Taking Forever to Fall Asleep!

[momtothomas]

Perhaps our kiddos have decided that no matter how tired it makes them, they only want to mess around with one nap from now on...

I'm about to go take over the reading and put DS to bed, but the storms rolling through here are crazy and the thunder is super loud.  That always makes for an interesting bedtime!  We're shooting for 6:30 as well... we'll see how it goes!  Best of luck to you and keep us posted.

[newmama12]

Got her in bed at 6:15 and it's 6:25 and she is OUT!!! Hopefully, she'll do 12 hours and not wake up at like 5 in the morning. Good luck to you guys tonight. J sleeps thru storms...thank goodness! Are you guys in the USA? We have storms too here. I'm in Illinois.
I totally agree with you and I think our kiddos definetly only want to do one nap! This was exactly our issue, oh, about 5 weeks ago. I was transitioning her and would let her nap for 30 minutes in the morning but then she started refusing the pm nap. I guess from now on either I need to push her till noon, which she probably can do, although she will be super tired. Then hope she sleeps from 12-2. Or I need to get her to bed at 6:15 every night till she can handle the long afternoons.

Let me know how bedtime goes!

[momtothomas]

He was asleep by 6:35 and I didn't hear a peep out of him all night until around 6:10 this morning (we never get 12 hour nights, so I'm always hoping for at least 11 or 11.5).  Much better than the night before!  Of course, with his teething and his cold/congestion, it's hard to know exactly which conditions made him want to sleep better last night.

We are going to do the same thing - one nap at noon, hoping it lasts until 2.  Most days it doesn't, so we just have to aim for an early bedtime of 6:30ish until this lovely transition is over!

Yes, we're in the US, but down in Georgia.  The storms actually helped last night because it was so super dark that he might have thought it was later than it really was.

[newmama12]

^^YAY!! You guys had a great night!! So did we!!! J slept from 6:25pm-7:00am!!! This is rare for us to as she hardly ever does 12 hours, let alone 12.5! Normally, it's 11 exactly. So, today I'll do nap between 12-12:30 and hopefully she'll do 2 hours. If not, we'll do a 6:30 bedtime too.

[momtothomas]

Wow!  12.5 hrs - that's great!  It's 12:45 in Georgia, so I'm sending "take a good nap" thoughts to DS at daycare and your DD!

[momtonb&ab]

sounds like you both had good nights, that is great......i think the one nap is more and more what you both need....it will get better, hang in there and don't be afraid of early bedtime!!!!!!!!!!

[newmama12]

Alright ladies, what do I do for bedtime.....She napped 1.5 hours (12:30-2pm). Do I still go with an early bedtime at about 6:30, which is 4.5 A time or do I go 5 hours of A and a 7pm bedtime? With a 7pm bedtime, I worry she'll be OT and take 30-45 minutes to fall asleep and then it's 7:45. So, maybe go with 6:30 and if we're lucky she's sleeping by 7 the latest if there's no OT issues??

[momtonb&ab]

i would suggest in bed by 6:30 at the latest...even 6:15 if you can.  she needed 2 hours or more this aft, so take 30 mins off bedtime for sure, and then because she has been taking a bit of a while to fall asleep, well, i would give yourself an extra 15 minutes early to be sure she has enough time to wind down.  remember, she won't go to bed at 6:15 for ever, this is just until she gets better sleeps and better nights.....hang in there.  but my recommendation is 6:15 so she can talk if she needs to, and asleep between 6:30 and 7. 

[momtothomas]

1.5 hours is still pretty good, at least at our house it is!  I agree that a 6:30 bedtime would be good, and a 6:15 one better.  If DS was fortunate enough to have slept 1.5 hours at daycare, I can't get him to bed much earlier than about 6:30 anyway, no matter what time he got up from his nap!  Ugghh, the joys of working 3 days a week.  I won't know how his day was until I pick him up here in a little while...  Best of luck to you tonight, though!

[momtothomas]

Ugh, I have a complaint about daycare...  DS slept from 12 to 1:30, but his teacher said he got up at 1:30 because everyone else was up and playing!?!  Aaarrgghh!  It bothers me that he probably would have slept longer if he wasn't there.  Sometimes I feel like all my hard "work" is for nothing, since Tues-Thurs I have no control over what happens with his sleep schedule.

Anyway, last night he didn't go to sleep as easily as the night before.  He wasn't fussy, just SUPER squirmy.  He finally went to sleep at 6:45, only to wake up around 8:10 and squirm for an hour.  He just kept sitting up and flopping all over.  Never crying, but I have a video monitor, so I watched him try to go back to sleep that whole time.  I'm glad he tries all by himself (most the time), but I wish I knew what to do to help him.  I also think, "Wow, if I only had a regular monitor, I would just assume he was asleep!"  I'd wonder why he seemed tired!  Then again, I would probably stress less about all of it...  A double-edged sword, I guess.  Anyway, he didn't make a peep all night.  I woke up at 6:00 and it was quiet, so I flipped on the monitor screen, hoping he was sleeping, and he was standing up!  I guess he had just gotten up though, because he hadn't started his morning routine of asking for ma ma just yet...

newmama12, how was your night?

[newmama12]

Momtothomas, so sorry about daycare. That has to be tough! I'm assuming they all sleep in the same room at the same time?
Hmmm...wonder why he woke at 8?? Is he teething? J is cutting both her bottom eye teeth. I FINALLY see the white spots so I know they're close. Cannot wait till those little buggers are thru! They have been the worst.
At least he went back to sleep on his own. That's really important. We have a video monitor too and I LOVE it! J will sometimes wake in the middle of the night and I'll hear her turn on her music thingy and she'll be sitting there and the go back to sleep. Weird, but whatever! At least, she's not crying.

Yesterday when I posted, I posted too soon. By the time I finished writing that she slept 1.5 hours I looked up at the monitor and she was laying down and sleeping again. So, she slept 2 hours! Woke at 2:30 and she was in bed at 6:55 and asleep at 7:20. 25 minutes is really good for her! I bet I could have put her down at 6:30 and she would have been good to go then. She woke at 6:30 this morning, so 11 hours. Actually, she may have even been up earlier but not making any noise. Normally, she talks or plays with her music stuff but I didn't hear it at all this morning. I turn down the volume real low on the monitor b/c I'm a light sleeper and will wake whenever I hear her. I turned on the monitor around 6:35 and she was up, so I think she had just woken.

Anyways, she fell asleep for nap at 11:45am. We'll see how long she naps for. Most likely will be in bed by 6:30 the latest tonight. She was super cranky this morning. I don't know if it's her teeth or if she was really tired or what. How's nap today for you?

[momtothomas]

Yes, he's got top molars coming in (still - it's been 2 or 3 months of this).  I don't think he woke because of pain, because he usually cries if that's the case.  Who knows though, I'm just glad he wasn't upset enough to cry.  Are the "eye teeth" the canines?

I have mixed feelings about my video monitor.  My mom says she bets I slept a whole lot less than she thought I did, since she didn't have a monitor to look at.  I tell myself that my friends who think their kids sleep so much just may not be as aware of their kids' sleeping patterns as I am of Thomas's!  Again, that may or may not be a good thing...

Sounds like our mornings were similar.  And congrats on the 2 hour nap!  I think Thomas could have slept longer, but yes, they're all in the same room napping together.  As for today's nap, I won't know until I pick him up in about 3 hours.  Good luck to your little one today!

[newmama12]

Hey there! How was his day at daycare yesterday? And your night? Hope it was decent!

J did (yet another!) 2 hour nap yesterday. I am not holding my breath, as it's most likely a fluke. Teething or something. (She's actually been sneezing a bit yesterday and now this morning. I really hope she's not getting a cold). I think I got her in bed too late last night. She napped from 11:45-1:45 and she was in bed at 7pm, but didn't fall asleep till 7:30 and then up at 5:50 this morning! Too early as she is a bit cranky!! I think I should have had her in bed by 6:30pm. I thought she could handle the longer pm, but apparently she can't. So, we'll see how today goes.

[momtothomas]

DS was apparently falling asleep during his lunch at daycare, but then when they finished eating, he was awake again and didn't go to sleep until 12:45.  He slept 1.5 hours, until 2:15.  He was asleep last night by 6:45 and got up at 6 this morning.  I'm beginning to think he's just programmed to sleep until 6:00, no matter what time he goes to bed.

[momtonb&ab]

hey momtothomas....if you think he is a 6 am waker, try a few days of bed at 6, wake at 6 and see if his naps are better.....it may not be practical to always put him down at 6, but if you did a few days of 6 to 6, naps might sort themselves out and then you could work on wake2sleep to get to 6:30 or 7 wake up, thus making bedtime later.....