6-7 hours A time, this is getting ridiculous

[*Jo*]

well today we are off to church so we will aim for a 4.5 hour A time again, do a 30min nap and see how that goes

[*Jo*]

well it was a nightmare of a day, DH didnt come to church so he stayed home with Caleb, he said he put Caleb down for a nap at 4 hours 15mins and he was quiet and not crying, but not asleep for 15mins and then he cried and it took DH another 15mins to get him to sleep so all up 4.75 hours A time, then a 30min nap (DH woke him up), then we tried to do a PM nap 3 hours later and he cried and cried and cried for half an hour so DH put him in the car and went for a drive to tput him to sleep, hes been asleep n ow for 1 hour and im gonna go wake him up or else the day will be too long from wake up to bedtime so even a 30min nap didnt work, im at a real loss here! i have no idea what his A time is anymore, how could he have gone from 4 hours A time to this in just a week? we are starting to do so much APOP here just so that he doesnt end up OT and Im worried about this, do you think its possible hes just jumped to want one nap?

we are getting nap refusals from both naps now, im really really lost!

[Mashi]

Reading through your posts of what the week has been like, I'm not 100% clear on what your routine is like or what you are aiming for.  But, I think that may be part of the problem.  I noticed one day you gave him a one hour morning nap and then woke him, which I don't really understand....if you are going for a short morning nap then that's too long and if you're going for a long morning nap, then not sure why you woke him?

I think that 4.5 h A time is a tad high for his age, but I have never been shy about saying that I feel 12 month olds on one nap are the rare exception, rather than normal.  To be, 16-17 months is the age when an average baby drops to one nap and unless your LO has been consistently happy on very high A times most of his life then he's not ready for one nap at 12 months.   But, if you are pushing him to 4.5 h A then only expect one nap.

Either way, whatever you are doing I think you are not sticking to it long enough.  If you're going to push to 4.5 h of A time, then do it, put him down for his nap, help him get through the jolts if he needs that, or shh pat him back to sleep if he wakes early, or whatever it is that you do that works. If not, then get him up and early to bed.  And tomorrow do the same!  Often it takes LOs a while to learn that there is only one opportunity to nap in the day and for that nap to extend. 

Either that or do a one nap day and a two nap day, but keep the one nap days the same and the two nap days the same.  If you are fudging around with A times and trying 3h one day and then 4h the next and so on, then the lack of consistency doesn't help LO to set biorhythms.

And, 6-7h A time at 12 months and getting chatting in the cot is NOT NOT NOT from being UT.  OT often shows up as happy, giddy, giggly as well. 

To me, Caleb sounds OT on even 4.5 hours.

[*Jo*]

well i woke him at one hour because we were going to an appointment and im trying to catch him up on sleep as i know hes OT.

I really dont want him on one nap yet but this refusing naps thing is getting out of hand and at the moment its more of him getting to such long A times as he just wont go to sleep.
our routine is usually perfect, he sticks to it like glue which is why this is so frustrating, usually its this:

7am wake up
nap 1 11-12.30
nap 2 4.30-5pm
bedtime 8pm

and its been like that for about two months nearly, then he just started refusing the PM nap this week, i thought it may have just been vaccinations so i kept trying to stick to long AM in the hope he would still take his PM nap but he wouldnt so we ended up with about 6 hours A time before bed.
We have a check up at the hospital this morning so he will probably nap on the way home from that so i guess i should use that as a 30min nap and try for long PM nap again (if i am sticking to short AM/long PM i mean)
I just cant for the life of me figure out his A time afterwards anymore, it used to be 3 hours after a 30min nap but yesterday when DH went to put him down he cried for 30mins and DH was doing WI/WO, the patting wasnt helping him, nothing was working so DH put him in the car and drove till he fell asleep, i let him sleep for an hour and put him to bed at 6.50pm, he still didn tfall asleep till 7.15pm but slept through till this morning.

[*Jo*]

we went to our appt and he fell asleep in the car at 9.30am! but only for 30mins as we arrived at our destination, so he went for another nap at 1pm as he was clearly exhausted but he only slept 45mins........

[*Jo*]

well yestedfay we got a perfect day, a 30min AM nap and a 1 hiour 20min nap, now today we did 30min AM nap and he refused PM nap for 35mins so we drove in the car till he fell asleep and transferred him to his cot wheere he only slept a total of 30mins!!! we have tried to extend it but he screamed to the point of gagging.

DH did WI/WO again but Caleb is just not responding to it lately, i dont understand what we are doing wrong, DH says we must be missing something because this has been happening every single day except yesterday. I am at the point i just want to cry, im getting really anxious about naptimes

[Nauvoo]

Wow calebsmummy, we get pm nap refusal after only 30 min am naps but that usually only lasst for say 30 minutes and then she'll nap well.  Do you think maybe a 20min am nap would help? 
Sending (((HUGS))) your way.  I'll be there soon enough.

[annette.xx]

Hi jo

im so sorry to hear that things are so tough for you right now...this is just so hard isnt it!

hows calebs night sleep going?

Ive been taking one day at a time just recently and just seeing what happens cos like you my routine was going great then all of a sudden strangeness again!!

my short 30 min am nap has turned into a 1 hr nap after just a 3 hr A time then another 1 hour 1/2 nap after just 3 hrs 15 A time! I dont know whats happened its crazy!! And now last few days shes decided to reject both naps - taking about 30 mins to get her down and dont even get me started about bedtime - its a major battle!!

im going to stick with the timings roughly but go for 3 hr 15 first A time then 45 min first nap then 3 hrs A then keep my fingers crossed that she actually still does a decent nap! Im also getting alot of chatting and with spells of crying at naptimes - seems like her OT chatting but it cant be after such short A times surely!!

anyway just wanted to sympathise with you! You will get it back before you know it! If you learn the magic cure before me then please share!!!!

Annette.xx

[*Jo*]

hahaha! Annette, i sure will!

I think i know the culprit from yesterday though, seems a tooth cut through the gums and also there was a big welt on his leg so looks like an insect bite, i put him down at 6.30pm and he slept through till 6.45am so its not affecting his night sleep as such yet. we have playgroup today (of course its right at nap time!) so will just try and get one long nap out of him after that.

[annette.xx]

hope it goes well for you!

poor caleb! tooth and a bite - dont think id be able to sleep properly with all that pain either!! But thats great that his night sleep is still going well!

Annette.xx

[squeakersmum]

Hey just wanted to add my tuppence!

Ben was probably just a couple of weeks older than Caleb when he started his pm nap refusal (he took a long am nap and short pm).  I had to start pushing the am nap later as I knew he really needed that am shorter A time still - of course it quickly got to the point that there was simply not enough time in the day to fit the afternoon nap in (not that he would have taken it!!).

On Christmas Eve I just decided to bite the bullet and go cold turkey onto one nap.  I put him down at 11.30 (4hr A as he was up at 7.30) and he slept for 3 hours  !

Then I did bed time as usual at around 7.30 - so yes, he was tired and moaning by bed time, but not so much so that he was too OT.

Since then we have probably only had 2 or 3 days where he needed the 2 naps - probably the last time was early Jan.

It worked for us and suits Ben down to the ground - that said of course all LOs are different and only you know him well enough to decide for him, but I just knew that shortening naps would not work for us as he's always been terribly cranky when woken early!!!!

HTH - but not sure it does!!

Steph XXX