HELP!!

[irish3680]

HELP!!!

For the past 2 weeks, Ella's routine has been all over the place. It now seems as though she is getting 13 hours of sleep on the dot every day. She is either cutting naps or nights short. I'm not sure exactly what to do here. Before this craziness she was sticking to this routine faithfully and she and I were both loving it!

6:45/7ish: wake-up (play in bed until 7:30 when I get her up)
12:30 - 3:15: nap (90% of the time had to wake her)
8: bed (asleep in 15-30 minutes)
So pretty much 13 hours on the dot.

Now she has usually been napping from 12:30-2:30, so we have moved bedtime to 7:30 to accomodate. Yesterday, she napped 12:30-2:30 (woke on her own), went to bed at 7:30 pm and fell right to sleep and I didn't hear a peep until 7:20 this morning, so almost 12 hours. Then today put her down like normal at 12:30 and she talked and played until almost 2 pm before falling asleep. Now I don't know what to do with her routine (of course we are going on vacation next week, so things will be a bit off). And I have no idea how long I should let her sleep for her nap and when to put her to bed.

Thanks ladies!!!

[KellyC]

Hi Shannon

If she's having around 13 hours a day and she didn't fall asleep until late I think I'd let her take an hour and get her up at 3.  The 1.5 hours she had in bed before she actually went to sleep will have been restorative too, down time if not sleep time.  You may find that moving her nap on just 15 minutes helps her to go to sleep quicker for her nap, if not then try 30 minutes later and see if that does the trick.

Kelly x

[irish3680]

Thanks Kelly! I ended up letting her sleep until 3:30 pm and then put her to bed at 8 pm. She happily talked and kicked the sides of her crib until 8:30 ish before falling asleep. Woke this am at 6:45 happy as a clam and staying happily in bed until 7:30 like usual. I should have woken her at 3 pm like you suggested, came back to haunt me I think. Part of me was thinking she may need a little more waketime before nap, so today was going to try:

7:30: out of bed
12:45: down for nap (hopefully asleep by 1 pm)
3:00: up from nap
8:00: bed

So that will allow 2 hours during the day and 11 - 11.5 at night. 

[KellyC]

So pleased it all worked out and the plan looks good