Support for dropping the nap part 11

[My little Liam]

Hello ladies,
I am having a really difficult time with DS. we have generally been sticking to the route of capped nap of 45min-1hr. and have been having night of 10.5-11hrs. DS is doing ok and is generally ok when woken from the nap but i know he prefers longer nights and does much better with them. the day before yesterday we had a NND as we were out all day. he handled it well other than a few tired moments here or there. I put him to bed 12hrs after WU and he STTN 11.5hrs and woke happy and chatting (is 11.5hrs enough night sleep after a NND? i would of thought he would sleep more than that?) That day i did our normal nap time and planned on capping at 45 min but couldn't wake him so i let him sleep an extra 15min and woke at an hour. that night it took him 30min to fall asleep and we had a hr long NW and EW. total night sleep 8.5hrs!!! now i am confused... was he UT or OT? or could it just have been teeth? (he is getting cutting his 3rd 2yr molar but gave meds at NW)

i don't really know what to do because we are stuck with EW because of either being put to bed early because of no nap or because of short nights after napping...

[*Becky*]

my honest opinion is that until all teeth are in it is really hard to know....I know with both mine that sleep settled a lot after they were all in. The way I tend to do things these days is work out their total sleep in 24 hours so for M that is 12-12.5 and then go from there. I know that the days she naps an hour she will do about 11 overnight so I don't put her to bed before 7pm ish and on the days she has no nap we do 6.30pm set. I tend to go with setting a bodyclock for both of mine as it worked really well with H and tbh I can't go changing up the day constantly on one child's needs. Sounds harsh maybe but we all have to work together and through the summer there is just no way we would do really early bedtimes as it impacts on all of us...

[Aishi]

Argh she is driving me crazy! Wu was 5.55 and she only did a 45 min nap 12.40-1.25 and is still chatting in her cot at 6.55. It doesn't seem to matter what time I pd. If she has a nap she takes ages to fall asleep feeling so frustrated!

[rachsk8]

It is such a frustrating transition - I feel you! We are stuck in the EW boat too - BT is probably too early at 6pm when we only generally get 11/11.5hr nights bug how do I change BT when we get 5am WU?? We insist on him staying in his room til 6, but he hardly ever goes back to sleep. Argh.

[bongabees]

Do, we tried w2S for two mornings now and it seems to be working... We got 6:15 yesterday and 7:10 today. That was about a 12 hour night! Worth a try Rach if the EWs are habitual... It means the NNDs are more manageable after a better ONS and BT not so early.

[rachsk8]

Wow, that is great bongabees!!  I don't know if it's habitual or not... have never tried W2S... his WU time is fairly inconsistent, but seems to be at around the 11/11.5hr point, which is why I am wondering if perhaps that is all the sleep he needs???  Seems too low to me, he's not even 3 yet.

Can you explain exactly how W2S works?  Like, the timing of it etc?

[bongabees]

I think you are supposed to go in and rouse them slightly about an hour before their normal WU time. The other night when DS woke at 4am for a drink, he then slept til 7. This is what gave us the idea that it might work for him. He had been on NNDs for a while and still waking at 5/5:30 everyday but extremely tired in the mornings, so I knew he needed more sleep. It is a last resort, after we tried everything else. We tried short, long, early, late naps, EBT, late BT  supper before bed, milk in his room for the mooning, groclock, rewards, I mean EVERYTHING. So this is really a last resort.

[rachsk8]

Yeah we have tried a lot too and still getting 5am WU... I'm sure he should be getting more than 11grs ONS.... it's difficult to predict cause he has started waking several times in the night again - 11.20pm is becoming very common lately. I'm getting tired if 5am starts to be honest!

[Aishi]

So much for tacking on. I had the night from hell. She was in bed by 5.20 (refused nap), nws 9, 11, 12, 3 and up at 5.55. I've been trying to get her to sleep by wiwo but nothing yet. She was awake at 6 yesterday too. How the hell am I going to get her to sleep enough if she won't tack on or nap?!

[jessmum46]

Might be worth trying an early nap Aishi.  When we first started out with the 1-0 J would go down at nursery 4.5-5h after WU after a couple of NNDs and a bad night x

[bongabees]

Ah hugs for the bad nights and EWs. The only thing I can say is you are not alone, it's a tough transition.

[Aishi]

That would mean nap at 10.30/11?? If she takes it should i cap? And if she doesn't nap should i just set bt at 6.30 like u did?

How did u get J to resettle? I did wiwo and she stayed in cot till 8 by didn't sleep. I was looking back at the thread on ds when he was nap dropping. It was a 29 page thread ::O ::O and I'm still having ew with him! This does not bode well for dd!

[rachsk8]

I have done a lot of AP for this exact situation Aishi - I have a champion nap fighter - lots of car naps here when things have gone really pear shaped. Hugs - this is a really difficult transition.

[Aishi]

Thanks for the hugs ladies. It really is a pita.

I've been thinking about this all morning since reading through ds's thread and I think I only have two options as dd isnt napping  although I'll keep offering (she never naps in the car). Either I set bt and ride out ot or I stick to really short nnds say 10.5h. So this is what I know about dd: she's incredibly sensitive to ot (I could never set naps for her) and she will tack on sleep when not ot.

If I do set BT I know she will get ot but I don't know how long it'll take to come right (I did set BT for ds at start of 1-0 and it didn't work for him as he was ew every day like dd and he's sensitive to ot too). Or I go for 10.5h day and hope she tacks on so that would mean 4.30 BT and a huuuge leap of faith on my part. That seems crazy to me but could it work? If she wakes at 6 again i could try for a nap and later bt and at least to get her caught up so I could use it as a springboard to push day later? Ugh I don't know...

[Aishi]

Ok ignore my last post for now! Shes actually gone to sleep for 11.05. Thank god! How long should i let her sleep?