anyone want to chat about the 2-1 nap switch , thread#3

[lindaloulou]

Got it. I think my ideal schedule would be 6:30-6:30 or somewhere in there. That being said, I am thinking I may start putting Ana down at 6:15PM for a few days and then 6:30PM. My concern is that she may "miss out" on that 15-30 minutes of sleep in the evening. She only seems to make up sleep in the evening, not really in the morning. It sounds like you just stuck to your 7-7 schedule and then adjusted when need be for a short nap...did you ever have EW once you made the switch? Did you then just put Lily down a bit earlier for nap?

Thanks,

L

[Bryony]

Katemom - we are still on two naps, and Katie has 2.25 hrs naptime most days, and 11hrs at night. So thats 13.25 in total

HTH!

Bryony

[NiknLily]

Yes we did get EW, we also got NW most nights just not always long ones more often 1PD and she would go back to sleep.  Generally we get an EW if we had a long NW 30Min's or more but for some reason, really couldn't say why  I could always do wi/pd/wo 1 or 2 times and she would go back to sleep and also sleep longer than her normal waking 7.45am some days, making up for most if not all lost sleep during the night.

If she has a bad night but still wakes around 7am I aim to put her down by 11.30am (doesn't always happen  ) and then she generally takes a good 2hr+ sleep again making up for lost night sleep.

All that said this did take a while to happen, Lily definitely grew into this transition, rather than really being able to cope with it when it happened iykwim 

[katemom]

ugh! help everybody - we're going backwards... 

I've been trying SO hard to push my lo's schedule forward and now it's reverting back to a solid 6:15am wake-up for the last 3 days in a row regardless of what time bedtime is.  What do you suggest I do to structure the day when she wakes up that early.  She can do five hours A time until her first nap, but I think she does better on 4:30-4:45.  But even if I keep her up five hours after morning wake-up, she'd be going down at 11:15am, and then it depends on how long she sleeps what happens after that.  The longest she sleeps is 2:20, so if she was wonderful enough to do that for one nap, she'd be up at 1:35pm.  And getting her to go until my target 7:30 bedtime is a big stretch.  If she wakes up after 1:30, she'd be up from that first nap at 12:45, and then I've have to offer a catnap, which she won't be tired for until around 4:15 at the earliest and it usually takes her awhile to fall asleep.  I never let her sleep more than 45 minutes, or past 5:30 if I'm trying to put her down at 7:30, and with this she is ready for bedtime, but I'm concerned that it wakes her earlier in the morning when that catnap so late.  I really don't know the best way to handle the day when she wakes so early!  And I find myself getting so frustrated with making progress towards a slightly later bedtime, and a slightly later wake-up time, just to have it fall apart on me, and have her sleep less!  Any suggestions???

katemom

[NiknLily]

Katemom, the only thing I can suggest is that you don't push the first A time past 4.5hrs let her sleep 1.5hrs then catnap her sightly earlier and don't let her sleep more than 30Min's for catnap.  By limiting her day sleep and keeping catnap a little earlier hopefully she might sleep a good 11.5 at night putting wake up at 7am.  Thats in theory of course  I would say that maybe to limit her to 2hrs day sleep so that she wants more at night.  Hopefully if it works you should only need to do this for a few days for her to catch up with some sleep.

[katemom]

Thanks for the advice new mum - so to make sure I understand you correctly - I should never let her sleep longer than 1.5 hours for the first nap, and cease trying one nap for awhile?  (I get that the theory is that she'll go down easier at 4.5 hours, and by going down earlier, it will help squeeze in a catnap, that makes total sense).  I guess if I put her down earlier and she would even sleep 2 hours, than it would still make her awake stretch til bedtime too long?  Is that your logic?  So, here is what I'm thinking I'll try, based on your recommendations: please tell me what you think...

6:15 wake up
10:45 nap
12:15 wake her up if doesn't wake on her own
4-4:15 offer catnap (she probably won't fall asleep right away)
5:00 wake her up (assuming she fell asleep at 4:30)
7:30 bedtime

thanks, katemom

[lindaloulou]

Update:

So Ana-Adela has slept until 6AM the past 3 days until today. She woke at 5:28AM . Her night sleep has been pretty good the last week with her getting about 11.5+ hours of sleep, going to bed at 6:15PM. Any ideas how to get a later wake-up without having 6+ hours before bed? Our naps are still pretty unpredictable as far as length, but 5 hours after wake seems about right. Today that would really mess us up, and I think will need bedtime a bit earlier. That's where I am confused...should I still keep our 11Am nap and 6:15 bedtime even though she woke early?

Linda

[NiknLily]

Yes, that sounds good to me.  Just until her wake up time comes back toward 7am, then hopefully you should be able to just do the 1 nap again of however long she will sleep, and have it fit in your day OK.  As you probably already know the only alternative to a late catnap is early bedtime and these work fine when transitioned IMO, but tend to lead to EW when still transitioning.  Not sure why it happens like that but was the same for us.  Now shes done tho' I can give an early night and she just tacks on missed day sleep to night sleep  

Fingers crossed for you, hope it works  

Linda - I think I would adjust today's schedule and hope it was a one off.  If it happens again then there may be some pattern or reasoning behind it but if you let her get very OT today as a result then you will be almost guaranteed a EW tomorrow too.

[2Pam]

Hi
so, the two naps-short am long pm worked great for a few weeks. . . .now. . . he would take forever to go to sleep for his pm after a 30min catnap in the am.  Now for the past four days he won't go to sleep for his am.  He just chats in his crib for an hour.   One of those days he did fall asleep because he was in the car and we were driving a far distance, but then took 4hrs. to fall asleep for his pm.  So, now that he appears to be done with the am nap, is his offically on one nap??  For the one nap days, he slept 1hr. 15min one day, next day, 1hr. 15min but went back to sleep to make a total of 3hrs. 10min, yesterday 2hrs.  His A time in the morning right now is 4hrs. 15min.  He sleeps till 7:30am, and goes to bed at 7:30pm.  I tried to put him to bed early last night and he wouldn't, cried and fussed till 7:30pm, (apparently he can tell time)  Do I push the A time in the morning longer?  Do I keep trying to give a early bedtime, the few times where that has worked he wakes up early.  Even if he is cranky do I keep to the one nap only now?? 
Leslie: how are you doing???
Katemom: I use to do the same thing as you I think, the pm catnap, but it seemed to really mess up bedtime and he started to wake early in the morning.  Not to throw more at ya, but the short am long pm, as worked better for us.  Well, kind of. . . now he doesn't do the am anymore. . . so, who knows which way is best.   How old your lo?
Pam

[jmoran544]

Hi all. We've been doing well-ish since my last post. The twins are taking one nap, usually about 1.5-2.25 hrs long. Weird thing is, though, that sometimes ds sleeps through, other times he cries out anywhere from 30 min. into the nap up to an hour. If he cries out early enough he will go back to sleep within a few minutes. If he cries out at an hour or later, the nap is done.

Dd is getting a more consistent nap- no less than 1.5, no more than 2hrs. But her nights are different lengths- some nights she'll sleep 10.5 hrs, other nights 12.25. Ds is more consistent at night- around 11-11.5 hrs.

Is this just part of the transition? Or do I need to tweak something? Don't get me wrong- I'm feeling pretty good about the way things are going, just need to know if I need to change something, or if the kiddos will work it out on their own.

Schedule:
wake 5:30-6:30
nap: fixed at 11:30
bedtime: fixed at 6:30

[NiknLily]

Pam, if he simply won't take 2naps anymore then you probably have little choice about whether to keep him on 1nap only. I would start pushing out the am A time.  Just do it very slowly, there is no rush now as he seems to be doing OK on the 1nap.  Move it 10/15Min's and leave it at that for as long as you think it takes for him to be OK with it before trying to push it further.

Jmoran, things are going well for you, really pleased about that  I would leave things as they are to settle down, I'm pretty sure they will find there own balance.  I think maybe its because there are 2 of them with quite differing sleep requirements, you've found a good middle ground but I think you would be hard pressed to get it running perfectly for both of them at same time IYKWIM 

[2Pam]

Hi Newmum- I put him down 4hrs. 25 min, 10min longer and he woke after an hour and 15min!!!  Yesterday, I put him down 4hrs. 15min and he had a 1hr. 45 min nap!  I am not sure what to do, now I can't even go back to the two naps. . . He is having great nights.  Last night he slept from 7:30pm to 8:15am, but not sure how long this is going to last if he is only having 1hr. nap in the day.  Help please. . . .

[NiknLily]

So let me get this right.  He had a good nap day (1.45hrs) , then a v.good night (12.45hrs) then a poor nap (1.15hr) maybe he just didn't need that extra sleep today or even if he did need it he wasn't quite tired enough to take it.  Lilys naps still fluctuate and although I don't keep a log of them I'm pretty sure a lot of the time she is just regulating he own sleep requirements.  I would try that A time again for a few more days at least to give it chance to settle.

[2Pam]

so, 1hr. 45min is an O.K. nap, he a year on Jan. 4th.  I don't think he is overtired because he is happy in his crib right now after waking after 1hr. 15min, so keep the A time?  It seems like such a long stretch to bedtime. 
Thanks so much for your help. 

[NiknLily]

Yes stick with 4.25hrs for a few more days to see if he can adjust to longer A time.  If he cant go back to 4.15 for a while longer.  i know you said he wont go to sleep early at bedtime, does he require constant attention when fussing or can he be left to it? if so putting him down say 30mins earlier when you think he could do with going to sleep earlier at night will be a good thing to do as hopefully he will settle easily in his own time and still get a little extra down time before bed by being confined to cot even if hes not actually sleeping till 7.30pm.