quick question about nap length

[AMJ]

Hi no problem. We are in Serbia at the moment so your and mine time difference is probably not that much apart. It is 8:45pm here now.

Sorry I don't understand, do you mean giving her an earlier nap? Earlier then 12? What time?
Her last A ended up being only 4hrs45m but I was afraid that since her nap was so short she would not be able to stay up full 5 or 5.5hrs

[LovelyLilyandJack]

No, sorry, I meant a later nap - maybe 12.30 or 1 like you suggested. You could try 12.30 for a bit and then try 1 if you get any more mucking about at nap time.

It's 7.50 here now, so pretty close, yes

[AMJ]

Oh ok yes that makes sense. I will probably give her 12:30 nap tomorrow but she usually takes about 15m to fall asleep so would probably be asleep at around 12:45 then and awake at 2.

Thanks a lot. I'm in crazy panic when she does things like this and totally loose my mind and don't know what to do. Only after I think it through

[LovelyLilyandJack]

I think if you can find a set nap time that works, that's where they can really help cos it take a lot of the tweaking  / panic away.  You just offer the opportunity to sleep and it's up to them what they do  - it all evens out over a period of days. Plus, I find it a lot easier to figure out what's going on that way too!

How did last night go after that short, late nap?

[AMJ]

Yeah that would be perfect. I already feel better and calmer after setting 12-2 nap.

She was tossing and turning for about fist 1-2hrs after she fell asleep but slept through till 5:20 so 10hr night is not bad!! Also she had little sniffles for the past 2 weeks but now she has a pretty bad cough too so maybe that's what was bugging her.

I have a feeling that if I offer the nap at 12 today she will take it because of a short nap yesterday and then tomorrow she will probably need a later/shorter nap. So I'm debating now if I should do 12-2 (where the actual nap is about 1hr40/45m) today or 12:30-2 (and she woul probably nap for 1hr15m).

[AMJ]

Hi Ladies. how are you?

Here is what was happening with DD in the last couple of days. After the day when she took 2hrs to fall asleep at nap time and then I woke her after 30m at 2:30pm, she seemed very tired for few next days and here I'm pretty sure she was tired from the way she was acting. I tried giving her a longer nap but she was taking about 30m to fall asleep so I had to get her up after 1.5hrs so she doesn't nap past 2pm. EBT wasn't helping cause she was taking forever to fall asleep and then up early in the am. Yesterday I put her for a nap a bit earlier then usual , and that way she was able to nap for 1hr45m. After that she was a totally changed child! She was my wonderful sweet girl. That night she slept for 10.5hrs and was up at 6:10am. But I guess because of a longer night she wasn't ready for a nap at 12 so fell asleep at 12:50. I woke her at 2:20 and she is back to being "crazy". Then BT at 7:30 and I'm pretty sure she will have an EWU.

From the above I think that to catch up she needs to nap for 1hr45m from 12:15-2pm. Then she has a better night. But I can't figure out what to do with her nap on the following day because she takes a long time to fall asleep at nap and then 1.5hrs/1hr/30m nap is making her hyper/OT? So then what is the right nap? and at what time? ARrrrr this is so frustrating!

P.S. Surprise Surprize! She had a great 10.5hrs night and WU at 6:00am. Then I gave her another 1.5hr nap from 12:45-2:15 so let's see how the BT and te night goes.

[LovelyLilyandJack]

If jack is OT then he tends to need a nap around 20-30 minutes earlier than usual, so working back from that, I'd have thought a nap at 12.15 when OT means a normal nap time of 12.35 - 12.45 should be about right? A few months ago jack would nap at 12.15 when OT but 12.45 normally, so you could try putting her down half an hour later after a catch up day?

Sorry, just seem your edit. How did it go?

[AMJ]

Yes I think that about same for us!

We had 2 nights of 10.5hrs long and this night was supposed to be the third night which usually when everything goes wrong. I was anxious to see how it was gonna turn out but thInge didn't go as planned at all. At 11 she woke up screaming bloody murder cause she lost he bunny. I ran in this bling she go her arm or leg caught in the crib railings or something. The bunny was in the corner of the crib were she couldn't see him. She calmed down as soon as I found him but then couldn't fall asleep for a very long time. She just laid there quietly. After 2hrs I went in to cuddle her thinking that would help her feel better but that just made things worse. She started calling for me after I left and asking to potty and to get up, cryin etc. anyways she ended up staying up for 3.5hrs! So we have to start over tomorrow with a catch up nap again and then back to 1.5hr nap from 12:45-2:15 and stick to it for few days

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Urgh, a 3.5 hr NW?! I think that beats even jack's record!  Hope you get a better night tonight and both get to catch up a bit  x

[AMJ]

Hi we've been getting long NWUs almost every night since that incident with "lost" bunny. But she is teething now and doesn't seem in pain but like the usual grumpy etc. I give her meds of course but don't really see much change in her behaviour or sleep.

I thought I was onto something trying out 1hr45m nap to catch her up and 1.5hr on any other day since it gave us 10.5hrs night for few days but now with teething everything is upside down again and it feels like I'm back to square one. She is taking 25-30m to fall asleep at nap ( I try to have her asleep at 1:45pm and wake at 3:15pm) and then takes about 40-45m to fall asleep at BT( I try to have her aleep by 8:30 the latest). Oh yes her day moved by 1hr later because she is having long NWUs and that brought her morning WU to about 7/7:30am. She won't go to nap earlier. If she needs a catch up I have her asleep by 1:15 and then up at 3:00pm and BT at 8:30pm.

Tonight she WU screaming again for me. This is a second time. When I woke up I looked at the baby monitor to see if she lost her bunny again but he was in her hand. She said : my bunny! I pointed out that he was in her hand and she said: yes. She ended up staying up for 1hr20m. So I'm not sure why she WU scared but do you think she can be having nightmares? I'm worried if this continues she will loose lots of sleep due to this. 

[jessmum46]

It could be developmental (she just had her birthday right?) but whenever my DD took a long time to sleep for nap/BT it was almost always UT and I needed to put down later.  We had a period of lots of sleep right around 2nd birthday for a couple of weeks, then sleep needs just dropped and we started having 1-2 NNDs per week with max 1h30 sleep on the other days, usually less.  I'd be tempted to either lengthen your day deliberately or cut the nap to an hour, slightly more if a catch up day needed.  What does your day actually look like right now then?  WU?  PD for nap 1.15??  Or 1.45??  Sorry not sure if you are taking account of the to she takes to fall asleep or now. And what time do you PD for bed?

[AMJ]

hi, yes she turned 2 on April 7.

her day is about 13.5hrs long now.
On the day she needs to catch up:
WU 6:30/7am
A 6hrs15m/6hrs45m
Crib at 12:50
Nap at 1:15 for 1hr45m (lately she falls asleep closer to 1:30)

WU 3:00 I wake her
A 5.5hrs (before started teething needed about 5.5hrs after a long nap)
crib at 8:00
BT 8:30 but now closer to 8:45

On other days this is what seemed to work before teething
WU 6:50/7am
A 6hrs45m
Crib 1:20/1:30
Nap 1:45 for 1.5hrs

WU 3:15 I woke her
A 5hrs15m ( she did better with this A after 1.5hrs nap)
Crib 8:00
BT 8:30 but now closer to 8:45

Plus we've been having those NWUs every other day. Few were due to lost bunny.

Also I'm wondering if now 1hr 45m nap became too long even for catching up and 1.5hrs is enough for her to catch up. Although yesterday she had a 1.5hr nap (that's after a NWU) and the following night was only 10hrs.

When you said to deliberately give her a longer day how long do you mean? 14hrs long or longer?

[jessmum46]

Ah ok, no I wouldn't lengthen your day.  Your day is very long already.  I would cut the nap shorter and try to bring the day shorter again, I think as you said the longer naps are robbing your night sleep again x

[AMJ]

I'll give it another go!

[jessmum46]

Good luck!