I really messed things up now!!

[DebLillian]

I missed my BW yesterday!  I wish the site would stop going down.  Anyway, things are pretty good.  I have been pushing off her first nap (we're up to 10:15 now) and the past couple of days she has napped beautifully and slept through the night (but still wakes after 9.5-10.5 hrs )  Yesterday's main nap was 2.5 hrs and then she had a half hour cat nap in the car.  We're hoping for something similar today.

How is everyone else doing?

[momuvtwins]

 Hi Deb do you mind posting your schedule? What does it look like now. Do you put her for her am nap later despite what time she wakes or is it consistent now?

How are the rest of you? I think I'm at slow but steady progress...

[DebLillian]

Schedule?  What is that?!   It seems to be a little bit all over the place.  But in general this is what it's looked like:

4:30-5 wake (sometimes can get her down for another 30 min)
10am nap 1.5-2.5 hrs
catnap 3.5hrs later
6:30/7pm sleep

I'm really trying to push that first nap.  She is usually quite tired by the time I get her down.

[vadensmommy]

Deb, if it makes you feel any better, V has been on one nap for a good couple of months, and she still is pretty tired by 11am, even though nap time is at noon.  Of course, I am not home with her M-F because she's at the sitters for the nap, but over the past few weekends I've observed (and actually tried to pay attention) what's going on with her naps, esp. since she's been sleeping through the night consistently the past few weeks again.  One Saturday I put her down at 11, because she was about to fall asleep during lunch, so I put her down.  She only took 1.5hr nap (her standard is almost exactly 2hrs) and she was awake at 12:30 for the rest of the day which was entirely too early, but she won't catnap anymore.  So I really have to make sure she doesn't go down till noon, no matter what her cues are, because otherwise, she won't take a good nap.

Now, this past Sunday I learned something else.  She only needs to take a 2hr nap.  She'd woken up early that morning (like 5:30), and I just shoved a sippy of milk in her face and went back to bed.  She got up a bit late that morning - and I assumed it was because she'd had her sippy and then went back to sleep, because when I got her, the sippy was empty.  So she took her nap at noon, and ended up sleeping for 3 hours!!  I didn't wake her because I was taking a nap myself, and I thought she probably needed the extra sleep because of the early morning shenanigans that went on.  WRONG.  She did fine going to sleep that night, but was up talking and fussing between 2-3am.  All because she had gotten too much sleep the day before.  Since then she's had her 2hr naps, and things have been fine.  So I'll know better next time, and not let her take the 3hr nap.

So all that to say, it is such trial and error.  And her sleepy cues might not be 100% reliable, although I think the road you are on is a really good plan, and I wouldn't change a thing.  Good luck with pushing the am nap!!

[DebLillian]

HELP... Lillian is now super fussy with a runny nose and seems to be in pain (I think teething...)- last night was awful- should I still push the nap?

[Layla]

Deb, maybe not such a good idea. Does teething pain relief help? What routine do you have atm? Sorry just saw the previous post. Rather than pushing what about not letting it go past 1.5hrs... so that total daytime sleep is around 2hrs and she might start sleeping in more in the morning. Then you can look at pushing the nap once her wake up time is more like 5.30am onwards

[DebLillian]

Layla-  That sounds reasonable.  Right now our 'schedule' is all over the place.  Basically- wake 4:30-5, 2 naps (that vary in time and length depending on what she can handle... I was trying to push the am nap but it seems to not be working) and bed anywhere from 6 to 7 (again, depending on her day). 

Today has just been horrible.  I don't remember her crying like this since she was little.  She has been nursing all day and the meds just don't seem to be making her feel any better.  Poor babe.

[Layla]

{{{HUGS}}} Deb, so sorry to hear about your day.

I hope those darn teeth come through quickly!!!

[smum]

Hi Deb:

Today is also horrible for me. Although my ds slept 10hr45min last night until 6:10 this morning, I only got two naps of 30min and 45min today. The chance of catnap is pretty rare. So we need to put him down at 6:30 if my attempt of catnap fails. Just can't imagine what time he'll get up tomorrow morning. Even if I succeed to give him a 30 min catnap, his bedtime will be after 8:30 and is possible to sleep less than 9hrs at night. It's all my fault. If you were me, will you choose a catnap or early bedtime?

[DebLillian]

Early bedtime, hands down!

[Layla]

Early bedtime!!!!! 6pm if it were me!

What time was the afternoon nap? If the morning nap is only 30mins, I used to put dd down for the afternoon nap no later than 3hrs A time... or else it was a short nap too as she would get very overtired.

[smum]

Hi Deb & Layla:

It's all my fault. Today he woke up at 6:11 and his am nap is 9:30am-10:00am.(I didn't put it off.) But I put his pm nap off till 3hrs30min later. (I want to keep 7pm bedtime. If I let him down at 1:00pm, I'm afraid he'll sleep 1.5hrs only although he may sleep 2hrs. Because his nap is rarely 2hrs, I hope he can sleep 1.5hrs from 1:30 till 3:00.

If I can get him a catnap, will you do it or it's a bad decision again?

[smum]

Forgot to say: his pm nap ends at 2:20pm.

[Layla]

Don't think like that... there is no such thing as being your fault. During the transition, its all about trial and error!!!

Personally I wouldn't do another catnap... he might go to bed around 8pm but you'll probably find he'll wake up around 6 or earlier and he'll be more tired during the day since he's only slept 9.5-10hrs at night . Thats just me though.. I always go for earlier bedtime rather than another nap. For example, Jasmine took a 30min nap yesterday... my mum was minding her and she left her door open.. Isabella screamed out and woke her up. Anyways... I put her to bed at 5:45pm and she slept this morning till 6:15am! So I have always done earlier bedtime if a bad nap day

But again, its totally up to you!

So morning nap from 9:30-10am and afternoon nap at 1pm... you can only try and see what happens. If he sleeps 1.5hrs and the nap ends at 2.30pm, do bedtime around 6.30pm... and then over a couple of weeks you can look at pushing the morning nap, the afternoon nap and bedtime in 10-15min increments. The wake up time should shift as well.

I posted on your other thread as well. I am actually going to lock it if its ok with you since we're helping you out here and the post is identical to this one.

[Lippy Chick]

Deb, I was thinking that maybe she's getting too much day time sleep and it's robbing her night sleep.  We seem to be noticing a pattern with Alice that if she gets more than 2 hours in the day she will wake up earlier the next day.  Her optimum time seems to be somewhere between 1hr 15 - 1hr 45.  We have been on one nap a day for a couple of months too.  Like V'smommy said she does get a bit tired, but copes with it OK.  Even if she's had a bad day and woken up after 30 mins (which was happening a couple of weeks ago) she would still sleep through and wake at a decent time.  However, on the days she had 2 and a half hours sleep she would wake earlier the next day.  I guess for you is the fact that she's waking sooo early, what time can you feasibly put her to bed to get a decent wake time out of her.  A real quandary.  I daren't even ask this?  Have you tried W2S?

Really hoping you can sort it.

Pauline