miserable after evening cat nap

[lilac83]

I would keep them all around 2 hours, no later than 2hr 15min for a few days. Don't worry too much about bedtime, once he's out of the OT cycle (since it seems that's the problem right now) getting a later bedtime back should be relatively easy. It's also perfectly okay to give him a 15/20 minute catnap to extend bedtime by a bit more. Even if you rock him to sleep and hold him for 20 minutes. I used to do that a lot with my DD when she was getting ready to drop the catnap.

[mmom]

Today went ok.  My LO ended up taking 3 longer naps.  I went out this evening and asked DH to give the last bottle and do bed time.  Since my LO woke at 3:30 from a 1.5 hour nap, I asked DH to put him down by 6.  Well, I got home at 6:30 and he was just getting him in his crib.  So frustrating..... Anyway, I don't know what kind of repercussions that will have tomorrow.  I will shorten A time one more day and hopefully I can start lengthening it again.  Thank you again for all your help!

[AshleyB]

Just wanted to let  you know that, because of daycare, I have a similar problem. The first nap is short, so she wants a regular nap, not a catnap, after we get home. When she's had a particularly active day, I often have to wake her from that last nap in order to feed her. It's when I have to wake her that I get "the monster." If she wakes herself, she's fine.

We've found that there's just not much we can do to control what happens at daycare, but it really upsets me when the only time I have with her at the end of the day is "unhappy" time.

[mmom]

I am sorry you go through something similar.  It is definitely frustrating!  Hopefully things get better soon.

[lilac83]

That's great that he slept well today! It will definitely help him get out of this OT cycle. I hope tomorrow goes just as well for him and you.

[mmom]

My LO was up from 4:20 this morning until 5:15 babbling and then whimpering, then back to sleep.  It is now 5:40 and he is still sleeping.  What does that mean?  Did I allow him to sleep too much yesterday?  Don't crib parties mean UT?

[mmom]

Apparently he was awake because of a BM.  We changed the messiest, biggest diaper this morning.  I hate it when he does that when he should be sleeping.

[lilac83]

LOL! Yeah, BM's when they are supposed to be sleeping aren't fun! DD went through a phase where she though it would be fun to wake from her first nap after 45 minutes and poop, it was so frustrating because obviously there's nothing I can do. When she's gotta go she's gotta go! Good luck with naps today!

[mmom]

Here is the day so far.  I would really appreciate suggestions on what to do next.

wake: 5:50
A: 5:50 - 8:10 I asked the provider to put him down around 8.
Sleep: 8:10 - 9:25
A: 9:25 - 11:55 The provider said she put him down at 11:40 for a nap and he had a hard time falling asleep
S: 11:55 - 1:30
A: 1:30 - 3:30
S: 1:30 fell asleep in the car and it is now a little after 4 and I have not woken him.  I am waiting a little bit, because I am going to try and keep him up a little later.

What should I do with the first A time?
It looks like I should definitely extend the 2nd A time right?
I have no control over the car thing.  My LO almost always falls asleep and I just count it as his cat nap.

[mmom]

My LO started babbling at 4 this morning.  What am I doing wrong here?

[lilac83]

When did he wake from his catnap yesterday and then when was he asleep for the night? That routine looks good, there isn't anything there that jumps out at me why he would have an EW. The only thing I can think of is he needed more A time before bed. He's napping well, so he's probably mostly out of OT right now. Since his 2nd A time is already 2hr 30min I would work on extending the first one. Perhaps try bumping that one up by 10 minutes so both A times are 2.5 hours and then wait 2 days. You also may need to keep that catnap very short if it's starting to interfere with his night sleep. This is how I knew DD was ready to drop her catnap, it started interfering with her night sleep and she had EW. Usually once a LO is over OT you will notice an increase in their A times, so that's probably what's going on here. It's best to take things a bit slowly though or you'll just end up with him OT again from sudden A jumps.

[mmom]

I was able to read your post yesterday quickly during my LO's cat nap and shortened it as an experiment.  I woke him at the 35 minute mark and he actually wasn't miserable about it.  But he did want to go to sleep earlier.  I fought it somewhat until I had to put him down.  He was down for the night at 6:15.  He slept until 5 this morning and then was in and out of sleep until 5:30.  I guess I can't complain too much given how early he went to bed.  But I still wish it was later.

The day before, he awoke from his cat nap at 4:25 and was in bed at 6:30.  His cat nap was on the longer side (55 min) because I wanted to extend his bed time.  But he fought me on that and really needed to go to sleep.

Yesterday was pretty good in terms of naps and A time.  It looked like this:
wake: After waking at 4, he fell back asleep until 5:50...I think
A: 5:50 - 8:20
Sleep: 8:20 - 9:40
a: 9:40 - 12:05
S: 12:05 - 1:20 woke up crying, was burped and put back down.  Then slept until 1:50
Now this is where things get off because he falls asleep in the car
A: 1:50 - 3:40
cat nap: 3:40 - 4:15
A: 4:15 - 6:15

If he didn't fall asleep in the car and I could make the cat nap later, then it would probably be easier to extend his bed time.  But last night, he was ready for bed at 5:30 and I pushed it by waiting until 6 to feed him.  I would really like to make the bed time later with the hope that he wakes later.  Am I on the right track here?
 

[mmom]

Ughhh.....today is already a mess.  The first nap was only 40 minutes and I put my LO down again after 2 hours A times and it took him 10 minutes to fall asleep. I know that doesn't sound bad.  But when he is wailing, those 10 minutes seem like forever.

[lilac83]

Well, yesterday looked really good, so hopefully today is just an off day and tomorrow he'll get back on track. With the catnap, I would keep trying to wake him around 30 minutes. With his longer A times now the catnap is going to need to keep getting shorter. Also, as he gets used to the longer A times he probably won't fall asleep in the car on the ride home. That should make it easier to readjust bedtime and morning wake time. I hope the rest of the day goes smoothly!

[mmom]

Yesterday was awful and today is not off to a better start.  Yesterday my LO would not sleep and I think he was constipated.  He got a 40 minute, a 30 minute, another 30 minute, and then finally a 1.5 hour sleep.  This morning he woke up at 4:15 screaming.  I could not console him at first and when I finally did, he was wide awake and would not go back to sleep. So I ended up giving him a bottle at 5 and it is almost 6, so I am going to be putting him down for a nap soon.  I am so exhausted and just hope that this awful start isn't how the whole day is going to go.