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SLEEP => Sleeping For Toddlers => Topic started by: Lola's Mum on March 16, 2011, 14:07:22 pm
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Hi, would love some advice on whether to go for 1 nap or 2 today. Recently, DD has been on the short side of A times, what with teething and illness. Advice on another thread was to extend her first A time now as I was getting a short nap in the morning, where it had been consistently long. As I went to a toddler group today, it seemed like a good day to start. The day has looked like this:
6.45 WU
11.00: S (So 4:15 A time.)
Nap: 11 - 1.20 (so 2hr 20 mins sleep)
Yesterday her first A was nearly 3hr 25 and before that it was 3hrs, so not really the gradual extension that's recommended.
I thought she'd wake really rested and happy from her long nap but she's been really grumpy. Don't know if the long A was too long for her. Now not sure whether it's risky to push the second A to get to a decent BT. Or whether to do a CN, which she wouldn't take until at least 5.20, if not later. Would make BT very late, especially on a 6.45 wake up. If I went for 1 nap, what A time do you think would be 'safe'. She's susceptible to OT and when I was working on the transition to 1 nap a few months ago, it ended up with OT.
Would really appreciate any thoughts as I'm feeling pretty clueless. Thank you.
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Just to add, her middle A time is normally about 4 hours after a long nap. And after a 30 min CN it was 2.5 hours but she's resisted until 3 hours or so for the last 2 nights.
Thanks again.
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If it were me...I'd go for maybe a 6pm BT. If you try another nap it might be too much day sleep, and a late BT so you might be up in the night either way.
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Hey Sophie!
I agree with Kim, I'd go for an earlier BT, that's a good long nap & would think on the back of that you'd struggle to fit another one into the day.
Does she usually do well with an early BT (i.e. doesn't wake too early?).
It does sound like she could be ready to try the 1 nap again, what do you think?
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Yeah, I think she's ready, especially as she's that bit older now. I've done early BT a few times and once or twice she woke a lot in the night. 1 time I think it was OT as I'd try to stretch the A before BT too much and another time it was UT as she'd not had enough A time in the day to wear her out. I am a bit worried that she'll wake at 6 am or before but know everybody says that they sleep longer on 1 nap, so I'll have to keep the faith!!
Do you think 6pm is about right then. That would be 4hr 40 min A time.
Thanks for your help.
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I would say 6pm - 6.30pm at the latest.
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FWIW when olly was still on 4.25 h a time I would be capping that 1st nap and APOP a 2nd. But then I was never very brave with the early BT!
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Thanks Claire.Today I wanted to see how long she would sleep for so didn't cap it, although I did pace around the flat saying 'shall I, shan't I' several times as just couldn't decide what to do. Going for early BT tonight. If it's 6pm, that's only 45 mins short of a 12 hour day, which isn't too bad. Just hope she sleeps for more than 11 hours, as I really don't fancy 5am and not even 6am!!
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OHHH it is so tempting to leave them to sleep isn't it! lol
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Just wanted to send you good luck vibes, Sophie. Don't have much to add as others have given their advice. Agree with the 6pm BT.
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grrr, it's been 5:15 and she wont go to sleep. Have put her down but she babbled, laughed, stood up, blew raspberries and nw lm letting her play on her bedroom floor. Im dreading her getting ot now and hope she'll go down soon. She's v lively so wondering if she's gone past tired, nt that she's looked it at all.
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Hi Sophie! i'd have done one nap too... I'm probably late on this, but I probably would have done a 535 BT. If you know she can handle 4 hrs, I'd have probably tried to push it 15, but that's with me and Ellen. I know Lola is very sensitive to OT. Good luck with it and I hope it works out!
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She finally went at 7pm, which was a 5hr 40 min A time. I so worried about the night now. I don't know if I did something wrong. I didn't take her out of the bath in time for a 6pm BT as she was soooo lively. She showed absolutely no tired signs, not that she shows many but I can generally tell she's starting to get tired in the evening. So, did I leave her too late to WD in the bedroom or can she just do an exceptionally long A time after a 2hr 20 min nap. I guess what happens over night and what time she wakes up might give me a bit of a clue. Please, everyone, cross your fingers. I don't think I can deal with loads of OT NWs. I'm sleeping in her room as DP is ill and it means he can be ill in bed on his own, so I won't have far to go at least!
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Fingers are crossed for you!
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I agree Sophie that how she is tonight will give you some insight!
She could have been OT & her playing around at BT could have been her getting a second wind. OR it could have been UT after the long nap.
Hoping you have a good night....give us an update in the AM! :)
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Hey Sophie, I know it can seem crazy the A times they can do when switching to one nap.
When DS switched, he would get tired earlier in the day than i would have liked around 11am and then have a good long nap (2/2.5/3hrs) and then do a huge A time before bed (because he'd refuse a CN - i gave up on them after a while). Pretty much exactly as you have described!! And the good news (well for us anyway) was then that he would sleep right through the night till the next morning and started doing longer nights as well. He would sleep 12-13hrs at night and do 2hrs during the day.
On the days when he woke up earlier than i would have liked (before 730) then we would do a 2 nap day, which made BT very late but then he would also sleep in the next morning (till 8am) which would then make it a 1 nap day IYKWIM?
We did this day/nap shuffle for quite a few weeks as he got used to it, doing long nights and one nap days and sometimes short nights and 2 nap days.
Hope that helps, let us know how your night went... FX!
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Well, she woke a couple of times before I went to sleep but settled herself and then woke at 12.00 and 2am. They weren't long NWs but I just had to give her bottle of water back and Bubba. Normally she can do this herself. She then woke at 6.20. It makes it a 11:20 night, which I guess isn't an EW . But I thought she might have slept for 12 or 13 hours. I'm thinking it was OT last night but really don't know when would have been the good time as she was so hyper throughout.
Cathy, I have a feeling Lola might also prefer a shorter A in the morning and longer in the PM.
Thinking that with the early WU time I should do 2 naps today. Or would you stick with 1. I just don't want BT and WU to get earlier and earlier.
Thanks....
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I'd prob aim for 2 naps today Sophie so she doesn't get too OT!
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Thanks. Think so as she's looking tired and it's only just after 2 hours.
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Yeah I'd go for two naps today too.
Multiple wakings during the night always leave DS tired early the next day, even if they werent for long...
Hope you have a better day today. :-*
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Hey Sophie! Just a thought... is she possibly waking b/c you are in her room and she might hear you moving around or something? I only slept in the same room with Ellen once (no choice) and she woke up all night long...
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Hi Megan, thanks for the thought. It's a good point. We slept in the same room until 1 year and then since moving to new flat, for about 3 weeks when her molars came in. During that time she did a combination of STTN and not, although I've usually slept in there since moving here because she's going through a teething phase and waking a lot. It could be me that's waking her now, although never used to be a problem. In fact, DP has slept in there sometimes and I was initially really worried because he snores like a ship coming in to dock (or several ships together) and I was sure it would wake her . Quite often she STTN. But I guess it could be a case of a noise waking her if she happens to be at at stage of light sleep. I'm going to sleep in there tonight at least as I think DP has tonsillitis.
It's going to be about a 7.40 BT tonight, so I'm hoping for a later WU tomorrow. If it's 6.30 again, I think I'll have to definitely try not sleeping in there.
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Maybe try some white noise Sophie?
DD's & DS's bedrooms are next to each other so both have fans on at night (turned away against a far wall), which really helps them not wake each other up but also stops them being woken by other noises like birds early in the AM (we live near the coast so Seagulls are really noisy 1st thing ::)!)
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I used to have a hairdryer track play on a loop all night until a few months ago when DP broke my ipod. I have a new one now so could put the docking station in her room and try it again if it is noise. But not sure she needs it all night. Might try tomorrow though.
As annoying as it might be to live near those noisy seagulls, it sounds quite lovely to me. It's my dream to live by the sea (it's being a cancerian I think!).
Today our day looked like this:
WU: 6.20
Nap 1: 10.13 - 11.45 (after A 3:53 time)
Nap 2: 4.09 - 4.39 (after 4:24 A time)
BT: 7.45 (after just over 3 hour A time)
She resisted Nap 2 a bit but it didn't take too long in the end. I thought I'd tried too late. It seems like a bit of a long day after a 6.20 A time but I guess that's the problem with 2 nap days when they're doing long A times. I'm really hoping for a later WU tomorrow. Might try a 1 nap day if she wakes later and she doesn't seem OT during the night.
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lol Sophie...I used to think that but they do drive me mad at 5 AM every morning!
Hows it going today?
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Hi Sian
She woke a few times in the night and then at 6.40 this morning and was crying so I knew she was still tired. Got her to go back to sleep with white noise and she slept till 8am. Went for a 1 nap day. 4:15 for the first A time. She woke after 1:15, which was nearly a nightmare as it was going to be too late for a 2nd nap but not really long enough for 1 nap. She was a bit hysterical so I sat her on me to calm her down and she went back off. Put her back down and she slept for another 1.5 hours, so 2:45 in total. Was going for a 4.5 hour last A as the other day it was too long and she wouldn't settle. She seemed really lively trying to do WD and then she stood up in the cot and yelled and I thought it was going to be a repeat of the other night. But then she decided to lie down and go to sleep, which was great. The A time was 4:40 in the end. Not sure if those A times are long enough for a 1 nap day and if the 2nd A time should have been longer after such a long nap. But we'll see. She looked really tired this morning so must have really needed it. Hopefully she won't wake at 6.30 ish.
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It's a tricky balance......ideally they need to be able to handle around 5hrs A time comfortably to manage on 1 nap (i.e. 5hr AM A-time/2hr nap/5hr PM A-time).
The problem you get (which you're finding) is when their A-times are around 4/4.5hrs. If they do a good long nap this can be managable for a 1 nap day.
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Do you think for a 1 nap day, 2:45 mins isn't too long for the nap if the A times are only between 4:15 and 4:40. In fact, is a longer than 2 hour nap preferable while they transition.
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To start with I would tend to let them sleep for as long as they need when they first transition....I know some LO's can sleep up to 3hrs!
M used to sleep around 2.5hrs I think, then as she got older we had to cap it.
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Argh I had just written out a post and DS pushed the reset button on my computer!! :(
Sounds like you are doing well so far, its all about judging them each day and night and every A time after.
I think you made the right call(s) when you put her back to sleep etc rather than going for a 2 nap day at that point in the day.
I think that a 2:45nap is pretty good actually at this point of the transition. She'll need to do some catching up for a while, when getting used to the single nap and longer A's. Then as Megan says they'll either shorten it themselves by just needing less sleep or you'll have to cap it so they dont wake UT in the night. (Just wait for an UT NW and then start capping if you have to)
While she can only manage 4ish hr A times it's ok to have the long nap, and then go with the flow for a while doing one nap and two nap days as the sleep needs cycle round. I started to think more about the total sleep my DS was getting over a period of a few days (and even the week as a whole) rather than the sleep needs of each day individually. (Although these definitely do count as well!)
Then as he was able to handle the longer A's his sleep needs started to level out and so did his routine and then he was consistently on one nap and handling it well.
Keep us posted... :)
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Thanks Cathy and Sian. Well, Lola went to bed last night at 7.20 and woke this morning at 6.50. I know that 11.5 hours isn't bad really but I keep waiting for these allusive long nights after a 1 nap day. Besides she used to do 12 hours on 2 naps. She woke for a short NW at 2am and still don't know if there's a bit of OT in there. I was planning on doing 2 naps today but Lola fell asleep in the buggy minutes from home at around 4 hours A time. I had planned to put her down at 4 hours so it's a bit annoying. I took her in and aimed to put her straight down but it took about 20 minutes or so. As it had got later and I knew she was really tired, I didn't want to cut her nap, so left her sleep and decided to do a 1 nap day. She slept for 2:15 and this meant bedtime was to be about 6pm. She was so tired at bt and I got her down a bit late. Already had a nw so hoping not to have too many nws or an ew. And if she does 11.5 hours again, that will be 5.40. Ouch. I can't handle that. Hope her body clock might be tuned in to a wu between 6.30 and 7.
Fingers crossed.
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It can take a while for LO's to adjust to just the 1 nap & for naps/night sleep to lengthen. Some OT is to be expected whilst her body-clock re-sets.