8 months + suddenly not taking his nap

[mavislohsp]

Hi, I wonder this is commonly happen to all the babies. DS has learned sitting up n recently will keep sit up in his crib n playing n reject to take both of his nap. He sleep in his own room n sleep by himself in the past. I tried let him play as long he didn't make noise but ge could play up to 2 hours plus n not sleeping. I tried interfere it by putting him down again, n normally he will be upset but cry a little then stop. This will have to repeat for at least 2 1/2 hours before he finally cry out loud then sleep. Is there any better way to help him take his nap again? He did show his signs that he is tired but keep fighting sleep. By the time he finally go down to nap ( very rare) it has way past the nap hour n near to night time sleep. Can anyone help?

 

[thanka2]

I think it's amazing that your 8-month-old was taking a nap regularly to begin with! Did he nap pretty consistently from birth onward? My son was the opposite--never took a nap until he was about 18-months-old--when he was running around and wearing himself out so much that he would actually sleep. He just took little 30-minute "cat naps" once in awhile but never on any schedule. However, he did sleep 12 hours/night from 6-months-on when we sleep trained him so we couldn't complain about no naps.

Is your son getting two naps/day still? I think by the time they're at the early toddler stage (well...for my son, he started walking at 8.5 months so he was technically a toddler about that age) it's very lucky if they take one nap/day. If you can get him to take a rest in the earlier part of the day (before lunchtime) I wouldn't stress trying to get him to nap at all again in the afternoon--especially if its closer to dinner time anyway. By that age, with both of my children we'd rather keep them up all afternoon--even if they're showing signs of being tired and then feed them a good dinner, get them in a bath and get them to bed earlier. The earlier my children sleep at night (my son's bedtime was about 7:30 pm) the longer they sleep (he would get up at around 7:30 or 8:00 am). If they get to bed later because they had a late afternoon nap it really messes with their nighttime sleep and that's when they start waking at like 4:30 or 5:00 am!

Anyway, if your son just dropped his second nap for the day, I would just accept it if I were you and focus on "running his batteries down" (going out, playing, eating, stimulation etc.) so that he'll be properly tired by bedtime instead of wasting time and energy getting him to sleep in the mid-afternoon. Honestly, it takes more energy on your part than it's probably worth.

 

[mavislohsp]

Hi thanka2,

My DS was not a good sleeper started from first month. However, we sleep trained him from 6 month and things started to get better. He was still taking his 2 naps 3 days ago and suddenly he become so playful and sitting up and playing in the cot. It's really amazing that your son started to walk at such an early age! Shall monitor his progress and make some changes. Just need to understand what is the norm for the baby as this is my first. Thank you for your reply thanka2!

 

[thanka2]

Hi mavislohsp. No probs. I know it was really hard too when I realized there wasn't really going to be any hope of my son taking an afternoon nap. In my case, my son never took naps until he was older so I had to kind of give up on the dream that I was going to get a break in the afternoon and instead just focus on tiring him out during the day so he would sleep at night. My experience has been that children can enter a new stage of development pretty much overnight sometimes. I guess it's like how one day they can't walk and then they stand up and start walking the next. It's completely normal but totally not always convenient or easy to adjust to--especially if you depend on those nap times for your own rest and sanity. Hope he'll be sleeping earlier and more sound at nighttime as a trade-off.

>>About my son walking at 8.5-months...I never really realized that most children don't walk that early until a lot later when my son joined a playgroup when he was about 18-months-old. There were children in the playgroup who were over 12-months-old who were still crawling and didn't walk at all--that's when I first thought maybe that 8.5-months was early. But, yeah, physically, my son seemed to reach most milestones pretty early. He was sitting up by himself at something like 3-4-months-old. I think he started crawling about 4-5-months-old and really soon after that he was pulling up and cruising around furniture--he was in that stage from about 5-7-months-old. The day he was 8.5-months-old and the day after we landed in the States to go visit my mom he took his first steps and within 6 weeks he was steadily walking, running and climbing up steps. Now he's still very physical and active--really into sports and physical play and plays very physically--very tactile and loves to play sports and even do "workouts" with his dad (so cute to see him do his version of pushups or sit ups). I think he gets this from his dad because my husband is really coordinated and good at sports. Probably didn't inherit from me--I don't have much sports coordination at all! My daughter isn't quite as physical. She's almost 10-months-old and she's just now getting really proficient at cruising around furniture and has been taking a few steps here and there. But, man, is she a talker! She loves to talk and even sing (of course in her baby way)! She's so much more vocal than her brother was at this age. So, I can definitely see where she gets that from. Each child is so different.

 

[charade]

From what I understand, babies may start to drop a nap around this time. As you said, they're more playful and want to explore. Also, maybe not so tired, or getting better sleep at night. I found it really hard to get my son to lie down for a nap once he learnt how to stand up on his own. Sometimes it can be that they don't know how to sit down yet and some books recommend practicing that with them. But with my son even after he learnt how to sit down, he just didn't want to lie down for his nap - he was tired but didn't want to party to end. Forcing him to lie down also was not the answer as he would cry...even the books recommended not forcing them down but just patting their pillow. With my son when he sat down/fell down, I'd pat his back to encourage him to lie down and eventually that worked. Now, we tend to keep him with us on the bed, playing with something or looking out of the window, humming and patting him, and then gently ease him into sleeping position. Not classic sleep training method which recommends getting the child to soothe itself but frankly, this works okay for us.

My son started to drop one nap (1 hour morning nap) when he was a little over 1 year old... but he was still sleeping a good three hours in the afternoon and going to bed at 7.30-8 pm. After his MMR vaccine he was unwell and went back to the morning nap for a week... now seems to be dropping it again. I think it's more common for babies to drop one nap at a time; but as Thanka2 said, there may be some kids that do drop all naps. Gosh, hope my son keeps at least one nap for some more time!

 

[thanka2]

but as Thanka2 said, there may be some kids that do drop all naps. Gosh, hope my son keeps at least one nap for some more time!

Or never did any naps to begin with. We were in awe when he finally started taking a nap at 18 months--we wondered if he was the same child! My son is 4-years-old and he always takes a nap in the afternoon for about 2-3 hours and still goes to bed at around 8:00 and sleeps 11 hours. He gets back from his 3 hours of kindergarten at lunchtime and sometimes he says, "I'm so sleepy. I don't want to eat. I just want to sleep." Then he eats after he wakes up. So there is hope that your baby could maintain that one nap/day well beyond his baby years. But...then I have friends whose children stopped napping before they were 2-years-old.

 

[thanka2]

but as Thanka2 said, there may be some kids that do drop all naps. Gosh, hope my son keeps at least one nap for some more time!

Or never did any naps to begin with. We were in awe when he finally started taking a nap at 18 months--we wondered if he was the same child! My son is 4-years-old and he always takes a nap in the afternoon for about 2-3 hours and still goes to bed at around 8:00 and sleeps 11 hours. He gets back from his 3 hours of kindergarten at lunchtime and sometimes he says, "I'm so sleepy. I don't want to eat. I just want to sleep." Then he eats after he wakes up. So there is hope that your baby could maintain that one nap/day well beyond his baby years. But...then I have friends whose children stopped napping before they were 2-years-old.