BabyWhispererForums.com
SLEEP => Sleeping For Toddlers => Topic started by: hulababysmommy on May 25, 2006, 20:27:22 pm
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Hi there!
I could use some advice from the experts here......
DD just turned 1 two weeks ago. She's been a great napper and sleeper. Up until last week, she would sleep through the night and take 2 naps. Her sleeping schedule looked like this most of the time:
between 6:00-7:00 am wake up
between 8:30-9:30 am nap starts (1.5 hour nap, sometimes a little longer)
between 10:00-11:00 wake up from nap
between 1:00-2:00 pm nap starts (mostly 1 hour nap)
between 6:15-7:00 pm bedtime
DD has had this routine for quite some time now. Last week all of a sudden, she woke up at 4 am one night and wouldn't go back to sleep. I was able to put her down again at some point, but I wasn't able to leave the room without her starting to cry again. It took 2 hours before she snoozed again for half an hour. Then she wanted up for the day.
Ever since that night, the afternoon nap has been a huge battle. She seems tired and when I try to put her down, she starts crying. As soon as I leave the room, she will get up and sit on her knees in front of her gate. I go back in and put her back down, but she'll start crying again. This goes on for probably 45 minutes-1 hour. She'll finally give in and sleep 30-45 minutes.
Yesterday I thought I wouldn't go in again to put her down because seeing me (or probably me leaving again) upsets her all over again. I figured she would give in to sleep at some point and lay down. Well, she did - 45 minutes later. She was talking, playing and "calling" me the whole time.
I'm thinking she's maybe moving from 2 naps to 1. But I thought the morning nap was supposed to disappear first. Not the afternoon nap! It's going to be a looooooong afternoon if her afternoon nap is gone. She won't be able to make it until 6:30 bedtime. Putting her to bed earlier is kind of scary to me, because I don't want her to start waking up at 5 am or even earlier. 6 am is early enough for me!
DD sleeps about 11-11.5 hours at night.
Or could it be her newly discovered mobility? She started crawling about 1 month ago.
Any advice to help us through the nap battles?
Thanks a lot!
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Yes, it might be crawling. Developemental milestones seem to throw some babies off sleeping while they "practice". Give her lots of opportunity to practice during her activity time so that she doesn't have to practice so much when she's supposed to be sleeping.
Also, some babies give up their afternoon naps rather than their morning naps. There's a post here about having nap before lunch with lots of responses you might find interesting. If you want her nap later in the day, though, it is possible to "reschedule" it so its at a better time for you. Rather than put her down for her morning nap at her regular time, push it back by 15 minutes every three days until its at the time you want it. If she needs a brief catnap in the afternoon to get her through until bedtime, that's okay, too.
HTH!
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I just found the post in the "naps" board; it's very helpful!
Thanks!