23 m/o with looong nights and short naps- Help Please!

[lesorl]

And so I begin another thread 

Madeline is very spirited, and has never had a consistent routine.  The last 2 days we've had short naps (40-50 mins) and long nights (12+ hours).  She's always been a terrific night sleeper, and has always had short naps (35-40 mins were typical prior to 1 nap).  She had been sleeping about 1.25 hours with an 11.5 hour night or so.  The last month I've tried going by the clock with naps and bedtime, and tried to move her day forward by 15 mins every 3-4 days.  So our day looks like this:

6:30am Wake
12:30/45pm-1:30pm Nap
6:30pm/6:45pm Bedtime

I'm aiming for a 7:30pm bedtime, with a 6:30am-7am wake up, and nap at 1pm.  Even a nap of 1.5 hours consistently would be a gift right now.   I just can't handle naps shorter than 1 hour.  And the short naps make it difficult to get to a reasonable bed time.

Anybody have a kid like this?  I'm thinking about having another baby just to prove it's not me or anything I'm doing, but her.

[becky1969]

First off, 

OK.  What was different the last 2 days.  Anything? Was the nap or bedtime at a different time? Did she have a different level of activity? Was her night sleep the preceding night different at all?

And your goal of 7:30 waking/7:30 bed is because you want later wakings? Or, why are you aiming for this?

Tracy mentions in her book that there are just some kids who are short-nappers.  I hate to say that, but apparently it is true.  If you've done a lot of tweaking and sleep training, and you always had a short-napper, it may just be where you are. 

Do you prefer the 1.25 hour nap and 11.5 hour night? Or do you like the long nap but shorter nap?  If you like the longer nap/shorter night, then perhaps we can figure out what changed over the past couple of days.  If you liek the shorter nap/longer night, but just want bedtime/wake up to be at a diff. time, then we can keep pursuing the inching forward that you've been doing.  Plus, even with a short nap we may be able to institute some kind of quiet time in her room, so that after she wakes from a short nap you let her have some kind of activity in her room that keeps her up there and allows you to get a longer breather.

Anyway, those are my questions for now!

[lesorl]

There's nothing different the last 2 days that I can tell.  Doesn't seem like she's teething, hasn't started any new classes.  Saturday night she did stir around 6am, but went b2s til 6:30am.

My goal of 7:30pm bed and 7am wake was wanting later wake ups, but also later bedtimes.  I'd rather not have a 6pm-6am day.

I'd prefer a nap of 1.5 hours, with 11/11.5 hour night.  That way we can keep OT away, and make it to a reasonable bedtime.  She does much better with more A time pre nap than post nap.

[lesorl]

Wouldn't you know it, today she napped from 12:27pm-1:54pm.  IDEAL! 

Now how can I get her to repeat this tomorrow?

[becky1969]

It sounds like you've been working on this for awhile, so it may be that all your hard work is starting to pay off.  Unfortunately, it's rarely a straight line with sleep.  In other words, you would hope that once she naps long like you want, that she'd do that every day from then on out! Doesn't always happen that way.  I'd stick to the routine you've got going since it resulted in long nap today, even if tomorrow you get a short nap again.  Keep routine the same and let her body clock adjust, and see where that gets you in about 5 days!

[Sima]

Hi Lesorl!
I don't know if you read my posts..my lo is EXACTLY the same.  In fact before she became OT she had similar schedule.  At 18 months, she went from taking 1.15 min-1.45 to 1 hour only.  I tried moving her days up for weeks--then got OT real bad---and had to go back to 1 hour naps.  If she is up more than 6 hours after wake up, then she takes 1.5 hour naps at times..but ...she wakes up very cranky instead of reenergized.  And then the next day will wake up earlier and at times take shorter naps due to OT.   I think I am resigning to the fact that lo just is not a napper but sleeps good at night-11-11.5 which can't complain.  But it is hard to plan anything in the evening. 
We are in same boat!

[abaker89]

We are right there with you guys, tho my gal is 19 mths.  She is a great night sleeper, usually 12-12.5 hrs and on good days I get a 75 min nap which is fine with me.  But I agree that it is painful when it is shorter than an hour, we sometimes get 25 min here!  I think the best thing is a pretty consistent A time with a slightly variable clocktime.  This has helped us a great deal.  This is what I do, if she wakes at 7:30, nap is at 12:30 but if she wakes at 8, she can't really make it till 1 pm for some reason, its past her personal clocktime so the nap is at 12:45 or 12:50.  For us with the short naps, it has helped.  Sometimes she will wake around 7 and then I shoot for 12:15 which is past the 5 hr A time but closer to what seems like her clocktime.  Maybe that would help you?

Aileen

[lesorl]

soo frustrating- she woke the same time today, and napped at the same time, and only slept 64 mins.  Boo!

[Mama2boys]

Hi Lesorl,

Don't mean to be rude or say that your issue is insignificant but man would I kill for your LO's schedule

all the best for long naps.
Mukta

[Sima]

Lesorl:  That is exactly what little one does for naps: 60-and a few min. 
Have you tried extending her A time before nap?
Just curious--did she sleep more nap then?
But you know, that might mean less night sleep.
Trade off. 

[lesorl]

Mukta- the grass is always greener, isn't it?  I'd love to have a kid that takes longer naps like yours!

Sima- her A time is currently at 6 hours, so right now I'm just going by the clock for the next few days.  But I do think if I shorten her night sleep, it may add to her nap.  I just want to get her to a reasonable bedtime and wake up.

M has been sleeping 6:45pm- 6:30am (I've been waking her).  Should I let her sleep in?  My thought is that she needs less night sleep to lengthen her nap.

[Mama2boys]

yup the grass is always greener on the other side.

[becky1969]

I think you're in experimental territory now.  You can try that, but it may backfire.

Did your DD ever nap long? If she did, then I think she's just slowly eliminating the nap, sad to say.  She could keep that hour long nap for another year or more! But, it could be that she's just needing less and less sleep during the day.  She's nearly 2, and I don't think an hour is bad at this age.  The 'official' BW guide says that a 2 year old takes one nap of 1.5 hours and has an 11.5 hour night.  You're getting 12 hour nights and 1 hour naps.  I'm really not sure you can swap nights for naps -- each child sort of has a built in preference for one or the other.  For instance, when a child gets OT they often either lose naps OR nights (sometimes both, but more rarely).  My son always loses night sleep when OT.  He loves his day sleep.  Maybe your DD has shown a pattern? Does she usually lose naps when OT, but keep her nice long nights?  That may just be who she is.

If you want to play around, trying to swap night for day you can absolutely try.  But don't make yourself crazy doing it, because it may just not be something she can do, given her body clock.

Don't mean to be a downer! But I actually think your child is doing great on sleep!  Also, you may find over the next year that her nap lengthens on its own.  My son's definitely did -- he was a solid 2 hour napper from about 17 months until about 30 months.  Then at 30 months he started sleeping closer to 2.5 hours several times a week.  I don't know if its more activity, developmental, or what.  but he just needed more sleep, and now we've had to reduce A time because of it.  So, you might just sit back, enjoy where she is now, and hope that over the next year as she grows and changes she may start napping a bit more to make up for all the activity and exciting new things that 2 year olds can do.

[lesorl]

Becky- she's never had long naps, except for an occasional 2-3 days of longer naps but nothing consistent.  I've been waiting for the longer naps for 2 years now, so I guess they'll never come?

She only slept 50 mins today 

[becky1969]

Then short naps may just be who she is.  If you've tweaked and tweaked and no change, then you're running into a personality thing, and there's not much you can do about that!

However, you *might* be able to change how long she's willing to stay in her room.  So, after she wakes up you could give her books in her crib/bed or let her watch a DVD in her room, just to give you more time to yourself.  Since she's sleeping so great at night, the short naps aren't really hurting anything except cutting into the YOU time.  So, give yourself more YOU time by finding ways to keep her occupied in ehr room.  Make sense?