10 month old Spirited Baby......help!!

[cath73]

She slept through again , till 7.15am, she did cry out at around 1am but then it all went silent .

So she's down for her nap, started at 10.15am, will wake her at 11 although she normally only has 45 mins in the am anyway and then put her down for her long nap at around 2 or earlier, with bedtime being early again.

 I'm cross with myself for finding this so hard as I am normally so capable... ......feel exhausted . My poor DS is getting very little happy mummy time lately, which is contributing to his tricky behaviour at the moment. Just would like to hide under my duvet and sleep without any children around!! They are gorgeous and funny, but can be such hard work too!

Edit: She has slept for longer than 45 so am going to let her sleep, and go for a catnap this afternoon. Am reluctant to wake her while she still is OT...seems counterintuitive! I am aware that her 'schedule' is all over the place at the moment, so know that I need to try and make her days more consistent again, but think she needs to catch up on sleep first! At this age, my DS was having a 1.5hr nap at 10am and then another 1.5hr nap at 2.30pm with bedtime and wake ups at 7pm and 7am..........completely textbook! I can't believe how different they are.

[skatty]

Sounds like a good plan, just make sure that if it is only a catnap she takes later you need to cut the A time right back 

[Smurfette]

Could you try offering the AM a bit earlier? Would that help to fit things in?

 I know you had said in the past that if she slept longer than 45 mins for the am nap, that the PM nap went out the window-but I'm just wondering what she did?
Ie did she exhibit the same behaviour when refusing the PM nap as she does for bedtime? If so, is there a chance that she really needs a longer first nap and was getting OT by the 2nd nap, catching her 'second wind' and then seemingly refusing it?  Just a thought.

[cath73]

What was happening is that I probably would try to get her to nap too soon as didn't want her to be asleep past 3pm as was worried it would affect bedtime. So I would often end up with her having no nap at all in the afternoon and being sooo tired she would be asleep on the bottle at bedtime or fighting it! Hmmmm...........do you see a pattern?!!
........I think I have also been guilty of increasing A times too rapidly!
This morning I tried for a nap earlier but she was not ready for it until she had had exactly 3 hrs A time! I guess once she goes to bed at a reasonable time then she may wake a bit earlier in the morning which will help fit in the naps.
So at the moment 3 hr A times are what she needs and less if she has catnapped.......it will be interesting to see what develops once she gets out of this OT cycle.
I think if she has her nap around 3pm today then again I will let her sleep longer than 45 mins if she wants, and adjust bedtime.

[cath73]

So another epic failure ! She woke from her morning nap at 12 (a 1.75 hr nap)
 She refused her nap when I offered it at 3pm, tried until 3.45pm but no success. Exactly how she has always done if she has a long morning nap!
 So took both children for a car ride which resulted in my toddler sleeping but not her! Drove around for an hour and absolutely no sign of her sleeping! Came home at 5pm and gave her her dinner whilst toddler still asleep on sofa, and then straight up for a bath (doing BLW so she was very messy!). No signs of tiredness throughout this, smiling, giggling, wolfing her food down, playing in the bath. Then tried for bedtime at 5.45pm and stuck it out for 30 mins before coming down. Had toddler still asleep on sofa and needed to wake him..........a late bedtime for him methinks . She is sitting on the floor at the moment, happy as larry but just about to try again...........DH not home till 9pm tonight so will need to be mindful of DS too, won't be able to stay in her room for too long.......aaaargh!!

[Smurfette]

What did you do at 5:45 when you tried for bedtime? Ie what was going on for the 30 mins? What was she doing and what were you doing during that time?

[cath73]

She was doing her usual thrashing around in cot,giggling, trying to pull my hair, rolling etc etc. I was just sitting next to the cot occasionally putting my hand on her back, shushing when she got too excited, but as soon as I even moved she would start screaming.......she was yawning throughout though!
She is finally asleep although I ended up singing to her whilst holding her till she was almost asleep and then put her in cot, and continued singing until she was fully asleep. Had a very well behaved but getting impatient 2 year old waiting outside the room so had to resort to some APing.

[Smurfette]

Totally understandable. Just remember that everytime you have to AP while sleep training, you have to consider that day kind of 'on hold' so don't view tonight as day three, tomorrow will be day three. It just helps to keep things in perspective when looking back.
So what time was her final bedtime tonight and how long of an A time was that in total?

[cath73]

Her bedtime was 7.30 so an A of 7.5 hrs . She has sttn though and is still asleep now 6am unlike my EW ds!

[skatty]

She is a star at coping with OT through the night  I do think you will still have to be super careful today. As she seems to like a long morning nap you should maybe think about getting it slowly pushed on to nearer midday so you eventually end up with one nap and an early bedtime because as the mo' she seems to be pushing her day to a later BT and later wake up!

[cath73]

I know! She has been so good this week with her night sleeping!
She woke at 6.30 this morning so had 11 hrs last night . I know there is still OT going on, so will be careful again today.
I don't think she is ready for 1 nap yet as up until the last 2 days she has always had a short am nap and then a good 2 hr nap early afternoon, so will try for that. She refuses any sort of pm nap if she has had a long am nap which leads to more OT, little minx!
Will offer her a nap at 9.45 this morning as think I can stretch her A slightly and then aim for another nap around 1.30pm, then bedtime 6-6.30pm. Although will go with the flow
Feel more capable today, I was in bed and asleep by 9pm last night, so have caught up on my OT!!

Thankyou Smurfette, Skatty and Zacsmumme..........you are all amazing xx

[skatty]

Nio I agree she isn't ready for one nap now, it is usually a long process that can take months! I'm glad you aren't so OT 

[Smurfette]

I was in bed and asleep by 9pm last night, so have caught up on my OT!!

Isn't it wonderful when we can get a solid night's sleep? When you wake and you realized what just happened, you can almost hear a chorus of angels singing "Hallelujah"!

[cath73]

So had to rethink today as she had a perfect morning nap, woke at 45 mins and then 3hrs later offered  her 'longer' nap and woke 45 mins later . Tried to resettle but no luck...........think she was UT, with hindsight should have waited another 30 mins.
However tried for an early bedtime at 5.30 (3 hrs after her short nap), and we are still trying to settle.......I have been trying for an hour and now DH is trying, as my back can't take much more bending!
She is doing her usual playing around, scooting from the bottom of cot to the top, reaching for me etc etc, and as soon as I make any move towards the door, hysterical crying. I do feel she has us completely in her control and that this drama at bedtime is a behaviour that she has learned (from us). She is so wilful and rules the roost at the moment!!

She really looks like she is not tired whenever I try BT, regardless of how much day sleep she has had. Todays EASY was this:
A 6.30am
S 9.45am(offered at 9.30, 15 mins settle)
A 10.30am
S 1.45pm (offered at 1.30, and took 15 mins to settle...........UT?)
A 2.30pm
BT 5.30pm and still awake now at 6.45pm!

I almost think I need to stretch out her A time as she is getting pretty good night sleep (fingers crossed for tonight again) and maybe we are getting UT going into OT at bedtime. Naps are taking longer to settle now too, whereas before when she was doing a 3.5-4 hr A time she went down without a murmur! I know that I have to be careful of OT, so will watch for that. What do you guys think?

[skatty]

Oh no, I don't know what to suggest  This was our worst sleep period! I guess if she STTN then maybe it is time to stretch her A times back out. It is so hard with spirited kids because if you get the timing wrong they go from UT to OT in the blink of an eye  I think you need to use your mummy instinct on this one, just don't take her downstairs