1 Year Old's Routine

[irish3680]

Hi Layla and Everyone!

Ella will be a year on Saturday and I feel like her sleep needs are changing. She has always been on the higher end of sleep needs, but I feel she may be dropping down on the amount she needs. I also think she needs more A time especially before bed, but not sure the best way to tweak her routine. We needed to start cutting her am nap to 1 hour at 9 months. We went to 45 minutes around 10.5 months and started 30 minutes last Monday. Her nights are getting shorter and that's not good for her. Always tended to rob night sleep for day, but when her nights get cut shorter than 11.5 hours it's not good. I definitely don't want bedtime any later than 7:30. I don't get her out of her crib until 7:30 am, but she plays happily and quietly until I get her. She does best when she sleeps until at least 7 am. The past few days I have really watched her and it seems like she is getting about 13.5 hours of sleep a day. Her routine before starting to wake early:

7:00ish: awake & play until 7:30
10:30 - 11:00: nap
1:30 - 3:30/3:45: nap
7:15: bed

The last few days have been:
6/6:30: awake & play until 7:30
10:25: put down for nap
10:30/10:35: asleep
11:00: wake her up
1:30: put down for nap
1:40ish: asleep
3:10/3:15: wakes up
7:00/7:15: bed (Yesterday I put her to bed at 7 pm before she woke at 3:10 from her nap and she still woke early this am. Today she woke from pm nap at 3:15 and I put her down at her normal 7:15 she fell asleep at 7:30)

What does this sound like to you, OT UT? The longer stretch in the am due to the EW don't seem to affect her, but I really would like to flip flop the longer stretch of A time to before bed and then have her sleep in until 7/7:30 am.

Thanks for your input!
Shannon

[Layla]

Hey Shannon,

Is it the early starts you don't like or do you think she needs more night sleep? How does she act during the day? You could try cutting her morning nap down to 20mins & then bring up the afternoon nap & have the longer gap between afternoon nap & bedtime?

10:30-10:50 - morning nap
12.50-2.50 - afternoon nap
7/7.30 - bedtime

What do you think?

[irish3680]

Hi Layla,

The early starts don't bother me because she wakes up silently and plays until I get her. The only reason I know she's awake is because I have a video monitor, which can be a blessing and a curse 
I think she needs more night sleep. When her nights get shorter than 11.5 hours it is not good for her and it shows in her behavior during the day. Also, when her nights are too short she wants to take her naps earlier causing the cycle to repeat itself. I do think she needs more waketime before bed. Today was better:

6:50: awake (got about 11.25 hrs)
asleep around 10:30ish, woke her at 11:00
asleep about 1:40, woke her at 3:45
7:30: bed, asleep about 7:45

I put her to bed a little later because she slept so long for her pm nap. I don't know if I let her sleep too long, we will see in the am. She prefers to make up sleep during naps and I always struggle with whether I should wake her from the pm nap. She really likes to take a nice long pm nap, but when it cuts into night sleep we run into problems.

Shannon

[Layla]

See what time she wakes in the morning. I think overall she is getting good amount of sleep.  If you want to experiment..... cut her pm nap to 1.5hrs & see if it adds onto night sleep. 1.5hrs is refreshing enough until bedtime & that way she can get the 11.5hrs that she needs at night.

Let me know how it goes in the morning

[irish3680]

The long nap until 3:45 yesterday backfired. I woke up at 6:30 am and turned on the monitor and she was already awake playing with her blanket and bear. So she got less than 11 hours last night. Do you think it's better to make am or pm nap shorter?

[Layla]

You have to look at the overall sleep - she got what she needed. Its a matter of working out whats better for her... longer night or longer pm nap?

Don't let her sleep longer than 1.5hrs in the pm if it cuts her nights short.

Do you think it's better to make am or pm nap shorter?

I don't know  . I would rather shorten the pm nap (if its constantly 2hrs long) to 1.5hrs than shorten the morning nap. In my case, I don't think Jasmine would do too well with a 20min morning nap. I know Isabella didn't... she was VERY cranky after 20mins & it was a mess keeping her up until afternoon nap... it depends on your lo. No harm in trying.... if you see that she is not liking it & gets overtired, then go back to longer morning nap.

But be careful not to cut her daytime sleep too much just to get her nights to 11.5hrs. At the end of the day, you don't want her to do 11.5-12hrs at night & 2x30min naps....

[irish3680]

Thanks Layla. I woke her from the pm nap after 1.5 hours of sleep at 3:15 pm. She was fine with me waking her up and happy the rest of the afternoon and evening. I put her down at our normal time of 7:15. She is almost asleep at 7:25 pm. I know she is getting the amount of sleep she needs, but for her when nights get cut too short it accumulates and she gets OT even though she made up for it with naps. Do you think 2 hours of naps (30 mins am and 1.5 pm) is reasonable?

[Layla]

Yeah I do... once she is on 1 nap, she will probably av 2hrs of daytime sleep. The av nap is 1.5-2hrs &11hrs at night. She might do 2.5 & 11 or she might do 2 & 11.5.....

 

[irish3680]

Thanks Layla!

I'm going to continue with 1.5 hr pm nap and see how it goes. I definitely like 7:15 pm bedtime and don't want any later than 7:30. I think if I let her sleep longer for pm nap, bedtime will be pushed later. I can't believe she is growing up so fast 

Shannon