Set naps for 14 month old?

[Chloevalentine]

My lo is 14 months and I'm trying to figure out if set nap time works better. Sometimes he wakes at 645 and other days it's 8 am!! So his nap time and bedtime are all over the place. On average he will wake at 730 lunch at 12 right down for nap at 1230 5 hrs A time and then bed at 730 pm. He usually naps 1.5 hrs but this can also be 1 hr or 2 hrs. When his bedtime is after 730 no matter when he woke in the morning he's always very wound up and takes a while to go to bed. So I've actually been waking him by 730 if he's still asleep. If he wakes at 645 1230 nap is late and he's usually too tired and sleepy by then. When do set naps actually work?

[jessmum46]

Worked fine for us by 12/13 months you can have a bit of leeway so 15 mins early for nap if struggling and 30 mins for BT.  And then you just kind of accept some days you get a short nap and some days a long one, but it all seems to even out eventually. I also found once on one set nap I was far more successful at resettling short OT naps than I'd ever been in the past.

[Kst33]

My LO is just over 14 months and I've been aiming for set naps for a couple of weeks now and I do find they are working pretty well. He even slept though the night for the very first time last night! Maybe that was just a coincidence though :-)

I don't have that much of a variation in get up time though. He gets up between 6 and 6.30am most days and we do nap at 11.30 give or take 10/ 15 mins. He does often wake up at 5am but he doesn't get out of bed until 6am at the earliest so even on those days - I stick to 11.20 nap at the earliest.

I have found that the set naps have taken the guess work and therefore the stress out of the day - so I'm much preferring this way at the moment 

[Chloevalentine]

It just seems hard on the days he wakes at 645 compared to the 8 am days it just doesn't work being that it's way outside the 15 min window. On the early days he's exhausted by 1230 and on the late days he's not ready by 1230. I just don't want to get I to that ot/ut cycle. Should I have more consistency with morning A time if I stick to same bedtime?  Which might help the same nap time work better right? I find the earlier I put him to bed the later he usually sleeps in the morning especially if he took a short nap. Today we will be out at nap time and I'm anticipated a later nap around 1-130 to be taken in the car. The most he will sleep in the car is 30-45 mins and he woke today around 715. So i will most likely put him to bed a little early around 7

[jessmum46]

Personally I would set both nap and BT and don't vary by more than 15/30 mins unless its exceptional circumstances eg LO skipped nap altogether

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

When I went to set naps with both DD2 & DD3 I did a set wake up time as well (okay DD2 always always woke at the same time anyways!) to make the day more predictable unless there were other things going on like teething or illness and I thought they needed a sleep in.

[Chloevalentine]

Ok I'll try waking him at same time in morning. He has his first cold right now so I'm just hoping he gets some sleep. I will shoot for 730 wake up 1230-130/2 nap he usually does 1.5 hrs and 730 bedtime. Does that sound like a good amount of sleep for 14 month old?

[jessmum46]

Sounds ok to me. I def wouldn't wake from nap though if you are waking in the morning otherwise he has no chance to catch up on sleep anywhere if he needs it. I always did the opposite actually - never woke in morning unless I had to, but would cap nap if necessary to preserve BT.

[Chloevalentine]

Bedtime gets so late when he sleeps until 8 am and he never does well being up past 730 it seems. Now that he has a cold and has been sleeping until 8 am and going to bed at 8 pm how do I get him back on track?

[Chloevalentine]

He slept until 9 am! Yikes what do I do for nap and bedtime. Im not even up until 9 pm! Lol

[jessmum46]

Cap the nap to keep your normal BT, maybe 45 mins-1h?

[Chloevalentine]

But normal bedtime is usually 730. Not sure if he sleeps from 2-245 that he will do down at 730 but I'll give it a shot. Just hate to wake him if he's sick and needs his sleep.

[jessmum46]

If he's sick he'll probably be happy to go down at BT. You could even do normal nap and he may still be ready by 7.30pm. You may have to play it by ear hun x

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

If he's sick he'll probably be happy to go down at BT. You could even do normal nap and he may still be ready by 7.30pm. You may have to play it by ear hun x

I agree, in fact my lsn baby just fell asleep in my lap (never happens!) as she is feeling poorly. So we are playing it by ear too!