2-1 Tweaking HELP NEEDED for 10.5 month old!!!

[jamm]

Hello! Well, I think I've read every possible post and still need some help! 

My DD2 Isabelle is 10.5 months old and I think she is ready for 1 nap. She used to have two 1.5 hr naps day and 10.5-11 hr at night until a few weeks ago... her days started to look like this:

6:30 wake up
Nap #1 10:00-12:00 (2 hr) A=3.5
Nap #2 4:00-4:45 (45 min) A=4 hr
Bedtime 7-7:30 pm

I had to tweak her A times because she was often fighting nap #2 and just wouldn't settle! Then DH and I went away (without the kids  ) for 4 days.... Isabelle was an ANGEL for Grandma (ie. wakeup times) but ever since we've been back the EWs have started! So I thought/think she's ready to transition to 1 nap but I just can't seem to get her to lengthen her PM nap OR get rid of the darn EWs!! If I let her sleep as long as she wants for Nap #1, she will have a 2-2.5 hr nap but then not settle for her PM nap after a 4hr A time (after 4hr it will be too close to bedtime), so I started to cut her AM nap. This is what the past 3-4 days have looked like:

(ie. yesterday)
5:45 wake up
Nap #1 9:40-10:25 (45 min) A= almost 4 hr (she can easily stay up for this long so I figured I could stretch it to help with the 2-1 transition??)
Nap #2 1:30-2:15 (45 min) A = 3 hr
Bed 6:00 A=3h45

I really didn't want to put her to bed any earlier than 6:00 because I was afraid of the EW but she was definitely exhausted by then. Of course, she was up at 5:00!! this morning.

EWs have been anywhere from 5:00-5:45, but if she gets up before 5:30, she will go back to sleep after nursing. After 5:30, it's time to play after a feed.

Maybe I just need to give her a few more days to adjust to cutting her AM nap short? I don't want her to get overtired and every day I keep my fingers crossed the PM nap is longer than 45 min!!! I also tried W2S for the EWs, but the time she wakes up is so random I don't know if I'm timing it right (or if it's appropriate).

Any advice?? Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and any help you are able to provide is GREATLY appreciated!!!!! 

[*Jo*]

Hi there, well i hate to say it but it looks like shes actually not doing too bad, if you put her to bed at 6pm and she wakes at 5am then shes essentially doing an 11 hour night and so therefore its not a EW at all.

but i think you need to make your first nap either the shorter one or the longer one. so you either do what we do which is this:

wake 7am
nap 1 11-12.30 A = 4 hours
nap 2 4.30-5pm A = 4 hours
bed 8pm

or the opposite which is
wake 7am
nap 1 11-11.30 A = 4 hours
nap 2 2.30-4pm A = 3 hours
bedtime 8pm

how does that sound?

[jamm]

Thanks for your reply - I think I'm going to aim for the latter because when I let her sleep as long as she wants for the morning nap she fights nap #2. But today (and same as the past few days) when I woke her up after 45 min for nap 1, she has no problem going down for nap 2, except that it only lasts 45 min. This is what happened today:

EW 5:00 am (was in bed at 6:10 pm night before) - nursed back to sleep
Wake 6:30
Nap 1 10:20-11:05, A~4h
Nap 2 2:20-3:05, A = 3h15
Bed 6:50 pm

She is EXHAUSTED by bedtime because of the short naps - before I started cutting her AM nap she would get almost 3hr day sleep, vs the 1.5hr TOTAL she is getting now. Do you think the EW are due to the early bedtimes? I'm afraid of OT.

[*Jo*]

well 4 hours A time is a bit on the long side, we do a 4 hour A time and only really got to that time just before 12 months old so take it slowly but i think give it a couple of days on teh new routine to see improvements

[jamm]

Last night was a nightmare! She had a "real" EW at 3:50am!! Hasn't done that since she was 4 or 5 months old!!
I tried to nurse her back to sleep but it didn't work... had to do PD for about 15 min... she was quiet for about half an hour then cried out again. So I changed her diaper (just wet), gave her Motrin (in case tooth #8 is finding its way through) and had to PD for 5 min before she settled.... and 45 min later she was up again at 6:00am!

She is EXHAUSTED, so I put her down this morning at 9:30am and (am I wrong to do this??) decided to go with your 1st suggestion (ie. long AM nap and short PM nap). a full night's sleep for her is ~11h, so I figure even if she has her PM nap relatively late and subsequently goes to bed relatively late she will get up a little later?? I just hate to rob her of the good AM nap she usually has.

Then once she's back on track start pushing her AM nap out?

[*Jo*]

oh dear, thats not good at all, i hate those EW!! it does sound like a tooth though, have you checked her gums??

yes you are right in putting her down early. let me know how your day turns out

[jamm]

I can't seem to find a tooth, but rosy cheeks and extra drooling have come about, so yes, I think another tooth is coming! On top of that, she caught my eldest daughter's cold, so her nose is runny and stuffy.. argh!

Yesterday was an "ok" day:

wake 6:00
A=3h30
nap 1 9:30-10:50 (1h15)
A=3h30
nap 2 2:20-2:55 (35 min)
A= 3h15
bed 6:10 (she was soooo tired!!)

She stirred/cried out almost every 40/45 min until we went to bed but settled back to sleep on her own (didn't have to go in); I'm guessing OT?? Anyway, she slept until 5:45 am (11h25) so at least she had a pretty good night's sleep. Again I'm going to let her sleep this AM and go for a short PM nap - routine might be off a little because of her cold & teething, but I just want to get her over the OT and hopefully past the EWs!!

Thanks again for your support Jo!! {{HUGS}}

[*Jo*]

sounds good! if shes isnt well then im guessing shes been "off" for a few days beforehand too, you know like when we get a cold we can feel it coming before the symptoms actually arrive, i think the A times you have given her are good, with the first one perhaps try 3hrs40mins, this might extend her first nap a little but if she only has a 1hr15min nap again i would shorten the next A time by about 15mins as it seems she was OT by nap 2.

Also after only a 30-45min nap shorten her A time to 2.5-3 hours if needed, Caleb drops his A time by an hour after a short nap like that.

[jamm]

she is definitely sick and in need of sleep! yesterday was:

wake 5:45 am
A= 4 hr
nap 1: 9:45-12:45 (3 HOURS!!)
A= 4 hr
nap 2: 4:55-5:45 (woke her up)
A= 2 hr
bedtime 7:45 pm

we had an EW at 4:40 (really upset, I think it's her teeth) - diaper change, more Motrin, nose cleaning and little nurse and she was back to bed at 5:00 am and slept until 8:00 am - the latest she has EVER woken up!

she was tired by 11:45 this morning so she's been sleeping since then. i think the EW was either teeth, or due to the short A time between nap #2 and bed?