Trying set naps with short naps...what do you think?

[*Becky*]

Have PM'd you hun x

[clazzat]

We set naps because there are only certain times that ds would actually be able to nap so he had to adapt to that.  He did 30 minute naps for ages - and was pretty miserable when he was awake! He has finally got to the point where he does sleep longer - 1h30 is now what I expect at lunchtime, and often he manages 2h or more.

I did set naps with both my girls as well, and dd2 was touchy and it still worked really well for us. She was so difficult when she was tiny - no tired cues, impossible to settle when ot - and she really flourished on set naps. I actually found that we had much less trouble with ot once the naps were established as her body clock was set to sleep at certain times and it seemed to override the ot, if that makes sense. We were able to be much more flexible, strangely, because it was very easy to catch her up on her next nap because she was "programmed", lol!

[okinawamama]

thanks Becky!

Clazzat: we too have a preschool run three days a week, so there's only certain times I can offer as well. I too have a terrible time reading cues. I have only seen him yawn a handful of times in his entire life and he just never really shows any traditional cues.  So when you set the naps did you set two naps and just hope that as time went on they would lengthen? What about a set BT? Did you see nights get worse at first? How long is a reasonable time to give it a go/when did you begin to see results?

I've thought about setting 3 nap times and going with that since the naps are short (930, 1230 and 330), but like I posted in the original post, I wonder if keeping the A times short after a short naps only reenforces the short naps. It does seem to make sense to me. Short A times may keep OT at bay, but really never truly solve the problem. My first son took three 30min naps from age 6.5 months - 12 months when we began the 2-1, so I know that keeping A times short/tweaking them didn't really work for us and facing that route again is so discouraging.

Sara, I think his reflux is under control, but honestly, I never really know. He's always slept poorly, so i feel like I can't use that as a reliable indicator, and all other symptoms are gone (well he does spit up, but never appears in pain during the day with it).

[clazzat]

We have two naps - 9-9.30ish and 12-2ish. Today he slept 45 minutes at 9 and then slept from 12.15-2.15, so I do move it very slightly to accommodate slightly different days. Bedtime is between 6 and 6.30 - often driven by how much I have to do with the girls at this time (dh is never here, so we can't get them down at the same time).

I won't lie - it has taken a long time to get to this - I think he has been on set naps since about August/September when dd1 started school, and it is only in the last 3 weeks or so that he has extended the lunchtime nap. I don't think we are ever going to get a longer morning nap,  but tbh it suits me better that way anyway. Our nights aren't fantastic either, but they aren't horrendous - we have some ap issues which I think are more significant than the routine in his nws, iyswim. We also have teeth in the mix which is not improving matters. When he started sleeping longer at lunchtime and he wasn't teething, we had a week or so when he would sleep 11-12 hours with one feed in the middle, so I think if we manage to sort everything else out then the routine will work for the nights as well.