9mo refusing pm nap?!

[Ayesha19]

Hi,
I need some advice with my 9mo.
She's refused her afternoon nap for the last 4 days and don't want an OT mess?

Her sleep routine was

7am wake
10.15-10.30 sleep 1.5 hours
3.30-3.45 sleep 1.5 hours
7.30 bed

But she's been going down for her morning nap as usual at 10.15-10.30 and sleeping for 2 hours then refusing her afternoon nap altogether so is so tired by bedtime.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated so I can get back on track?

[Haribo2012]

My LO is a doing the same so hope you don't mind me jumping in to see what advice you get!
Thanks 

[Papaya]

Sounds like she needs an A increase after such a long morning nap! You could try increasing the pm A by 15mins, hold for a couple of days then increase A by another 15 mins if need be. If the am nap is 2hrs, you'll probably need to cap the pm nap to 45 mins max, to still have a reasonable bedtime.

You may be getting close to the 2-1 transition - have you read this link?

10/ 11mo sleep gone wonky? Read this first!

[Lindsay27]

EXACT same issues here! I'm going crazy, our nights are horrendous also.  Our AM nap is usually between 10/10:30am depending on WU time and is usually 1.5hrs with a 3hr 20min A time.  So we should do an A time jump in the afternoon?  Lately if (big IF) I do get him to settle it takes so long that he ends up with an OT nap.  Today I tried for 45mins, DH came home from work and I had a complete meltdown, and DH is currently up there and DS finally fell asleep in his arms.

We had such a great EASY after months of short naps and it is all going to hell. Sigh.

I'll try increasing tomorrow and holding for a few days.  FX, these nights are exhausting me!

[Lindsay27]

I just read the link provided and now I'm confused...the link seems to suggest to shorten the AM nap to 45 - 1hr so that the PM nap will extend.  My friend actually recommended me doing this today.

Or, am I supposed to leave the AM nap and extent the A time for the PM nap?

Sorry , I don't mean to overtake this post, I am just confused! Thanks

[Ayesha19]

Thanks for the advice and the link.

I'm thinking the same, shall I leave the am nap at 2hrs and lengthen A time or shall I cap the am nap so she's tired enlightened for a pm nap?

She woke up at 6 this morning (which is early for her) but she's managed 2x 1.5hr naps again, don't want ew to start creeping in?

[Papaya]

You can do either. They are just two different ways to approach the 2-1:

1. Push out the morning A time gently, let LO sleep as long as they like and offer a short catnap to see you through to bedtime. The am nap will gradually get later and later until it's a midday nap and you drop the catnap.

2. Cap the am nap, so LO will take an earlier, longer (uncapped) pm nap. Eventually you drop the am catnap, and bring the pm nap earlier so it becomes the midday nap.

Either way, it's good to leave one nap uncapped (or perhaps capped at 2hrs if necessary) so that LO is used to having one long nap which just shifts gradually. Option 2 is often the best if LO is prone to EWs, or if they tend to refuse even a late, short, catnap. But also consider whether your LO generally seems to prefer to have a long am or pm nap, and what will work best with other activities etc.

The other thing to bear in mind is that there can be lots of developmental stuff going on at this age (crawling, pulling to stand, practising sounds etc) that can interfere with the ability to settle for naps every now and again

[Ayesha19]

That makes sense thanks. I think I'll do the 2nd one as I think she would refuse a catnap in the afternoon altogether, I'd also like to keep 2 naps for a bit longer if I can.
She started crawling at christmas and is now walking along furniture and wants to do it all the time so hat prob doesn't help.
Thanks for your advice, fingers crossed!   

[Papaya]

You might want to join in this thread for more support.

Anyone want to talk about the 2-1 transition? Thread #24

[Lindsay27]

Okay.  Well, since he's been completely and utterly refusing the PM nap altogether, I'm thinking that #2 might be the best way to go for us also.  Before this mess his PM nap always used to be the longer one, so I'm leaning toward thinking that it's the one we want to keep for now.  I'm so nervous to try this because right now, the morning nap is all we have, and if I shorted that and the PM is still a disaster...oy! 

Also, his nights are SO awful - last night he woke every single hour (...I'm tired!), so I feel like he needs a good restorative nap 2 x times a day.  I had posted my own nap woes before I saw this one, and some were recommending set naps?  What's your take on that?

[Papaya]

I've never done set naps myself so can't give much advice, sorry. I do think if you want to give them a go, you need to be consistent for at least a week, preferably longer, because you're really trying to set LO's body clock. If he was up so much last night, though, it does sound like something else is going on at the moment.

I'll pop over to your thread and take a look.