Sarah/Anyone PLEASE HELP!!!!

[deckchariot]

sorry I was MIA yesterday (dh had the day off so we did a little day trip out of town!) but it looks like you had a GREAT day!!!!  YAY!!  Yes, that pm catnap will disappear as the am nap gets longer and later (he won't need it to make it to bedtime any more).  I'd go ahead and go towards 3.5 hrs - he's tolerating the 3 hr 15 just fine, so go ahead and try 3.5 for a few days and see how he does.  I'd count your wind down time as part of his A time - so if you're aiming for 3.5 hrs of A time, start your wind down prior to that - at 3.5 the goal is to have him in the crib.

YAY for the good switch up on the nighttime routine - looks like that's going really well.  And only 30 min of wi/wo isn't too too bad - hopefully that won't be a regular thing.

Really, it looks like you're doing great!!!

[coopers_mommy]

Oh how I do love the days when DH is home from work!   

Well we did have a great day yesterday, and a good night as well.  Although I'm not sure why but DS got pretty tired today during his first A time.  He actually rubbed his eyes as to tell me he was tired (I haven't seen a tired sign in so long, I almost wanted to throw a party!  )

ALTHOUGH he only napped for 50 minutes (OT  )  He was only up for 3 hours 15 minutes during his A time.  I have also ended up having to put hiim down a little before I wanted to for his pm nap.  He was very cranky.  Now he is talking in his crib (argh!)  I'll let you know how the rest of the day goes once he's down for bed and I can relax! 

I am going to start 3.5 hours of A time tomorow.  I wanted to try it this morning, but once I saw the eye rub and then the time, I figured that I should go with the signs he was giving!  Oh how I do hope he will go to sleep for a pm nap   

[newmama12]

Coopersmommy, thanks for letting me know about your link! Michelle has some really great ideas!

Michelle, we're going thru a very similar thing with dd switching from 2:1 naps and it's not going well at all. Hopefully, I can enact some of your suggestions and we can stop having those ew's and start having longer, consistent naps!

[coopers_mommy]

Welcome newmama12!  it's great to hear other mom's stories of this wonderful transition time!   

Alright Michelle...here's how the day ended up going. 

wake - 6:20
nap - winddown began at 9:25 (rubbing eyes); in crib by 9:36; and asleep at 9:50
wake - 10:42 ( OT )  I tried to leave him in the crib, but he was happy and I could hear him playing in his crib!   
nap - winddown began at 1:25 (I know it was early, but he was SO cranky!!!); in crib at 1:37 and asleep at 1:57
wake - 2:52 (not a horrible nap...woke up a little upset, but was happy quickly after)
bedtime - winddown bega at 6:05; placed in crib at 6:30; asleep at 6:45

My plan unless you see something that I don't from our schedule today is:

1) I am going to try for 3.5 hours A time in the am
2) depending on how that goes, I will either try for 3.5 hours of A time in the pm or it might be shorter if he's so dang tired!
3) I am going to move the nursings for naps out of the room (my main goal is to get rid of these nursings since he will be starting mothers day out soon and wont be able to nurse before naps!)

So my question for you.  If I am able to do the 3.5 hours of A time my schedule would look like this if he woke at 6:30

6:30 wake
10 - nap
11:30 ( ) wake
3 - nap
3:45 ( ) wake
6:30 bedtime

So....questions....
1) IF the first nap is really good (1.5 hours); do I only allow about 30-45 minutes for the 2nd nap?
2) IF this schedule really happens do I still try for a 6:30 bedtime or still follow the 3.5 A time pushing the bedtime to around 7? 
3) Should I keep the 6:30 bedtime to try to keep from any OTness setting in? 
4) If eye rubbing occurs like it did today(before A time is used up), should I go ahead and get him to bed and then start 3.5 A time from when he wakes up? 

Thanks for your help....I do hope one day I can give such great help and reassurance to parents going through this!   

[coopers_mommy]

So I can't decide if DS was OT or UT last night!

He went down at 6:45 easily and had no NW!  (YIPPEE!) Although he was up at 5:30, blah.  We left him in his crib till 6 to see if he would go back to sleep, but it didn't happen.  He was super happy though, so I don't really think he was OT    I'm guessing that even though I didn't find the naps yesterday to be terrific, he was rested enough. 
 
He was really tired this morning again though as it got closer to the 3.5 hours of A time mark.  He did farely well though, we'll see how long of a nap we get. 

On a "YIPPEE" note, I have moved the nursing into my room (we have a rockigng chair in there).  So he nursed about 20 minutes before it was time for nap.  Then we went to his room, sang and turned on some lullabys for him.  He was PO'ed right when I laid him down, but went to sleep....so I think it's working. 

****UPDATE****
His nap was just at an hour long.  What am I doing wrong here?  He can't seem to handle more than 3.5 hours of A time right now, but then only naps for an hour at the most?  Should I possibly look at trying to limit the first nap and then hope for a longer second nap? 

[deckchariot]

just sat down to post...dh just got home for lunch and dd is crying....bbl.....

[deckchariot]

sorry about that, dd is having some napping issues of her own lately - I think it's teething though....

ok.....getting an hour nap in the am is actually pretty good for going through the 2 to 1 switch.  What you want to keep an eye on is total sleep in a 24 hr period and figuring out what your bub needs.  For Abby, I finally figured out (looking at logs and seeing how she did), that she needs 11.5 - 12 hrs at night and 2.5 hrs MINIMUM for naps.  So when doing the switch, if she slept for 1 hr in the am, I knew I needed a 1.5 hr nap (or a 1 hr nap and early bedtime) to a make it. 

So, if 3.5 is where he's maxed out now for A time, but he's sleeping 1 hr, then you want to try for a bit longer nap in the pm - and he may not be able to do 3.5 hrs after just 1 hr of sleeping.  So your routine might look like:

6:30 - awake
10 - nap
11 - awake
2 - nap (see if that's too early or not)
3:30 - awake
6:30 - to bed

Then you can go in a couple of directions - keep pushing that am A time so that morning nap gets later.  If it gets longer, YAY....make the pm nap shorter.  If you push out that A time and he still only naps for 1 hr, then I'd go with the option of cutting that am nap short and going for a longer pm nap.  Keep in mind, if his am nap is short, he won't be able to handle as long of an A time in the pm before his nap.

You may want to keep a log to see if you can get a handle on what his sleep need is - see when his best days are and what his day/night sleep looks like on those days.  Here's a link on "average" day/night sleep time - but you have the best sense on whether he's average or needs more or less:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=85134.0

hang in there!!!!  You'll make it!!!

[coopers_mommy]

I see what you're saying about the shorter A time if the 1st nap is not a long one.  I think I will try that tomorrow.  I think I will continue trying to have a long am nap and a shorter pm nap IF he can handle it.  By the end of the week if we're still not making progress on increasing the A time, I think I might begin shortening the am nap and trying to extend the pm nap. 

Our pm nap today was a bust.  He went down easily, although he wasn't showing tired signs, but I figured I should still stay with A times, right?!?!  So he was asleep by 1:48 but woke up at 2:30.  I attempted WIWO to see if he would go back down since he woke up crying, but after 15 minutes of it and no progress, I got him out of the crib.  It will be a 6:00 bedtime tonight so that hopefully he can keep from getting too OT! 

He seems to do best when he gets 12 hours of night sleep and then 2 hours of day sleep. 

I hope your LO is doing better with her teeth....I think DS might be going through some of that also.

[deckchariot]

teething is the pits!!!  How did bedtime go?  Your plan sounds like a good one.  And knowing that you need 12 hr nights and 2 hr naps can help you sort through his day a bit too.  So if his am nap is an hour, you just need an hour in the pm.  If you get 45, then maybe early bedtime - but not too bad.  If both naps are 45, then yep, definitely early bedtime.  Keeping that total in mind can really help navigate that switch.  So if you start limiting that am nap, you'll know what you're aiming for with the pm nap.  And if the am nap lengthens as A time increases, then you know what you're aiming for with the pm nap, and when you can do away with it.  hope you have a good night!

[coopers_mommy]

bedtime was okay.  He kept playing as it got closer to bed time and DH thought that maybe he wasn't tired yet....but I knew that he had to be!  (I think he kept playing because we found "new" toys today that DS hadn't played with in a while....so it was fun and new to him!)

He was placed in his crib at 6:01 and talked barely until 6:25.  So he went to sleep fairly well....almost kept that 6:30 bedtime!    I'm thinking that since today was the 2nd day of 3.5 A time, that maybe things were still trying to adjust.  So I'm not going to make any haste decision yet, we'll see how tomorrow goes.  We also have a playdate tomorrow around 11 so if anything hopefully that will totally tire him out for his pm nap!

and yes, teething is the pits, I think I saw the gums turning white where some teeth will be coming in....so we've gone back to orajel and teething tablets before bed time just to be sure!   

Have a great night!

[deckchariot]

yay for going to bed fairly well!!  Hope he sttn and today will be a good day.  I'd stick with 3.5 hr of A time for at least another day to see how that goes too....you've got a good plan!

[coopers_mommy]

Hi there!  This is Coopers Daddy.  First off thank you so much for your help with Coopers sleeping!  I know we are headed in the right direction, but there a few hiccups along the way.

Cooper slept very well last night.  He went down around 6:30 when he was done talking, and slept until 5:30 am.  We didnt' go and get him until 6:20 because he sounded happy and didnt start crying until 6:20.  So, he had an early waking, but 11 hours total sleep. Shorter than usual, but not horrible.  No NW

So far his schedule today looks like this:
5:30 wake
9 laid down for sleep
9:20 sleep
10:20 wake

We are hoping for a good 1 hour nap again this afternoon with another 6:30 bedtime ( or later?)  Right now though we do not feel like we are gaining any ground.  All we are doing is still getting two 1 hour naps, and not really making the transition to 1 two hour nap with early wakings.

My thought is maybe tomorrow we could look at shortening the first nap and hope to lengthen the 2nd nap?  This way we could try to make the 2nd nap the primary nap (eventually).
So to do this we were thinking maybe this could be our schedule:

6am: Wake
Longer A time of 3:45 hours
9:45 sleep
Shorter :45 nap
10:30 wake
Shorter 3:00 A time
1:30 sleep
3 wake
6:30 sleep

What do you think?

Thanks again!

[deckchariot]

Hi Cooper's Daddy!  So nice to see a dad here too   I think your plan looks great for tomorrow.  Lots of folks do the short am nap to preserve the longer pm nap.  Then you gradually move that am nap later and/or shorten it again so it's closer in time to that pm nap.  Once you can get him to about 5 hrs of A time, you can do the 1 nap pretty easily.  I do think you're headed in the right direction.  But at only 3.5 hrs of A time, he does still need 2 naps, so as you extend that A time, you'll get down to just 1 nap.  Some bubs hold on to 2 naps til 18 mos, so you're still in the window.  Let me know how it goes tomorrow!

[newmama12]

We are still combating ew's (6am) and one short nap. So here's what I did today. Let me know what you think:
Bed last night was 8pm. LATE! Her pm nap started too late and she slept till 4pm.

6am: wake/breakfast/play
10-10:30: nap. I woke her up
2:00: nap (she's still asleep after 30 minutes). It took her about 25 minutes to settle for this but she was tired. There was a lot of noise between the painters that are here, the dog barking, the cats running around, the garbage truck, etc.
Bed 7-7:30 depending on when she wakes

I'd like to get to 1 nap, but she's seeming tired 4-4.5 hours after waking in the am. Since she's up so early I can't have her wait for a nap till noon b/c then she's OT. I suppose I could try for a 11am nap and see how long she'll sleep for??

[coopers_mommy]

from what I've learned from Michelle is to slowly move the A time back!  We are just now at 3.5 hours of A time!  I'm hopin that tomorrow we can begin more.  i would try 4 hours 15 minutes for a few days to see how it goes. 

Also, I'm curious what state you live in....it's the same time here! 

Good luck