easy routine for my nephew 14 1/2 months

[annette.xx]

Hi all

im looking after my nephew for a day in 2 weeks time - giving my sister a days break - she has 4 kids is an amazing mum (dont know how she does it!!) but she is having such a rough ride with her youngests sleep...

she breezed through the others so this is quite a shock for her!!

hes been on one nap for a while (about 10.5 months i think) with the odd 2 nap day with illness etc but basically he sounds OT - NW etc...

I know she always puts him to bed at around 9pm and he wakes about 7ish so 10 hour night and she can usually get a 2 hr ish nap in the day (but she says this is really hard!) timings vary so I was thinking maybe try a 2 nap day with him...

she doesnt do any routine as such just follows his cues (shes a clever mummy! - im useless at this!!) so it will be interesting to see if I could get him well rested for her so she can get a better nights sleep...

this is what I plan;

wake 7
nap 1 - 11 - 1
nap 2 - 5 - 5.30/45
bed 9pm

I dont know whether I will even succeed in getting him to sleep but I will give it a shot!! do you think those timings could work?

Annette.xx

[*Becky*]

Hi hun,
Hmmm tricky! You says she goes by cues but is there a rough outline of the day or is it always different? 9pm is a late bedtime IMO especially if this lo is an early bird...some lo's are just not going to sleep until 9am ish even if they go to bed at 9pm so if it were me I really would be adjusting the bedtime but I am sure she has her reasons for this time.
I think your routine looks good but tbh a 14 hour day is loooong! I really do think that trying a day of max 13 hours would be a good start. Also - if he has been on one nap since 10.5 months I am not sure starting 2 naps now would be a good idea i.e. might cause more problems.
What do you think?

[mmom]

Annette, your sister must be so busy and exhausted by 9 pm.  Did she say why she has such a late bedtime?  I would think she would want all of her kids down early, so she could get a break.  I agree with Becky - that is a really long day and NWs are probably due to OT.