Support and Chat thread for parents of Early Waking Toddlers #2

[EloysH]

Sima,  if my LO wakes early I try to  keep as close as possible to te original nap times and bedtime.  I'd prefer to deal with the tiredness then, rather than give extra naps and too early bedtimes, I find it then becomes chronic EW. Cause the sleep is allowed to be caught up during the day rather than by sleeping in the next morning YKWIM??

  I would personally get rid of that catnap, at this age it interferes with night time sleep too much.    But as you  said you LO is sensitive to OT, so you would know best from trial and error.

[Sima]

Eloysh, thanks so much for advice!!! It really makes sense. 
So now, since I was going by A times, her naps times were all over the place.  How do I figure her naptime?  Two days in a row I did 12:30 with a 6.20 wake up and one day slept 1.5 and today 1 hour.
How do I figure when bedtime should be with naps being 1-1.5 hours.
So like this:
wake up 6.20
Nap 12.30-1.30 or 2
Bedtime ? not sure when is the best time.
Thanks for input!

[EloysH]

Did you say whe's 27 months old?  If so I would say later than 7pm, more like 7:30pm or 8pm is the ideal for that age  (7pm is supposed ot be a bedtime for babies).  This is based on some info taken from Traceys books.  If I find the link I'll post it on here.    She'll have to catch up the sleep from the short nap that night or the next day  (provided she can cope with staying up)

If 7:30pm seems alot later than she can cope with I would put her down earlier. Maybe 7pm or if she's going to lose the plot then earlier. Gradually move towards that bedtime of 7:30 - 8pm over a few days/weeks.

We are still trying to get to 8pm ourselves,  J's been really sick so we're suck back at 7pm-7:15 bedtime. 

[EloysH]

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=144722.msg1604849#msg1604849  - there is some info posted in this thread

[EloysH]

Sima: see the writing in read in the link I posted below.

[Sima]

Hi Eloysh!  Thanks for the link, very helpful!!
Yes, she is 27 months old.
Yesterday went well:
Wake up 6.25
Nap 12.30-1.30
Bedtime 7

woke up today at 6.45-7!!!! Couldn't believe it.

However, when it says 15 min increasing bedtime, does that mean that nap time moves up too or stays the same.  With 1 hour nap, any awake time during the evening more than 5.5 causes her EW.
What is your lo schedule like?  Thanks a lot!

[EloysH]

Yay on the great wake-up time!      I      think it is important to move the nap forward a little too.  Looking at your nap time it's pretty good, it could maybe move a bit later especially since you said she's sensitive to the evening A time.   That way you can make the bedtime a little later.

Our schedule at the moment is this:
6:30am wake
12:30pm nap  (1.5 hours) sometimes 2 hours if we are lucky
7:30 pm bed

our clocks are going back in one week so I'm trying to move everything later still.   

Today we did
6:45am wake
1:00pm nap (1 hour)
7:45pm bedtime   

[anna*]

Well OMG, this morning I had to wake Stan up at 7.15. That hasn't happened in oh, forever. In fact I think it was only about the 3rd or 4th time ever in his life. I have no idea why, and I doubt it will happen again, but still. Woohoo!

[EloysH]

Yeah Anna!  Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Sima]

Thanks Eloysh!! I appreciate it.  Today she woke up at 6.45 today..couldn't believe it!!!!
I put her to nap from 12.45 & usually sleeps 1 hour so we'll see.  So far so good but she sometimes EW but I will keep nap same time as you suggested. 
Wow, your lo schedule looks good.  How are you moving her forward--by moving nap and bedtime forward?? Thanks!!!!

[EloysH]

yep moving both forward at same time.  Bedtime is the harder one as he is so tired at the end of the day.  Nap time is alot easier can do it easily in 30 min increments.  Yeah again on the great wake-up time!!!

[Sima]

Hi Eloysh,
Just a question, your lo is not sensitive to OT--with short napping, and EW? 
If A time in morning is very long for my lo, then she gets OT.  That is great that you can extend by 30 min--that is awesome!!!
Hope work out well with your lo and thanks for your support again!!!

[EloysH]

Hi Sima,

He doesn't cope very well if his nap is shorter than 1 hour , he tends to have a very short fuse by evening time.   As for his morning A time he can handle about 6 -6.5 hours (on a good day), anything over that he'll start to get to meltdown stages, and refuse his nap.  If he's sick or teething that A time goes down to about 5 hours...  I just watch him to see how he's coping.     Yes on EW,  it is harder for him to stay up for his nap.. but i take him out so he's distracted then when he gets home and has a snack, read a book then nap time. I assume that he'll have a longer nap if he needs one...  He goes down well usually at night, even after EW.   If he's really tired he just falls asleep quicker.   In those horrid hours of 5-7pm we just keep him quiet with  quiet play like puzzles, books and if we are frazzled he watches his show on TV.

[Sima]

Hi Eloysh:
Your little one does well for A time for his age, 17 months?  He is so cute in his bike!!Btw, do you have only one lo? 
Thanks for sharing and helping through this.
Today went like this:
Wake up 6.30
Nap 12.50-2.20
Bedtime I think moving it to 8
So I think going well...we will see...sometimes OT comes later after the three day. 

[EloysH]

Hi Sima,


Yeah LO has been one nap since 10 months old (unfortunately)  I tried and tried to get him to cat nap ethier in the mornings or afternoons for months, but evetnually gave up. He just wouldn't budge and so at 12 months I gave in.  So I guess he'll drop his one nap early too...  Just got the one with no plans yet for another one.

What about you? Just the one?

Wow that's a big change of routine, fingers crossed for you!! Hopefully the OT never appears! 

 Winter time starts in two days and I am dreading it.  as we are still on 6:30am wake-up and 7:45pm bed....  I don't want to go back to 5:30am..  oh well, we will just keep it all moving forward as best as we can......