is this the dreadded 2-1 nap transition, so soon?

[ginadsp]

Hi all

We seem I am not sure exactly what is going on, so let me start with some background info. My son is 9.5 mo old, independent sleeper, and is a touchy/textbook baby (depending on the schedule or month for that matter  ) He's got a cold and may still be trying to recover from the daylight savings time change (even though we tried to change his schedule over the course of two weeks, that would be the touchy comming out). We've been on a decent easy schedule since he was about 4 months old. He's always been a great nighttime sleeper and a tempermental napper. We have battled the 45 minute nap monster forever!

Our oldest problem has been EW, ha ha what else is new. For the past week or more he has been waking sometime between 5 and 5:30, hanging in his crib and then crying by 6:30. Sometimes if I go and change his diaper (he refuses to sleep in poop) or dh lets him cry a bit (bad daddy) and he will fall back asleep at 6:30 untill 7:15, but not always.

Yes I know getting him up at 6:30 is really not be a problem I should be complaigning about given some of the other ungodly hours some of you other mothers get up at but I fear it is morphing into a much more concerning problem...PM NAP REFUSAL. This was at least what happened yesterday.

Is this the ugly 2-1 nap transition or is it OT?? I will post our usual routine, followed up by yesterday's disaster. Hopefully yesterday's disaster will not be today's disaster but we will see, he's already off to a 5:15 wake up start.

Old schedule

7:00 out of crib (he used to actually wake around 6:45 ish)
7:10 bottle
8:00 breakfast
10:00 nap (about 1 - 1.15 long)
11:30 lunch
1:30 bottle
2:00 nap (about 45 min to 1.5 hours long)
4:30 bottle
5:00 dinner
5:30 bath/small bottle
6:00 bed

Yesterday

5:15 wake
6:30 crying and diaper change
6:45 back to sleep till 7:15
7:15 bottle
8:00 breakfast
9:45 nap (1.5 hours long)
11:00 lunch
1:30 bottle
2:00 in crib wide awake
3:00 still awake and crying. I changed his diaper, tried a re-do on the wind down
3:30 still awake and crying again, began the pu/pd nightmare (it usually only takes me once, he is so well trained, but not today)
3:45 I just got him up because I couldn't get him back down with pu/pd after 15 min
4:30 bottle
5:00 dinner
then straight up to bath/bottle and aimed for 5:30 bed, however he just stayed awake till 6:00 anyway

What the heck is going on??? AND what can I  do about it. I am off now to re-read for the millionth time my BWSP book. I will keep you posted on what happens today. All support and advice welcomed  !!!

[deckchariot]

How long have the EWs been coupled with the pm nap refusal?  If it's been several days, then yes, it could indeed with the 2 to 1 transition - my dd started at 10 mos.  Keep in mind, that doesn't mean he only needs one nap, it just means you have to tweak how he's getting his 2.  Have you checked out this link:
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=95670.0

see if that fits, and if so....welcome to the transition   Let me know if that makes sense, if not, then it could be something else entirely...

hth
michelle

[ginadsp]

yes I have read that very awesome and informative article. I love Laura's advice.

It sort of sounds like where we are but Im having a hard time telling. Which actually probably means we are in the very very early stages. And HECK NO I do not plan on dropping one of my naps. I am in no way that crazy  I'm thinking my routine needs a tweeking and I'm trying to figure out which way to go with it.

Now that I think back this all started about a month ago when he was in the hospital for two nights. After this experience he had multiple NW, although they were very short, every night for about three weeks. Then this changed to EW for the past week or so. Now this week I noticed the nap dropping or 45 min pm nap. I wouldn't say the nap dropping has happened enough to say it is a pattern, I just want to avoid it becomming one.

So should I just keep going with the flow, let the pm nap stay short and hope the ew go away on their own or should I try to wake him earlier from his first nap. Also have no idea how I would eventually even attempt to push his am nap later since he is waking up at 5 ish.

[deckchariot]

In terms of whether to keep the short pm nap or shorten the am one - I"m told the key is whether or not your ds needs a long A time before bed - if he does, then the option of shortening his am nap seems to be the best route.  And in that case, you don't push the nap later, you keep it at the same time, just shave time off of it.  Then you'll bring his pm nap a bit earlier (to compensate for the fact that he won't be as well rested after a short nap).

However, if he doesn't need a long time between his last nap and bedtime, then you can go with the longer am nap and pm catnap.  In that case, you would push out the am nap by 15 min increments (I did it over the course of a week at a time - very gradually), which will also push the pm nap a tad later - but since it's a catnap anyway, it's not so crucial to have a super long A time in between naps.

It's possible he's just readjusting after the hospital stay too.  What you could do is establish a solid 2 nap routine (using whatever A times worked when he didn't have an EW), and then shift his day 15 min.  So it looks like his first nap was after 3 hr of A time and his 2nd after 2.5?  So you'd do that routine, starting at 5ish.....then you'd shift it all by 15 min - so if he wakes at 5, don't get him til 5:15 (unless he's screaming), first nap at 8:15 (instead of , and the whole day moves 15 min.  I'm told that works for shifting the day if EWs are chronic and not so much due to routine issues.

So you have several options depending on what you think will work best for your bub.  Does that make sense?

hth
michelle

[ginadsp]

That makes perfect sense! I have a plan.  thanks for your help. I LOVE baby whisperer and all the support this site offers!!!!!

[deckchariot]

feel free to "pay it forward" and support other moms then too   That's what makes this site so fabulous!!!  Let me know how you get on with the switch