The start of nap dropping..what's next? x.

[Truly Blessed]

Hi all,

I will try and keep this as short as possible 

Sam was 2 in January and I recently changed his EASY to the following:

7am WU

1.30pm Nap (gradually capped to 1 hr)

BT 7.30pm

Nap and BT were (initial tweak) at 6 hrs A time and 7pm but he has shown me that he is managing long periods without any struggle, and he is crying at every PD which drives me crazy as in the old routine he never did, he happily lay down and went to sleep, so I know something is still off. He does take his nap though and he's usually okay, although fast asleep, when woken.

However, a 12 hour night then became shorter to just over 11 and I just have the feeling that his routine will never be set in stone again  and also that he could skip a nap here and there to make it to 'nice things' that we miss due to the later nap like his favourite playgroup with his best friend so: on Wednesday we did our first deliberate no nap day and he never grizzled or looked tired once  until around 5pm but I had planned BT for 6pm, PD at 5.50 and asleep by 6pm after screaming rather loud, we had a short NW at 7.35 for a couple of mins (WI/WO) but he then pulled a 12.5 hour night  so he caught up straight away. We have also done a 45 car min nap twice coming home from a friends house at 7hrs 75 A time with no problems except for being inconsolable upon waking for some time  but then fine and BT with no tears at 7pm.

So in short what does this tell you  am I playing with fire by testing him  will the odd nap skip day help him but regulating the other days  what do I do next towards him dropping the nap  I'm wondering if I should push it out further and cap it shorter, although I don't want to, or should I leave it at 6.5 A time for 1 hour....I have always kinda known which way to go in the past but this is tricky  .

Experience and advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks in Advance 

Vicki.x.

[*Becky*]

Hi,
So - do you think he is doing ok on this routine? IMO the nap is quite late but some are fine with that.

He sounds a lot like my DS in that he could handle the odd short nap from quite a young age and he handled the odd no nap day well too but if it was more than a day or so he would get way OT.

I am wondering with the shorter nights that is what is happening?

Personally I would not push the nap anymore. If anything I would cap it if that is what you think he needs and bring bedtime forward a touch. The way you handle 1-0 is dependent on the type of lo you have. Some do better on nap/no nap days and some do better on a shorter nap each day. My DS just started refusing to nap in his bed around 2.5 so it was taken out of my hands in a way but he did have some blips before then around 2 where I thought he was giving it up but it turned out to be OT.

What do you think?

[Truly Blessed]

Hi Becky,

What happened in a nutshell was that the following routine was working beautifully for around 10 days:

7am WU

1pm to 2pm nap

7.00 BT

Then his WU started to creep forward and his nights went down to around 10.5/10.40 so I felt like we were heading for an UT/OT cycle (again  ) so that was when I pushed the nap out and BT out as with 7pm BT he seemed UT and like he still needed the 5 A time in the pm. So it seems to be okay the way things currently are, except that he shows no signs of being tired (until I give him his blankies and dummy) and will always whine and cry at PD but he is flat out when I wake him at the hour. So it has left me feeling like something is still amiss  If possible I don't want to cap any shorter so maybe I should just leave it as is and see if his WU creeps forward again at which point I'd have no option but to shorten the nap again.

On his old EASY he never made a peep at PD and all the whining a crying drives me bananas  'cos I can be a stresser  I feel like he wouldn't do this if his routine was right, or is it just an age thing 

So as a last point I wondered if maybe 1 no nap day a week would stop us getting into another UT/OT cycle.

Sam does sound very much like your DS  I also instinctively feel any more than 1 no nap day a week would be too much for him.

Thanks so much for your time Hon  I really appreciate it.

(X)

[*Becky*]

see with DS whenever wake up creeps forward it is nearly always OT...

I would not cap the nap anymore atm, just keep it at 1 hour and no later than 6 hours after w/u.

We had a lot of nap shenanigans at this age and some of it for us was OT and some was testing the boundaries yk?

I am not sure about the no nap day tbh. Could be worth a try if he wakes later for some reason but maybe for now stick with what you are doing and re assess in 10 days or so?

Once he wakes from his nap is he happy? Does he STTN ok?

[Truly Blessed]

Thanks Becky,

Yes he wakes happy from his nap as a general rule and he is sleeping through the night...so that makes me sound like a worry wart now doesn't it   but you know when you just 'feel' something's not right. Although past EW have very often been OT related , like you say, I'm pretty sure this time they were UT because he was pulling 12 hour nights with a 1 hour nap and that is 13 total, which he has taken since he was a year old so his sleep needs should be reducing and not increasing shouldn't they   A few weeks ago I would never have even considered pushing his A time to nap past 6 hours  but he just doesn't seem ready at all any more and the fact that he can make it through a whole day to EBT says a lot  . Whether he has slept an 11 or 12 hour night makes a big difference too, he will go down at 6 hrs after an 11 hour but he's not ready if his night has been longer. Also his day is shorter than it was on his other EASY too as he woke at 6am and went down at 7 then, so I'm trying to factor all of these things in. Listen to me prattling on  I think you're right WRT not capping any more right now. It's good to know that he may be testing boundaries too as I wondered how much of it is age related...little monkeys  .

I'm going to get him down at 6 hrs whenever he seems ready and keep to 6.5 max with a no nap day only when he will miss something he would love. I figure if he can handle it we may as well take advantage of it now  but definitely not too often.

Thanks again Becky 

(X)

[*Becky*]

but you know when you just 'feel' something's not right.

yes I do!

oh ok, well it does sound more Ut then if he was doing a longer day before. Do you think it is worth trying a 45 min nap then?