Set nap questions

[afranklin]

Dear friends,
I'm thinking of trying set naps again... anything I do seems to be an epic fail eventually, so why not try it again? I'm getting into the 'bad' times again.. where his sleep consumes me. I don't have my face in my phone, but I have my face in this little book where I write down every sleep/wake time-- constantly. Tired of it, ya'll. And tired of failing at getting my baby the sleep he needs consistently.

Mine is 19 mos.

He's waking around 6 nowadays (though this is NOT consistent.. sometimes 7), so yesterday I started with 'set naps' at 11:30a and in bed at 6:30 (he usu takes 30m to fall asleep). I've revised it to in bed for BT at 6 b/c I think the other is too late, even on a good day.

My question is:

If he by some miracle sleeps past the 6am mark (ever) can I then inch up the nap correspondingly? Like, if he slept until 6:15. Obviously a UT nap is horrid, too. So is the 'set nap' schedule really something like this: 5:30 first A, then BT (in bed) is 12 hrs after WU no matter the nap length... until you get to the desired WU time? (Or at least a consistent WU time, then you inch up).

If he sleeps later than 6 at any point from now on, do I move the new set nap and BT accordingly, and hold it there no matter what? (since my goal is to move his WU time later?)

My goal is:
7:30 WU
1-3 S
8 S

thank you for your support.
Amanda

[afranklin]

I should add, I've read the sticky on this topic and know you are supposed to +/- 15m for nap and +/-30 for BT. This is tricky for me though b/c I always always always guess wrong. This kid gives no tired signs until it's far too late, so I pretty much have to tell myself there is no wiggle room. I would only use the +/- option if I saw a clear sign, like head shaking or fussy fussbuster, etc.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

For me set naps & bedtime meant we stuck with the time (+/- 15 min just because things are always fluid) no matter what, unless it was a horrendous ew, illness or teething. Honestly once one nap hit I stopped keeping track of anything really, except to not let DD3 nap too long as she is lsn.

[afranklin]

Thanks!

So what about moving WU later... if he sleeps later I let him, and then if the nap were still at original set time I think it would be a UT nap.

Today he slept till 6:20 (11.5 hr nt), so we put him down at 11:50, and he's having trouble and I'm getting that anxious feeling again.

Amanda

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

By that age my older two had naps starting after lunch (so 12:30/1:00) but they were on one nap early anyways. Wake up time was 7 ish iirc.