I am so not ready for this

[Nicole-Momtomegan]

Oh my gosh..okay she just screamed from 1:30-2.....even though she was rubbing her eyes and only got 10hrs sleep last night:( grr....so i just got her up and will try putting her down again at 2:30
I want to CRY!. i'm SOOOOOOO worn out right now...I have SO much on my plate and I just feel like I don't have the patience or stamina to deal with this right now on top of everything else.....why does it have to be so hard.
I can feel myself the last few days really needing a break...but there isn't one insight...
If I can figure out 1 awake time I can't figure out the rest .....sigh....
I feel like giving up with all this crap...
sorry i'm such a downer right now!

[* Paula *]

Huge hugs Nicole, I am sorry you are having such a rough time  Things will get better I promise.

[Nicole-Momtomegan]

If I DO make her A time longer before bed..how do I possibly fit in 2 naps?
she wakes at 6-6:30am every day!.....if I do 2:30-4pm nap then 8pm bedtime...that's only 10.5hrs sleep and i'm NOT giving her my nights too! she already has my mornings! lol

[*Natasha*]

Nicole HUGS sweetie i would limit the morning nap to 1hr so you can fit in a long afternoon nap then a long awake time before bed. To answer your question yes Mirelle does 3.5-4hrs awake time before bed normally 3.5hrs but i can strech her to 4hrs if i need to. She is now doing 3hrs awake time before AM nap then by the time she falls asleep just under 3hrs awake time before her long PM nap then 3.5hrs awake time before bed.

[sherry lynn]

huge {{{{{hugs}}}}} Nicole.

I know exactly how you feel. I feel like I'm constantly feeling like you do right now, every time I have it figured out it changes. And it doesn't just kind of change. It changes a lot.

Didn't yesterday's naps go well?? Did you try those same A times?? I just have a feeling that 3.5 hours is too much for Erika. But I might be wrong. I think Abi is the only LO right now who is doing that much A time for the second nap right now.

Paula - thanks for asking. Now that I lowered the A times things went really well today. He did the long A time before bed fine. He got pretty cranky around 6, so I took him to bed, and he was having none of it. So I took JenK's advice and just brought him back out. But him down at 7 and he was asleep independently no problem within 10 min. So he did 2:30-7.

Oh Nicole - I've been meaning to mention to you. I gave JenK and Jean this advice and it worked really well for both of them. I have found that when ever Lyle wakes from naps at 4 or after we have a really difficult bedtime. Even when I try to move bedtime up to adjust he just doesn't seem to do well. Even if he wakes at 3:45 bedtime seems to go fine. I think he just needs that longer A time. For him it seems that he doesn't even need a specific A time, he's been doing ok with even longer A times, it just can't be too short. Of course this doesn't always work out as planned. It's really weird but about two weeks ago, he woke at 4 and he still seemed so tired, yawning and yawning... fussing. He seemed like he needed to go to bed at 7, and he fussed and fussed, gave me a hard time. So I think he's body is just ready to go to bed at 7, so he has to have that A time. So they both Limited their first naps, we haven't had any success with that. So the shorter A time between first and second nap is helping us with that.

Do you see a way that you could maybe tweak your routine so that she seems ready to go to bed at 7. How do you think she will cope if you cut her second nap? How much have you tried cutting the first nap?

[Nicole-Momtomegan]

thanks Ladies.
thanks Sherry Lynn...
so the first nap is 1hr. the second nap usually around 1.25-1.5
I can't seem to get the 2nd A time right? or the last one to be honest..
for the first A time she seems most flexible...anwhere between 2.5-3.5 works fine.
After I tried too early for the 2nd nap it took 2hrs!!!! she finally fell asleep at 3:20 and slept til 4:35 (1.25hrs)....
so now I have NOT  a CLUE what to do for bedtime!!!
the last 2 days she's done 10-11am for her first nap.
So, assuming I keep that....when should her 2nd nap be do you think?

Yesterday I put her down at 2pm. it took til 2:30pm and then she slept til 4pm.
maybe should try 2:15-3:45? (mind you it always takes her 15-20min to fall asleep).

Sherry Lynn...Erika has ALWAYS had an early bedtime...6:30-7pm b/c her naps always suck but this last 10days or so she jsut fights it!!!!

the only time this week she went right to sleep was when she refused her 2nd nap when my friend was babysitting and she was up from 1-7:45pm! ....
sigh...i'm so lost

[sherry lynn]

Nicole - I agree that 2.5 was probably too short. The day before yesterday he slept in, and I tried putting him down close to the same time, I ended up with NO AM NAP at all.... that was rough. If you can def. keep the first nap 10-11. Hopefully she will continue to consistently take it for you. Most are doing 3 hours of A time. So maybe try 2:00 for 3 days and see if that works. Then if not try 2:15 for 3 days and then 2:30 for 3 days??? Does that sound like a plan.
Now for me Lyle could do 3 hours A time after that hour nap   So I kept ending up with 2 - 1 hour long naps and he was a mess before bedtime. But hopefully that will work for you guys. Is she waking happily after that hour, does she seem tired or OT by 3 hours A time??

[Nicole-Momtomegan]

see..i'm so confused...I have no idea how much A time she needs now after a 1.25hr afternoon nap? she woke at 4:35..so I guess I'll try 7:45/8:00 bedtime?
the problem with erika is she doesn't really show tired signs. I could keep her up for 7hrs and she would still be happy and laughing. My friends call her a "die hard" lol......
what do YOU guys think I should try for bedtime tonight? what time?

[sherry lynn]

Well I hope Natasha sees this    If she is more used to earlier bedtimes I would personally try 7:15/7:30 just because she ended up having a long A time before her PM nap. I think she will be OT by 7:45, it might take her until then to go to sleep, but otherwise it might take her until 8:15-8:30??  Every time Lyle has woken at 4:30, even with a short nap bedtime ends up a disaster, so I really hope Natasha sees this.
The other day we were in your shoes and I was hoping Lyle would sleep until 4:15/4:20to get a `1h30m nap, and Paula suggested a regular bedtime of 7. So that's why I would say 7:15??  He only slept until 4, so we had a 1h10m OT nap that day because of the same problem you had, it just took him soooooo long to fall asleep for the second nap. I think I ended up putting him to bed even a little earlier and that worked out. But he was a little under the weather too.

[Krissy18]

is that what you do with bottles when there is one nap or two?

im confused on how to handle meal times when the A time in the morning gets longer and longer..
pple talk about the morning nap getting shorter and shorter and then disappearing, that is not happening with us..instead it seems to be the longest one.

[Nicole-Momtomegan]

okay...i'll try the 7:15 though it's already 7pm....
i'm scared though b/c yesterday after a nap from 2:30-4pm...I put her to bed at 7pm and she screamed for TWOHOURS!!!!

[*Natasha*]

I would shoot for a 7.30pm bedtime so start windown of stories etc at 7.15pm which is what i do. However i never let Mirelle sleep past 4pm.

[Nicole-Momtomegan]

So....I went in at 7:30 and did bottle then singing....laid her down at 7:45.
she started to yell, then just talked for about 10min and went to sleep!!!!
but what makes the diff?? that was about 3hrs..after a 1.25hr nap...yesterday I put her down at 3hrs after a 1.5hr nap and she freaked out!
do you think she needed a bit longer yesterday?

[smck]

Hi there

I  hope you don't mind me jumping in here.  I have been reading this thread with interest as I think my lo may be at this stage.  His naps have gone wonky, though it may be developmental as he justs learned to pull himself up to standing which he does constantly in his cot.  I'm going to give it another few days to see it is is developmental and passes.

Good luck with your naps ladies.  I'm learning from you all

Sharon

[sherry lynn]

Nicole, that probably is it. Lyle needs about 3 hour 15 min minimum before bed