. when he was just over 1, I started working part-time and took him to a sitter. she kept him awake in the morning..and poof..the afternoon nap turned into a two to three hour sleepfest. try to really keep him busy and awake in the morning and see if the afternoon sleeptime improves.
As someone whose daughter stopped taking naps for a few weeks, and is now back to napping 3 hours a day, let me just say this: hang in there, something developmental is most likely going on, and when it is over, he will go back to napping. My daughter has two shinny new teeth.
I thought I was going to go mad! But I didn't, and you won't either.
Just hang in there, in a few weeks, his sleep patterns will change again ;-)
My little one let go of his morning nap first. We would keep him up from 6 or 7 AM when he woke up until about 11 AM, and then he would nap 2-3 hours. That way he was still getting a late morning/afternoon nap, and wasn't overtired before bedtime. The transition to 1 nap is always tough though, so just try to help him ease into it a little and be patient. You guys will settle on a schedule that works soon.
Looks like you've gotten some great ideas here. I would stop allowing him to scream for an hour immediately. That cannot be doing anything good for his sense of security. Maybe try wearing him in a sling or wrap to get through this adjustment period as well.
I was just coming on here to post the same message! My 8 mo. old son has stopped taking an afternoon nap all week. My thought is to push the 2nd nap a little later than usual (he was usually ready by 1230, now I'll try for 1 or 130). Also, I think my guy is teething in addition to learning to pull himself up and crawl so he's got a lot going on. Maybe your LO is in the same boat? What is your sons b-day? My sons is 5-4
