15 month old is down to a 45 minute nap, once a day, and nothing is helping.

[BareFootMomma]

DD has been struggling with her naps for a while now, and it is getting worse. I was trying to keep her on 2 naps because OT would creep in with 1 nap after 2 or 3 days. But nothing is working anymore. This past week her best nap has been 1hr 20 min. The last two days she has only slept for 45 minutes the whole day. So here is what those days looked like:

Saturday:
wake - 8am
Nap - 11:50
Wake - 1:00
attempt at a nap - 4:30 - she wouldn't go to sleep for anything
Bed - 6:45 - I can't get her to go to bed any earlier than 6:30 because she either treats it as a nap and then is up WAY late, or she tries to start the next day at an insane hour like 3 or 4 am. Some how after 6:30 she is able to stay asleep for the night and it doesn't affect her wake up the next day.

Sunday:
Wake - 7:50am
Nap - 12:10 - She took a long time going to sleep.
Wake - 12 55 - was obviously really tired when she woke up, but wouldn't go back to sleep.
Nap attempt #1 - 3:30 - not even close to going to sleep
Nap attempt #2 - 4:30 - seemed like she was going to fall asleep really easily, and then suddenly got really hyper and wild when we put her in the crib.
Bed - 6:50 - Tried for 6:30, but she fought sleep for 20 minutes.

Today:
Woke - 7:13
Nap - 11:55 - would have been 11 but I had a doctor's appointment
Woke - 12:40

I have tried shortening and lengthening A times, catching her up on sleep with 2 naps (OBVIOUSLY not working), I have spent hours at a time trying to get her back to sleep after a short nap and down for 2nd naps. DH has also tried, and he doesn't get any better results than I do. She isn't sick and she broke through two molars a couple weeks ago and has seemed she is feeling much better so I doubt it is more teething. I don't know what else to try.

[Mum2Sprigglet]

(((HUGS)))... I hear your pain.  We are going through a similar phase with my DS at the moment, but he's also teething (canines) and has a cold. So triple the trouble.  I thought he was shortening his A time two days ago, but his nap was never longer than 1 hour. So I am going back to longer A again. 

Just looking at your routine - how do you decide when to put her down for her nap?  I assume you are trying a different A time before nap to see what works? Have you tried 4.5/5 hour A?

I am no expert or experienced like all the other mothers on this board, but thought you can try a 5 hour A and see if works.  I am experimenting with my DS as well - guess there is nothing to lose.

Cindy

[BareFootMomma]

Honestly, I have tried every A time from 3.5hr -5.5 hr, and no nap was better than 1 hr 20 minutes. I have a feeling I am trying the wrong A times on the wrong days (long when she needs short and visa-versa) but she doesn't have really clear tired cues until she is way overtired.

Back when she was taking good naps consistently (over a month ago) her A time was about 4 hr 15 min and 3.5 until her 2nd nap if her 1st was short. The only time we have gotten more than 3 days of 1 nap without OT was because she woke up at 9am, napped at 1 for 2 hours and then went to bed at 7:00-7:30.

[Mum2Sprigglet]

Wish I could think of a solution for you - I know how tiring it is to try to get the right A time.  My LO is on 6 hour A at the moment and he is almost 16 month old.  However, with 6 hour A, I still don't get consistent nap (ranging from 1hr to 2 hr).  Some days I am just barely hanging there and chanting "this too shall pass"! 

I read on this board that sometimes a set nap time will help - but you need to give at least a week for LO to adjust.  Just thought you might want to know.

Hope someone will give you a more helpful advice soon!

hugs

[BareFootMomma]

Today was a really random day. First though, here is how yesterday went:

Woke - 7:13
Nap - 11:55 - would have been 11 but I had a doctor's appointment
Woke - 12:40
Nap - 5:10
Woke - 5:35
Bed -8:55

She slept until 9, probably because she didn't go to bed until 9 last night. She had a spell of rubbing her eyes, yawning, and generally looking tired at noon, but I kept her up until 1 because it only lasted about 10 minutes. I thought she went to sleep at 1:05, but she started crying 10 minutes later and went back to sleep after I went in and laid her back down. But she only slept for 1 hr 15 minutes after that, and I couldn't get her back to sleep.

We put her to bed at 7:30 while she still seemed really awake. She went right to sleep, and hasn't made a peep yet and its 11pm.

I don't know why she still took such a short nap because I am pretty sure she wasn't OT. I guess if she sleeps in tomorrow morning I will try a longer A time and see what happens.

[NZ_Mum]

Hey I hope you don't mind if I chime in here.
I feel like I could have written your post myself - trouble is my LO is not quite a year old! 
So it feels to me like we are heading towards where you currently are now, so I'd be interested in what anyone has to say.

I'm not sure what the recommended amounts of sleep are for a 15mo, but do you add up the total sleep your LO is getting over a 24hr period? It seems like your routine starts 'late' (as if 8am is late - Ha!) and ends early so your LO is doing less than a 12hr day with naps!

I guess it all comes down to how your LO is feeling, if they're grumpy and OT or not. My LO was still singing away after 5hrs A, resisting his nap today at 1:30pm after waking at 7:30am!!! 
I hear you on the non-existant tired signs too, i just dont see anything anymore untill it's too late or he really is exhausted. The only thing I get is rubbing eyes occasionally and then sometimes before bed after a long day he "flops" his head round. 

[BareFootMomma]

Ugh. I spoke too soon. She woke at 12:30, and was up every 5-45 minutes the rest of the night. She didn't seem to need anything, I tried Tylenol, but she still woke many times after that. The longest stretch we got after midnight was 1 hr 15 minutes. I finally gave up at 7 and let her be up. And now her day it ruined.

I would like to put her down for her nap at 11-11:30, but I have a doctor's appointment at 10:45 that will keep us away until at least noon. Why couldn't yesterday have happened today?!

[BareFootMomma]

Bump! I really need some suggestions here ladies. DD woke up again today after only 45 minutes of a nap. Please Help!