Can someone show me where I keep going wrong?

[RACHPEM]

Thanks again.  Not too bad a night, she still woke at 11.40 for 15-20 mins but slept then til 6.10.

[LisaM]

Hi Rachael

It sounds like you've had a couple of better nights and mornings too, I hope it continues xx

[bethanys mummy]

What time did she eventually drop off last night? was she happy about it? What happened when she woke in the night (WIWO?) - did she have about 11 hours then?

You see now I am obsessed with your lo's every move! Hope all goes ok today

Bethany only did 10.5 hours last night, after a few nights of 11-12. Ho hum!!!!!

E x

[LisaM]

Emma

I remember a while back on some other post you were having problems with EW and short night sleep - how did you fix it?  WI/WO?

[Vicku]

Great advice Emma! I agree of course Keep us posted Rach hun!

[RACHPEM]

Well she fell asleep at 7pm last night and was awake briefly 20 mins tops and then asleep until 6.10am so just under the 11 hrs mark if you take out the nw. She was fairly happy I guess she was just chatting to herself and settled herself pretty well. She screamed out in the night as usual and was pretty upset as normal hubby did wi/wo and she was quiet within 20 mins.  I know I should relax more and not get het up a=over schedules but what do I do now? re naps etc, go by A time?
any ideas?
Rachaelx

[Vicku]

How long did you stick with set times for? It takes a while to see the results...

If she doesn't seem too OT anymore, I would try to push bedtime later (to about 8pm) and nap too, to get her body clock used to later nap and bed. I'm only saying that cos that's what worked with my LO after trying everything else; earlier bedtimes just meant earlier wake ups for her, early nap didn't give me a longer nap but of course then an early bedtime, and we were going round in those circles for ages until I pushed her later and things started to improve from there.

11 hrs isn't bad at night though and if 6 is an acceptable wake up time for you then you could try to stick with 7 as bedtime hoping for a 6ish wake up, then 12 nap and even if you only get 1 hr naps sometimes you only have 6 hrs A before bed so should be able to keep to 7pm bedtime.
Alternatively, if you wanted to try pushing bedtime to 7am instead, you could do 8pm bed, 1pm nap.
From what I've learned most LOs need longer A times at this age but can't necessarily push themselves there. They will seem very tired at their usual nap time but won't take a long decent nap, then ends up with a massive A time before bed and will then need an early bedtime which often results in EWs and the ball is rolling!!! I know many have found it helped to push them beyond that A time (through low-key activities or an extra snack to keep them going) and they've settled into their new routine after a while and starting to take longer naps, waking later in am and sleeping better overall.

Now of course, as we always say, all LOs are different... and it's your decision what to do, but that would be my advice on what to try next.

[RACHPEM]

Hi Vicku, we have been doing set times for 2wks and i realy dont know which way to go with this.  She gets so tired in the mid afternoon about 4 , I cant possible see how we could get to an 8pm bedtime.  i am ok with a 6am start as long as it is no earlier, although 6.30 would be ideal, so my ideal bedtime would be 7.30pm which we were doing before these ew crept in.  Although we have tried every which way she is such a grumpy bum most of the day I am sure she is tired and needs more sleep.  I also find if I push A time too much we get a much shorter nap.
We did get to a 12pm nap which was 1.5hrs -2hrs but wake up was nearer 7, then it started getting earlier and earlier and still I stuck with set times but then she was doing near on 6.5 and she was only doing 1 hr then.  Also what seems to happen is she will do 2-3 good days then it goes wrong again.
I wish she would just sleep better at night and be a happier child to be around then I would not stress so much, but if it is not near to right it falls apart even more.
Rachael x

[RACHPEM]

Just wanted to update,  I put Maya down hoping for a 6.30 bedtime, she got really upset jumping up and down in her cot, calling my name, crying and she finally went off at 6.45pm.  Does this mean OT, UT or just used to me settling her? I am more confused than ever by her antics.  She used to at least settle well at bedtime. Her nap ended at 1pm so nearly 6hrs A time.
What do you think?
Rachael x

[NiknLily]

Just got to add Rachel, that this age is when things really hot up in the mucking mum or dad about at bedtime and its not always due to UT or OT, just the simple fact that they have learn't they can!  Just to add to your confusion!

[RACHPEM]

Good night last night.  Asleep by 6.45 she woke at 1.30 but I only walked in once and straight back out and she went quiet and slept til 5.45 this morning! i am stil unsure what to do re: naps, should I continue with 11.30? as we were workng on 5 A time but 5.45 start makes it longer, however I dont want to bring day earlier if I can help it as everything will shift backwards instead of forwards. What do you think?
Rachaelx

[bethanys mummy]

Hi there

got to be quick as typing at work, will add more later. Dont think you have said recently how long her naps have been??

Anyway it seems as though nights are improving, both in terms of how long her NWs are and and total of 11 hours .............. yippee. Although can understand you feel that one thing gets corrected and another thing (her playing up at bed time) goes wrong. Perhaps you can now move to not actually going in but talking to her through the door..........

Unless she is having mega naps (doubt it) then I would still say that you have a mix of habit and OT going on, ( ie up for 13 hours with say 1,10 nap a day, even if she is getting 11 hours at night she is still going to get tired) with the former getting a bit better, as we can see by how she is at night

So on the OT theme I am stil thinking early nights - maybe you will get more than 11 hours, but I understand you being nervous.

Or 2 naps. I appreciate the latter goes against you using clock times, which you have stuck to for the last couple of weeks.......... but as I have said, if B is showing signs of being tired (grumpy like Maya of just simply not having enough sleep time) then I do 2 naps every so often. The cat nap usually happens in the car with us going out somewhere anyway (like when you went to the zoo) and just lets us push that proper nap a couple of hours later in the day. And stops the routine moving earlier in the day??

Only other option would be to try to extend her nap through WIWO - its a tough one but she does have that message in her head at the moment...........

Will drop in later

PS we had 3 NWs with DH in bed with her by the end of the night!!! just goes to show that you never stay on the even keel for long. But pretty sure it her eye teeth so riding with it.....

[RACHPEM]

Hi Emma, Maya's nap's have been 1.5 the last 3 days and she woke up in such a lovely mood this morning.
rachaelx

[RACHPEM]

Another update, Maya took another 1.5 nap today which finished at 13.10pm , again my aim was to have in bed asleep at 6.30, and she was!!!! I could not believe it, normally she moans and groans but she went straight off.   I guess that means a 5.30 start in the morning though, hubby normally does sunday for me, i wonder if her wants to swap? I doubt it.
have a good weekend.
Rachaelx

[Vicku]

Yay for Maya going straight to sleep!
Have a good weekend hun! x