Anyone with Success Stories For getting naps back on track after holidays?

[MarisaM]

Does anyone have a success story with techniques used to get naps back on track after a 2 week holiday? I have a 2yo who has been previously sleep trained beautifully and doing 2 hour afternoon naps consistently until the day we went on holidays (even before we left!) Night sleeping (in bed at 7:30, asleep by around 8:30) is good but afternoon naps are shot at the moment, with crying and carrying on. Sometimes she plays in her cot for an hour+ but doesn't still sleep. Previously I had used WI/WO and GW with success but it doesn't seem to be as effective this time. Especially when she is happy in her cot but still not sleeping.  She has had 2 good naps since we got back but it seems to be 1 step forward, 2 steps back and today she climbed out of her cot (never done that before) Any suggestions?

[babybarr]

Bumping your post

[MarisaM]

she's recovering from a cold so I don't want to push the sleep "re training" until she's better but what do I do in the meantime? She needs her sleep more htan ever. The last 3 days she's played in her cot for naptime and screamed at nighttime. Now she climbs out of the cot continuosly. I am at my wits end.

[babybarr]

Can you post what sort of routine you are trying at the mo?  Is she still sleeping through and for how many hours?  How is she during the day - cranky or coping well?

Laura

[MarisaM]

Thanks for replying.
Her normal routine is as follows:
up at 7:30-8am
lunch at 11:30-12
down for nap at 1:00pm (used to be asleep by 2 and up at around 4)
dinner at 5:30
Bath and in bed at 7:30 asleep by 8:30-9 usually.

Ever since our holiday we have struggled to get her to nap again. With her screaming and crying at sleep times. No problems with sleeping thru the night once she did fall asleep, since we've been back.

Then she got sick, so it slowed us down again getting her back on track.

Now, the latest problem is climbing out of the cot. She seems to have stopped the screaming and fighting her sleep but she hasn't had a nap for 4 days now.
Last night I started at 6:40pm to put her to bed. She climbed out of the cot and I just kept putting her back in without engaging her. She eventually fell asleep at 8pm. This was progress. Today with her nap, we started the same thing but she refused to sleep. She ended up playing in her room until 3:30pm. At least she was quiet, but no sleep at all.

She seems to be fine during the day, a bit whingey but not as bad as she should be considering she has no nap. I think it's progress but just need reassurance I'm handling it correctly and what order to address issues in (and that she will eventually nap again!).

[babybarr]

I think if she is not napping then you need to bed earlier.  I think that what you are doing putting her back in her cot is the right thing, but maybe she should have a BGB and a gate on the door??

I reckon you could try the nap at 2pm and see if she fights it less.

Sounds like you are doing a good job.  Hang in there.

[MarisaM]

Thanks for the reply. What's a BGB out of interest?

We've had some progress.

Night sleeping is coming along great. I have been putting her to bed much earlier at 6:30 because of lack of naps and she is settling well. She only tries to climb out of the cot once and then settles to sleep by 7:15pm. This is at least helping with the OT. She wakes at 7:30 the next morning after sleeping thru. So I am happy with night sleeping progress now. Will now use GW to remove myself from the room before she falls asleep. YAY!

Today for her nap, I put her down earlier at 12:30pm. She climbed out of the cot once then spent the next 2 hours quietly reading a book in her cot. Definite progress but still no sleep.

Tonight I will put her to be early again. We're definitely heading in the right direction. Hopefully the climbing out of the cot has subsided; and she hasn't fought her sleep and naps for a few days. Just still not actually napping yet. I guess I just keep persevering!

[babybarr]

BGB - big girls bed!!

I would stick with what you are doing - offer her the nap and if she just uses it as quiet time that's also good.

[MarisaM]

BGB of course! Yeah I was planning on doing that when she had settled down from the holiday. I didn't want to deal with too many things at once. Thanks for your help. Will keep you posted. Hopefully she starts to sleep at nap times soon.

[MarisaM]

Update:

Night sleeping is great. She falls asleep within 30 mins and doesn't need me in the room at all. No issues of climbing out of the cot anymore. I am putting her down earlier and earlier to compensate for the lack of naps still. Tonight she went to bed at 6:15 and was asleep by 6:45. I don't want to go any earlier than that though.

Day naps still no luck. She still just climbs out of the cot and plays/climbs on her furniture. She stays in her room though, which is good, but it's not exactly quiet time. She now climbs onto her bookshelf and opens her curtains up!

I'm thinking she may need a longer wind down time for her nap? I will try that this week. I'm NOT ready to give up on naps. I need my sanity time!:)

[babybarr]

I'm thinking she may need a longer wind down time for her nap?

I think they often need longer wind down the older they get, maybe you could read to her while she's in the cot for a bit.

Glad nights have got a bit better - maybe a longer wind down then may help her drop off quicker too?

[MarisaM]

Update months later on this issue. I now put her down for "rest time" and she either falls asleep or plays in her room for 2 hours. I am finding her night sleeping is unaffected whether she naps or not so she obviously doesn't need daily naps. Oh well, at least I get my sanity time and she does sleep occasionally esp when it's hot.