Respect the yawn! Successful day. . .

[writelydivided]

Yesterday, my almost 12 wo Samuel had a grand total of 2 hours of naps (1/2 hour, hour, 1/2 hour). Needless to say, he was WAYYYYY overtired--likely my fault, missing cues--but for good reason--distracted by almost 26 MO brother! (I'm lucky with Samuel--he's angel/textbook--big brother Joshua was super spirited and EASY was a great lifesaver, but never truly easy!)

I determined today to put Samuel down at first signs of sleepiness. This morning, after 7 am feed, that meant back to bed at 7:50 AM (wow!). He slept till 10:30! Next yawn was at about 11:45. Put him down, napped until 2:00! Next yawn, 3:30, napped until 5:30 (when I woke him to feed). Next feed at 7:30, asleep by 8, and I'm off to dreamfeed at 10:30 pm. A perfect 3.5 hour EASY day, and while I don't expect the same tomorrow, my faith in EASY and in reading sleepy signs is CONFIRMED.

Keep it up, all--the days it works are GOLDEN.

[deckchariot]

YAY for a great day!!!  And it is those days that keep us going on the days when nothing seems to be working - so remember this day!  Well done!

[Shdef]

YAY!!!

Scotty does this sometimes for a couple days until the OT is over. Then goes back to his normal routine, but with waaay more sleep.

You could aim for two 1.5-2 hour-naps and an 11 - 12 hour night

[*Nicola*]

YAY!!! 

[Shdef]

LOL. I misread and thought he was 12 months 

Well done

[JBsMommy]

Just wanted to say CONGRATS on your success!!!   

I am currently suffering from short naps with my lo so reading posts like yours gives me hope!

[writelydivided]

Thanks to all above for responses. Of course, we followed the picture perfect day above with a 4 AM wake up call (nursed), and another the next night (no nursing, he went back to sleep on his own--yay!). It's so amazing the power of the routine. I know when he's tired and needs sleep, and as long as I respond, he generally sleeps. Weekend outings (church, a trip to a fair) mess up the routine and result in some OT, but, getting right back on the next day seems to solve and help us not get into a bad cycle.

My first day back to work (I work from home), I wasn't ready for the demands and missed tired cues and ended up with another day of only half hour naps, but the next day, we were back to generally gloriously long naps. Seem to be on a 3 to 3 1/2 hour easy. . . . will have to go read up on what to look for the transition to 4 hour.

[Shdef]

Some kids never transition to four. Not even when they are five years old. If you are doing great with 3.5, I'd leave it

Scotty was on 4 hour routine and 3 hour naps from 0-3 months, then fed more frequently, so we had more of a 3 hour EASY.