Support for "Dropping that last nap"

[PeepersMom]

Karen, Stacy hope your kiddos feel better soon.  PJ and I have been on and off colds/coughs/fevers all winter and I am sick of it!  right now he seems to have a cold as well, but it isn't really effecting anything except my wipeing his snotty nose all the time.

Well, shock of all things I went with the flow at nap time today and he slept 1h45min@@ what in the world?  He woke from nap at 345.  I don't know. Now i am thinking it all might just be teeth.  The ONLY thing this kid sleeps more from is teething.  He never adds extra sleep when sick or from shots, but teeth he will sleep more.  He still needs 3 2 year molars so maybe....

I put him down at 745 for bed thinking possibly he will be asleep at 830 since normally that seems to be his absolute latest time to fall asleep but today will probably a completely different story.  I am expecting more like 9-930 and then early wake up and back to our 'normal routine' whatever that is right now.

oh, if PJ skips a nap, which is only 3 times total in his life so take this with a grain of salt, he is asleep within 15 minutes or less.  If he takes a VERY short nap, a  20 min nap is (sadly) not that unusual, he usually falls asleep within 15 min but sometimes he is hyper and will take longer.  On a normal day with an average nap which is about an hour for him it can take him over an hour sometimes to fall asleep.  Usually 45 minutes.

Deb - oh my isn't it annoying when they take soooooooooo long to fall asleep.  I am still trying to figure out my new limits, but my guess is today will be a major lesson.  IF I want him asleep by a reasonable time at night (830 at the latest in my opinion)  he probably will have to be up by 230, but what if he doesn't fall asleep till 2?  ahhhhh!! why so complicated.

Meg

[debo620]

the real problem today was 6.5hrs before the nap d/t birthday party...I think the littlest he will do is maybe 6 so I am shooting for that!

I find he is grumpy if I wake him vs him waking on his own...even if nap length was exactly the same...kwim?
I sort of wish he would just shorten on his own....

anyway he is changing again!

have to get this settled bedcause we want to set up his twin bed in his room and leave crib in there aswell...just to sort of introduce the idea and maybe have him sleeping in it before the babe comes...
there really is no good time to do it...so plan is for the next weekend after easter. DH just needs to safety proof his room a bit.

[Peek-a-boo]

Hi everyone,
DD's been going back and forth with napping for the past several months, but now she usually goes a week if not more without napping. Ugh. Anyway, I was wondering, do most kids go to sleep pretty much right away at night if they don't nap? DD wakes around 7 am so I try to have her in bed by 7 pm. Up until now, she always fell right to sleep at night, but lately she's been chatting in there for 20-30 min. before falling asleep. The past couple nights I've actually gone back in there to check on her (thinking maybe there's a diaper issue) because she never did this before. She's 29 mos. by the way. Thanks  !

My LO usually fall straight to sleep after a no nap day. 

[PeepersMom]

you think alot!

sleep at 2, let him nap 45 mins. I dont wake less then 45 mins. If kaleb wasnt asleep by 2 he would not be sleeping period.  He would be getting up. 

Not worth it at that point to me.  If he happened to fall asleep 1:59 he would nap 45 mins.  If he naps at all (45mins or more) bedtime is 8/8:15 and asleep by 8:45. If he doesnt nap hes in bed 7:45, asleep before 8.

keep in mind those are widely based on his awake time.  So asleep by 8 for no nap means he was up around 8.

napped an hour today, asleep 8:45

LOL I know Stacy.  I drive myself insane. I told you!!!  I am at the point of driving you insane, I see.  LOL

Actually the 2pm thing was specific to today, as DS woke at 8 and he is doing 6 hour wake times right now.  A time is always a moving target.  he goes between 5.5 and 6.  right now we are at 6 and I am hoping we have an opportunity for him to go back to 5.5 because as you say it is VERY hard to sneak in a nap.... like you say.  Yes, usually if he isn't asleep by 2 I would give up - like i did yesterday.  but for us 8 am wake up is very rare so that doesn't happen often.  I guess that is why I was so confused today.

I think he is actually asleep now at 845, or pretty close as he is very quiet, so all in all not too bad considering all the sleep he had.  Probably an early morning or a little night party b/c of so much sleep, but that is fine.  He doesn't need me with his night parties but I do get woken up usually. 

Meg

[Katet]

Stacy, oh for life to be so simple... my problems your solution would never work because
a) wake up about 6.45 +/- 15mins bedtime 12 hours later, only about 30mins of Daddy time... no way, big brother is awake, 7pm bed no way possible
b) go anywhere in the car he falls asleep, I have a 5min trip to pick up ds#1 from preschool 2/week & he can & will fall asleep & IMPOSSIBLE to wake unless I spend 30-60mins proding & poking him (with him crying)
c) 5.5/6 hours of A time, well most of our activities don't finish until about noon & to get him home & lunch & wound down & in bed by 12.30 just doesn't happen & we don't want to change swim class as we don't want to loose our wonderful teacher & Library time finishes at 12.30.
d) 12 hours of A time for a child who can & will fall asleep on the floor in the time it takes me to go to the toilet is all but impossible.
e) 2 children without naps means fighting (or me giving 100% attention) & means dinner is late or 1000 other things, so well we just suck it up & cope

So we just roll with it, some days we get 2+ hour naps, somedays 30mins & generally 9-11 hours of sleep, but that is the wake up times & can't change activity times. so we do the best we can

[Mom to M&M]

Poor DD - after the temp last night and Motrin think she was asleep around 7:45 or so. She woke at 12:15 or so crying. Didn't feel too hot but I gave Tylenol and covered her with her blanket and then she called me back in to rub her back for a second. Left and think she fell back to sleep pretty quickly. She was up again at about 4:45 at for a while was babbling but was crying by 5:15. She refused medicine so just gave Hylands and covered her again. Think then she slept from 5:40-6:15 when she woke hysterically crying and had a 104.1 fever. Gave Motrin and stayed with her hand on back until she was calm and almost asleep. It's 6:40 now and I guess I'll lay back down too but not sure I can sleep right now.

Kate - with two I think a lot of the simple solutions do go out the window - you do what you can and improvise and get them (and yourself) through it. I think it sounds like you're doing great!

[aisling]

Hope Marisa gets better and lots of sleep for you too.

11 hr night so we can get a nap in today, which is good as I am having my hair done and DH in charge! 

[debo620]

well what an awful night here !

Kate, I hear what you are saying but I do agree with Stacy, our days need to be very predicatble and established......Noah is quite simply too touchy of a sleeper.

so heres my great night!

asleep 8:50 or so
woke at 4am and talked until 6:10
slept til 7:45 when dh had to get up and going for work.

I am going to try to get him down for 12:30/12:40 and hope he falls asleep by 1 at the latest.

these two hour NW usually do happen when Noah takes so long to fall asleep....so heres to up by 2:30pm no matter what...

[PeepersMom]

kate the grass is always greener - I just can't imagine having your 'problem' with a toddler that will drop off anywhere.  If only...........PJ rarely sleeps in the car, he fell asleep in the stroller 1 time in his life, at 4 months old. I even took his picture sleeping in the stroller b/c I was so happy. .  It really is nice if you have a kid that will sleep anywhere, like if you go to a friends house and it is nap time just drop him off in a bedroom and you get to go have lunch!  Long car rides are peaceful....

Well, after that long night last night, a long kip in the afternoon, and a relatively normal bedtime he was up early for him, at 6:15. I sort of expected it, but I also thought he would be in a good mood wiith all that banked sleep!  he is in a horrible mood.  Probably teeth.

Sounds like a lot of horrible nights out there and some sick kiddos.  Heres to good health and good rest today!

so for us we will be on an early schedule. I will shoot for nap around noon.  We have a play date at 10 but I will probably have to cut it to 1 hour and have PJ eat lunch in the car on the way home.  That will probably work on a day like today. He'll be pretty beat on only a 9.5 hour night.  Then we can come home and just do our nap routine.  Normally he needs more of a wind down after an activity to settle down for a nap but I think it will be fine today all things considered.

Good luck today everyone!!

Meg

[Mom to M&M]

Thanks for the well wishes for DD everyone. When she woke at about 9 her fever was down to 101.4 with the Motrin. Gave her Tylenol (alternating them while fever is high) at 9:30 and she feels much cooler now. Will try for a nap around 1:15/1:30 unless she's asking for one sooner and hope for the best - she's prone to these mystery viruses with no real symptoms other than high fevers and general not feeling well.

Stacy - I agree to a point with what you are saying and it obviously works well for you and for me right now too. But it's easier for us as SAHMs with only one kid. Once you have a second kid and/or you work and are somewhat dependent on a daycare schedule etc it's not as cut and dry. Like with Kate - she knows that her DS2 can't handle no nap and falls asleep easier in the car and is hard to wake but she can't completely go by his needs or limits or she'd be neglecting the needs of her DS1.

[aidenmc]

I am wishing for summer and the end to all these illnesses! Aiden had another bad night after his no nap day yesterday. He fell asleep quite quickly and didn't get out of his bed once. I think he was asleep by about 7:20. But then he woke 6-7 times between 10:45 and about 3 and was up for the day at 6. I am really hoping he has a nap today. I don't think we could do the 12 hr wake time on no nap days because of his early mornings. I am afraid that if we went back to a 6pm bedtime he would just start waking earlier. Obviously I would much prefer a later wake time than 6 even, but later bedtimes also mean earlier wake-ups. He is asking for me a lot when he wakes and I wonder if part of it is that because dh has taken over bedtime (and I don't go in at all now) ds just wants to see me. Also after a week off from preschool he is not all that happy to be back and away from us all during the day. Maybe he will settle down again although we are getting into another long weekend which will mean another adjustment back to school. Before the holidays he would run the other way when I came to pick him up, now it is 'I don't like school'.

[PeepersMom]

Becky, sorry, but can you remind me?  Is Aiden having these night wakings due to illness or does he do it even when he is feeling well?  DH always goes in at night now, too.  We just started that a few months ago when he was waking up several times a night just screaming.  We don't know why, he did it for a couple weeks.  He will settle down on his own if DH goes in and just says, "We love you, lay down and go to sleep. Everyone is sleeping. Mommy is sleeping.  Go to sleep"   yada yada.... However, if I go in I pick him up and sit in the rocking chair with him and I am in there for over an hour every time.

Well, we didn't get home until 1245 from the play date.  Grrrr and PJ fell asleep about 1:10 and is just now waking up at 2:35.  I was sort of afraid he would sleep longer b/c of all the A time and short night, but happy with this.  Enough to get him through the end of the day but not too much to screw up bedtime. 

Hope everyone else has a better day!

Meg

[MommaHolmes]

Just thought you guys might like to know that we seem to be making positive progress.
Still no naps and haven't bothered with timing car rides etc. but NW have pretty much stopped and he is on a reasonable 6-6 schedule (which will become 7-7 when the clocks go forward next week). He's had one 45 min nap in the last two weeks (in the car on the way back from visiting relatives).

Do you know what settled things down again? Turns out that one set of bedding makes him overheat really easily, he was waking up in a pool of sweat at least once a night, changed the bedding (after the great poo escapade) and he's slept through for the last 3 or 4 days despite no naps!

I think I just need to accept that my little boy isn't going to follow the norm on this one. In the last month he has probably had four or five naps in total, most of them in the car. If he was not able to handle it then I think we would be seeing a lot more OT behaviour by now.

Fingers crossed I haven't just jinxed it!

[Katet]

Stacy trust me I very much want to have limits & have him nap at 1/1.30pm & wake him at 2.30pm so we can have a decent bedtime but he is (for any one who has read RYSC) an irregular child & like yesterday I cuddled him & sat with him & lay with him from 1pm- 2.45pm trying to get some sleep out of him (too much for me to go out driving to get a nap) & then we had to go & pick up ds#1, then I had 2 "needy" children (both upset on off) all afternoon until dh got home at 6pm & nothing not even heating up dinner got done (went out for Fish & chips) & then ds#1 fell asleep eating dinner at 6.45 only to wake up for 2 hours at 10pm... very normal on a no nap day & that is very normal for a no nap day, nothing absolutely nothing gets doen & I get night waking, but if I allow a 3pm nap we get a 10pm bedtime & early wakings, so I'm totally stuck between a rock & a hard place if I don't get that nap in before 3pm or I don't get a nap... I so wish I had a child like Kaleb... actually saying that I'm glad I had my good napper first having ds#1 like this with a baby would have been hellish & at least I know this stage will end... hopefully sooner rather than later, but you should see my life (& my back) when I get 3-4day/week when NOTHING gets done from 2-6pm apart from cuddling a 2.75yo & trying to support a 4.5yo. BTW yesterdays no nap was after he'd had a 103F temp & been on meds for the previous 24hours... he still doesn't even sleep when he is sick, he just gets even more cuddly.
 OK vent over & we have a 4 day weekend for Easter & so dh (when he wakes up
from his sleep in) will be around to share the load & while there is no way my decorating projects will get done, hopefully we can get other things in order.

Meg he doesn't sleep anywhere all the time, only anywhere I don't want him to LOL (like 10mins before we get home on a train journey when I have no stroller) & no way he will go to sleep in a bed at someone elses house unless he is in my arms. He sleeps all too easily at the wrong time & not enough at the right time ie he rarely sleeps on a long car journey but will sleep on a 5mins journey. fortunately he is an otherwise "angel" child, just an irregular/low sleep need child in a family of regular/high sleep need people.

[Layla]

Kate, you are my hero! I don't know how you can do it.... I offer hugs too but my patience is running very low and to just keep on offering hugs all afternoon (when I want a bloody hug too) is very hard for me.

I am looking forward to the Easter break cause at least her dad can come around and help out! He's taking the girls out this weekend to his parents... which will be just grand for me!