13 month old EW's, what's going on?!?!

[emmayorkshire]

Well, after all my talk about Alex being better with long am/short pm naps, Alex napped terribly yesterday. Morning and afternoon it took 40 mins to settle him and then he only napped 45ish each time. He was in bed for 6.15 but up at 5am today. What's happening? His lower molars are about to erupt and he has been chewing his fingers to distraction. I wonder if his teeth are bothering him, disrupting his day sleep, thus upsetting his night sleep?

[deckchariot]

teething will definitely mess up sleep - day and nighttime!  I've been told that the pain seems to bother bubs more at night, so that could be exactly what's going on!

In terms of the fear of limiting the am nap - I hear ya!!!  I think the trick is to keep the am nap at the same time (same A time), and not push it out any further.  Then you limit it gradually (just cut off 15 min every other day or so) and at the same time, move the pm nap a tad earlier (since they don't nap as long in the am, they're not as well rested and can't handle a longer A time) and the hope is that the pm nap will be long enough to get you to a "regular" bedtime and help with those EWs.  I have to say, I didn't have much luck with that when doing the switch, but I was also pushing morning  A time at the same time, and found out later that I should not have done that.  And just this week, due to family in town for holidays, we've been getting some EWs, so I went back to 2 naps - 1 am catnap (30-45 min) and a longer pm nap, and it WORKED!!!  (put her down at about 3 hrs of  A time for the am nap - which is what we were doing before she started the switch).  So it may not be as bad as you fear.

hth
michelle

[emmayorkshire]

Well, I'm preparing myself for a bad night and very early waking because today alex only had 1 nap, for the first time.He hasn;t seemed bothered by his teeth today. I hadn't planned it and really Alex led the way. He woke at 5am and didn't nap until 9.15. He woke at 11am. (I tried to get him down after 3 hours of A time, but he was having none of it). Again, I tried to get him to sleep at 2.30 - 3pm but again, he was having absolutely none of it! However, he wasn't grumpy or unpleasant. He ate well all day, which he doesn't do if he is over tired. So he went to bed early at 6pm, but I am very nervous about him being OT and having NW and an EW. I guess we'll see? Do you think he is messing with his naps because he is ready for the 2-1 switch?

[deckchariot]

I definitely think it's the 2 to 1 switch...

[emmayorkshire]

We did better than I thought last night. He woke at 4.15am. I gave him a quick drink of milk an dput him back down. he chatted for half an hour and went back off till 6.30am. At 9am I have put him down for a nap - he is really tired but that's only 2 1/2 hours A time? Do you think he is catching up on missed sleep yesterday? Shall I leave him to sleep as long as he wants or limit it to 1 hour (any less and he is soooo grumpy)?

[deckchariot]

it's probably too late for me to talk about what to do for that first nap....I suspect he is making up for lost sleep, and when my dd is doing that, I let her sleep.  What did you end up doing?  How did the rest of the day go?  So glad to hear that the night went better than anticipated!

[emmayorkshire]

He limited himself to 1 hour am nap and a 2 hour pm nap - good boy! down for the night at 6.30pm, so we'll see what tomorrow brings! Im scared!!!

[deckchariot]

3 hrs of day sleep is great!  YAY for him (and for you!)....hopefully tonight will go well

[chars mum]

Just wanted to update you Michelle that DD now has a cold and for the last 2 days she has only slept for 35 min in the am and I've had to fight to get her down for a pm nap.  She literally screamed herself to sleep this pm     She really needs the daytime rest to help fight off this cold so I have been making a huge effort to get that pm nap in.  She is still waking early but I'm not surprised due to the cold and limited daytime sleep.  I'm still reluctant to limit her am nap (once she's better) as it has always been her best and longest nap of the day...do you really think it's a good idea?  

[emmayorkshire]

Cold's are a night mare. I know I'm not a moderator but my Alex is just the same type of sleeper as your DD, and I'd let her have as much sleep as she will have when she will have, at least while she is ill, then when she's better I'd try again. That being said I'm letting alex sleep as long as he wants in the morning anyway with a short pm nap because I think he is going to do the 2-1 switch this way round rather than the usual short am and long pm nap. I think I am going to push his morning nap back and back by 5 mins every day until it's around midday. I don't think its'going to be easy and I think it will take a long time as he wakes so early still. despite 3 hours of day sleep yesterday and being in bed for 6.30 he was still up at 5.30!  He had 2 hours this morning (within 2 1/2 hours of waking) and is going on for 2 hours pm nap at the moment. I'm leaving him because I think he is so over tired. However, if he wakes super early tomorrow morning, I guess I'll know that 4 hours is too much day sleep - it's all trial and error isn't it?

[deckchariot]

I definitely wouldn't limit day sleep while your dd is sick - you're right that she needs the extra rest to help fight off the cold.  I'd get 2 naps in any way you can til she's feeling better.  In terms of whether to limit the am nap - I only suggested it because the EWs don't seem to be improving - but it's possible that the cold was a factor there.  When she's better, since she seems to do best with her longest nap in the am and a shorter A time before bed, go back to the long am nap and pm catnap.  Just keep pushing that morning A time out further - just like emmayorkshire is doing.  If you don't see improvement with the EWs in a week, you may want to re-visit how you do the switch.  Also, if you have trouble getting in the pm nap, you can always do an early bedtime.  Just to note, when we did this approach with the switch, her pm nap was late - often not til 4:30 and I'd wake her at 5, she'd still go to bed by 7:30.  So don't be afraid to do a late pm nap.  I found if I tried before 4, there was no way she'd take it, and we'd do early bedtime.

I hope she's feeling better soon!!! 

emmayorkshire - your plan sounds like a good one!  I'm wondering if the 5:30 EW is just a waking because of the early bedtime?  That's 11 hrs of sleep, which is fairly typical at this age.  If you can manage to push out that am nap and get a pm catnap in, you can move bedtime a bit later and I suspect he'll wake later in the am as well.  Keeping track of daytime sleep is really important - that way you can see how much sleep  he needs to have a good day and a good night.  You are well on your way!!!

[emmayorkshire]

Thanks Michelle, I hope so! He had 4 hours day sleep today and was shattered by 6 o'clock - couldn't believe it, so we've put him to bed, but it's 7pm and I can still hear him chattering to himself, though he's happy enough. My plan is 1. record daytime sleep and work out how much it too much/too little for a reasonable amount of night sleep (11 hours is my minimum). Then I am going to push out the morning nap, little by little, then push out bedtime little by little as you suggest. Maybe in a few weeks, we'll see some improvement!

[deckchariot]

I think your plan sounds great!!  The extra day sleep and early tiredness could be making up for lost sleep.  things really do get wacky during the transition.  I think you're on the right track!

[chars mum]

OMG, DD still has cold!  Nobody is this house is sleeping well at night so we are all tired and grumpy.  DD is only napping in the am, usually for just over an hour and absolutely will not nap in the pm.  Even though we get her to bed early, usually asleep by 6pm, she is still waking several times through the night.  Last night DH was in her room 3 times and finally ended up camping out on the floor!  I don't know what to do anymore, I have elevated one end of the crib, have the humidifier going 24/7, slather vapor rub on her chest and back, give her Hyland's homeopathic cold tabs, and even put oil of wintergreen in the humidifier water at night.  DH and I are fighting all the time too which I'm sure is from being so tired.  Anyone have any suggestions???  Feeling pretty desperate...

[deckchariot]

oh no.....{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}

have you had your dr take a look - in case it's something more than just a cold?  We do all the same things you do for colds - in addition, I have a plug in vaporizer (vicks and some other companies make them) that we use, and we do a saline spray flush in her nose (then suck it out with those nasal aspirators) before bedtime - she hates that, but it does help with the stuffiness.  I use the Simply Saline spray - you can get it at any drugstore.