Sudden earlier bed time?

[AmandaBanana]

For the past few days my 7 1/2month lo has dropped his afternoon nap.
But this has led to him falling asleep at 545pm ish instead of his usual 7pm bedtime.
I had it down to an art, and he's gone and changed it!

He was also sleeping no problem all night, and now he's up every 2 hours and needs my soothing.

Do you think I should just go with this?
Is it a growth spurt, regression, etc?

Looking for some thoughts or opinions!

 

[MindUtopia]

Would he sleep in the afternoon if you did more to encourage it, like took him for a walk? If they don't get enough sleep during the day, it can disrupt nighttime sleep, but at the same time, around that age, I don't think it's that unusual to have periods of disrupted nighttime sleep for all sorts of reasons. If you truly think he doesn't need two naps during the day, then I would just go with it, and get him to bed earlier. If he really is ready to drop a nap, bedtime will even out when he's ready for it. Mine didn't drop her second nap until about 18 months, so 7 months to me seems really early and I would probably try to encourage it a bit more unless you feel really sure it's what he needs. Beyond that, loads of things are going on around that age that caused all sorts of sleep disruption for us, including separation anxiety (it usually hits from around 7 months up until about 12 months). It's very normal that they need more comfort and soothing when they're going through that, also getting ready to crawl or stand does it too. If you think it's developmental, you just sort of have to ride it out. But if having two naps has been working up til now, I might try to encourage that just because it seems very early to drop to just one. It's also possible it could be teething, which can disrupt naps, and I know mine was up every hour all night long for several weeks when she was teething.

 

[AmandaBanana]

Thanks for the reply!

He naps around 10am, 1pm and 4pm then sleep around 7.
He just doesn't want the last nap anymore no matter what I do. Then when he does fall asleep around 530, it's pure sleep, not a nap. I can't control that :/

I think he definitely wants more loving at night. Last night he was up every hour, so I co slept. It's easier on all of us that way.

It's not the end of my world really.
I'm hoping it is just a phase and will go back to normal.

Was hoping to hear if anyone had similar experiences.

 

[Taurus8484]

Maybe push the 1pm nap out to 2.30ish....thats what I did when the boys dropped the later nap.