21 mth old-weird schedule with 1 hr nap?

[abaker89]

DD2 has been a great sleeper, till about 2 weeks ago her schedule was:

Wake-8 am (I woke her)
Nap-1-3:30 pm
Asleep 8:30 pm

Now every other day, she wakes at exactly one hour and will not fall back asleep.  So we have two schedules and they alternate days:

Day 1
Wake-8 am (I wake her)
Nap-1-2 pm
Asleep 7:45 pm

Day 2
Wake-8 am (I wake her)
Nap-1-3:30
Asleep at 8:30

I suppose its not too bad but I have an older child still napping and it makes it very hard to have such a varied schedule, especially with school starting for DD1 next week.  It seems to me that on the one hour nap days that she is OT and can't nap.  Then she goes to bed early, gets a great night sleep and is better able to take the nap the next day.  Any other interpretations?  Anything I can do to tweak this schedule?  I keep her in bed till 3 pm or so, she just rolls around (no crying) but is clearly awake.  There is some teething going on but meds have not helped.  Any ideas?

And on short nap days, she is grumpy and tired at night while on long days we have a nice time in the evening with a walk or hide and seek outside, life is just much nicer on those days.

Thanks!
Aileen

[sianie]

Hi there...

Does she have her 2nd yr molars coming through? These can cause sleep issues....have you tried ibuprofen rather than paracetamol based meds as these usually work better for teething?

Is she STTN or are you getting NW's? If not then it could be that she's got into an UT/OT loop....her AM A-time is only 5hrs which is low for her age (1 hr naps can be UT). I would also try doing an earlier BT after an hour nap, I would aim to have her asleep for around 7/7.15pm.

[abaker89]

The molars could be coming, its about the right age.  Its hard to check cause she bites down.  I have given ibuprofen with no help, I did it 3 days in a row.  I never would have though UT since its always the same A time and half the time it gets the good nap.  She has only been on one nap for 3 mths and until about a month ago was only managing 4.5 hrs A time.  I am not sure that I can stretch her more, she is always trying to fall asleep when I nurse her before the nap.  It is a big struggle to keep her awake.  She is always awake when I lay her down.  I can try for an earlier bedtime but its tough with her big sister, we usually have stuff going on.  She has always STTN so we are very lucky, DD1 was never like this!   So what A time would be good?  Just try maybe 15 min extra?  What is a typical night length with a 2.5 hr nap?  Is 2.5 hrs just too long?  She has always been high on sleep, when we switched to one nap she would sleep 12-12.5 at night with a 3 hrs nap.

Thanks!
Aileen

[sianie]

The below link might help you but as your LO is high sleep needs then clearly sleep amounts will be more than average.

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=85137.0

TBH, if her routine has suddenly changed then it is more than likely teeth IMO.....2nd yr molars were really tough for my DD who had never been bothered by teething until they started to come through. If it is teeth then it's really a case of trying to ride things out the best you can & give meds.

If you don't think she's UT (& as with all these things it's a case of trial & error to work out what's happening) then you could try keeping her AM A-time the same, cap the nap at 2hrs & see if this makes a difference to her sleep? It's difficult to say what a typical night length would be if she's high sleep needs, but I would expect around 11/11.5hrs.

[jackman]

Hi,
Sian has given you great advice. She has always been able to help me!

FWIW, my DS had similar issues at the beginning of the summer and I rectified it by increasing his first A time by 30min. I would have alternating days like you with a long nap and then a short nap. Once I increased the A time and kept the length of the nap consistent, within a week things started to settle down.

So we did 5.5hrs before nap and then 6hrs to BT. HTH. Good luck.