16 mo old with sudden 1.25 hour nap (down from 3 hour)

[momtoasher]

It's been awhile since I've consulted the boards - we are fortunately parents of an Angel child.

Asher is 16 months old and just recently learned to walk and is the new owner of one set of molars... not sure if this is the issue or not. He has been on one nap a day for several months now, but suddenly the nap keeps getting shorter and shorter. It's now affecting his night sleep, where he's waking up at about 11:00pm crying (but settles himself back down again without our intervention).

Ever since he has been on one nap a day, he used to take a glorious 3 hour nap in the afternoon (we'd sometimes have to go in and wake him), but in the past few weeks, he wakes up after about 1 hour and 15 minutes and doesn't settle himself to sleep. The past few days, he's woken up just screaming and crying (which is unusual because he rarely cries).

Here's our schedule as it used to be and we stick to it pretty closely. Any ideas would be welcome as to what might be going on... do we need to extend A? Shorten A?

7:15/7:45a: wake and get milk
8:45/9:00a: breakfast
12:00p: lunch
12:15/12:45p: go down for nap
3:15/3:30p: wake from nap
4:00p: afternoon snack
6:15p: dinner
7:30/7:45p: to bed

Thanks!
Kirsten

[speechie]

Hi Kirsten- My LO is doing this too and is 16 mos- have your LO's molars popped through completely? Have you tried a dose of Tylenol before nap/bedtime to see if it makes a difference? His routine looks great....

[momtoasher]

Poor little fellas! I just felt the top molars cutting through about an hour ago... I hadn't felt anything up there and was watching the bottom gums that are so swollen. We have tried teething tablets and Tylenol before naptime, but it didn't have any affect. Yesterday was the only day he was able to settle himself after crying for about 10 minutes and then slept for another 1.5 hours! The poor kid is just strung out - I'm sure you're feeling the same thing... do you think it's all teeth? I didn't know if A time was affecting it, but sometimes if we've stretched the morning A too long, we get the awful 30 minute nap and awake screaming...

[becky1969]

I would try a nap 30 minutes earlier than normal and see how that goes.  Developmental milestones+teething=a very sleepy bub! Honestly, I learned to welcome teething after my son went to 1 nap because it meant earlier to bed, longer sleeps!    Give and earlier nap a go and let me know how that works out! (give it at least 3 days)

[sherry lynn]

curious to see if anybody else has an opinion about needing to increase or decrease A time. I have this happen sometimes too

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

Ok I would actually say maybe a little longer of A time. DS has been on one nap since 12 months old and his A time in the Am is 5.5 hours sometimes 6. If I put him earlier I am sure of a short nap. If I wait I get a 2 hour nap so routine goes something like this
6.30 ish Wake up
12.45 or 12. 30 Nap for 2 hours
19.20 ish bed

If he wakes closer to 7 or after then we do nap at 12.45 usually asleep by one and wake at 3 pm. Bed time remains the same.... for the moment.

Our later nap time also seems to be giving us a later AM wake up time.

[speechie]

I'm having to go with the flow with naps. He still needs naps some mornings and other days he's great until 1 PM- go figure.
Teething sucks- he was up 3:30AM-6AM. Ugh. I actually took him into our bed at 6AM because he was so uncomfortable even with Advil on board. Poor little thing.

[momtoasher]

Well, this is the strangest thing... yesterday, he ended up going down for his nap at the normal time and slept for 2h45m. The only thing we changed is that the nanny was back and she put him down for the nap... I grilled her on her routine and it's the exact same, so I don't know if his teeth just aren't hurting any longer or if it has something to do with dd being accustomed to her putting him down for his nap or what. I told her she's going to have to come on weekends just to put him down for his naps now, though!