2-to-1 nap switch cold turkey?

[kohnheads]

I am SO frustrated.  I'm having limited success here.  I've been doing short am naps (45min-1hr - is that too long?) and then long pm naps.  They're still waking between 5:30-6am about 5 out of 7 days of the week.  And when they do "sleep in", it's only until about 6:15 or 6:30am.  They're both complete basket cases about 30% of their A time, because I'm trying to manipulate something with their schedules and they don't like it.  Here's our routine for the last week:
5:30am wake
9:30-10:15am nap
2:15-4:15pm nap
6:30/7pm bedtime
I'd push back their bedtime but they're both completely spent by then.  Am I missing something or does anyone have any other suggestions on what to do?  If I could just get them to sleep until 7am I think we'd be ready for a one-nap day from 11-1 or 1:30, but right now there's no way we could make it with them waking so early.   They are like little sleep machines and LOVE their daytime sleep, but aren't so interested in a good night's sleep!  HELP!  I'm going to lose my mind!!!

Lindsay

[lilmonkey]

Hugs Lindsay!

Have you tried w2s?  I don't have much success with it but some moms swear by it. 

[kohnheads]

Hi Mimi,

Yes, I have tried W2S in the past with no success.  The only time it worked was when they were like 3 months old!  Ever since then it's like they've figured it out and won't let it work anymore...

I feel like I should just let them sleep two full naps because it's not making a difference to wake them up early from the am nap because they are still waking early.  And then they are complete bears when I wake them and it  makes the days so much harder.

Well, I guess I'll just keep trying different things.  I am at my wits end!

Lindsay

[brenda2]

hi lindsay
i've been going through similar EWs with my 10 mo and she's trying to drop to 1 nap too...way too early but the Lo knows what she wants!  anyway, have had some success with getting her to sleep in a bit later and thought i'd share.

she was waking between 5 and 5:45 most mornings.  then she'd take 2 really good naps (1.5 to 2 hours each).  so too much daytime sleep right?  so i limited the am nap like you did, but like you it made no difference and she didn't like being woken up early and was just cranky for the middle part of the day.  so i pushed the am nap as late as i could and let her sleep for as long as she wanted, and then gave her a catnap in the early evening and put her to bed a bit later.  after a few days of this she slept in until 7:30  ...on that day since she woke so late her morning nap was at 12:30...she slept until 2:30 and i put her to bed early that night.  she slept until 6:30 the next morning and we did 2 naps that day which put her to a later bedtime...the following day we did 1 nap.

so she's kind of doing 1 or 2 naps but she's happy when she's awake and now she's sleeping until 6:30 to 7:30 am without any night waking so i'm much happier too.

i found letting her sleep longer in the morning nap and a catnap in the afternoon easier to do because i could limit the afternoon catnap better - by not letting her sleep later than 5:15 to preserve bedtime of 7:30 to 8 pm.  so one day she only had a 20 min catnap, but it worked.

HTH

[lilmonkey]

Thanks for the tip Brenda.  What are your A times?  I'm finding it very irritating this time around with the nap transition. Urghhhh!

[brenda2]

yeah, i'm finding it really frustrating too.  i'm a planner and not knowing what she's going to do on any given day is really hard for me.  her A times are between 3 and 5 hours.  this is a really big range!  but i'm not getting short naps (unless i wake her up on purpose) so she's not OT or UT, it just seems to fluctuate that much!  i was a clock watcher, but now i'm kind of going by cues - when she gets fussy or digs her head into me and climbs onto my lap then it's nap time.

[lilmonkey]

when she gets fussy or digs her head into me and climbs onto my lap then it's nap time.

Ds is the same.  His A used to be so predictable but now it is all over the place.  I thought that he would be tired b/c of the 5:20 am wake up but he lasted 4 hrs b/f nap 1 and lasted 4.5 b/f nap 2.  Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

[brenda2]

yeah, our predictability is out the window too.  see if he can go 4 to 4.5 hours then if you can just get him to sleep later in the morning he'd actually be fine with one nap on some days if it's a long one and an early bedtime.

[lilmonkey]

My greatest problem right now is the EW.  I used to be able to fix it but now, I have to reintroduce a bottle to get him back to sleep and that only works half the time.  I am sooooo very tempted to keep bedtime at 8 pm or so as he only does 10-10.5 hrs at night now.  If I can get him to reset his wake up time, then I will do one nap only.  Now do you know how I can say this to ds in baby language so he will understand and cooperate?  ;p

[kohnheads]

You know, I think I'm too much of a clock watcher.  Maybe that's my problem.  Brenda2, when you mentioned that your daughter's A time varies anywhere from 3-5 hours, it was like a lightbult went off in my head and I went, "YES! Mine too!"  But I've always tried to still make them nap unless I was out and about and their nap was pushed later because of that.  So maybe I need to just give in and go between the 2 naps and 1.  I really wanted to avoid that but it's just not working at this point.  I also have to deal with 2 kids who have very different internal clocks, so one may want to stay up for 5 hours and the other for 4, and I have to find the happy medium to keep them on the same schedule. 

Tonight they napped late and went to bed at almost 8pm, which is way later than usual, so I'm hoping maybe, just maybe, they might sleep later tomorrow.  Maybe this "resetting the wake up time", as Mimi said, will work for everyone?  Knowing my luck they'll wake earlier.  We'll see!

[brenda2]

that's kind of what worked for me to get her to sleep in later.  she had a few "late" nights of around 7:30-8 pm bedtime and then after a few days of this she woke up at 7:30 the next morning.  since then it's been much better with later wake ups.

i think when you do the 2 to 1 switch you do have some days of  2 naps some with 1 nap for ?? many months until you're really just on one nap.

can't imagine doing it with 2!!

[lilmonkey]

OMG, it's 7:30 am and he's still sleeping!  Do you think I should try for a one nap day?

[kohnheads]

Oh, I hope you're trying a one nap day, Mimi!

We had a minor breakthrough and they slept until 6:45am this morning!  So we're having a one nap day too!  I've decided that any time they sleep past 6:30am, it's going to be a one nap day.  And they did much better than expected this am.  I finally put them down at 11:45, and they weren't even acting that tired, but I was nervous to let them go any longer than 5 hrs of A time.  We'll see how this nap goes.  I'm so thrilled!

[lilmonkey]

Good plan about the 6:45 wake up.  So, if they do a short nap 60 or less, what time is bedtime for them?  I managed to get  ds to last till 11:30.  So if he does a short one, then catnap at 5 or just early bed?  I'm so afraid that the early bedtime will result in the EW. 

[brenda2]

if they do a short nap i would try for the catnap, but if it's long (1.5 hours plus) then do bedtime about 4 hours after they wake up.  i've found that if avery sleeps past 12:30 for nap#1 it's really hard to get her to take the catnap.  she finally will but then it's really late so i only let her have about 20 min or so depending on what time it is.  i've only let her have 1 nap on days she sleeps past 7 and then takes a 2 hour plus nap.  i think play it by ear and see what time it is when they wake, and how they're acting etc.

yay for the later wake ups!  how did you get him to do it finally?  we had a wake up of 6:15 this morning...i wonder if it's creeping slowly earlier again.  hope not.  but she did sleep 11.5 hours last night - can't expect her to sleep longer than that i guess!