2 year molars=nap refusal. HELP!

[jcsmom]

My 22 month old DS just cut his first 2 year molar. The last 2 weeks have been brutal sleep wise. Mostly due to early wakings like 5:30-5:45am. But starting last Sat. he began to refuse his naps just chatting the whole time, for up to 2 hours. It is 1:30pm and I have been trying since 12pm to get him to nap. After an hour I got him up and gave him lunch as we usually do lunch after nap. I just put him down again and he is crying, most likely due to being super OT. I am pulling my hair out trying to figure out what else I can do.
So far I have tried earlier naps, later naps, Motrin, no Motrin and wi/wo which I did for 3 hours Thursday night as everything else I tried to soothe him just made things worse. Friday morning I checked and a molar popped through. He's not even making up for lost sleep as on no nap days he takes forever to fall asleep too. So instead of getting 12.5-13 hours of sleep in 24 he is getting 11-11.5 and is miserable.

His routine:
6:30am wake
12-1:30 nap
7pm bedtime

He seems to do best with 5.5 on either side of his nap. Recently I started to stretch his morning wake time to 5 hours 45 mins as he was waking early on good nap days, before teeth. I know I only come around when I am desperate but I lurk but don't have time to post. Someone please help. 

[deckchariot]

Is there any difference now that the molar has popped through?  From what I've heard, those 2 yr molars can really be a nightmare, if it's through, I'd say try to be really consistent to get him back on track, if the nap refusal continues, there's probably something else going on.

hth
michelle

[jcsmom]

The molar is through but I am sure another one is right behind it. Every time I try to feel, I get bit so I avoid it!

Yesterday was the worst. He was up at 6am again and napped for 2 hours and 15 mins, much longer than his normal 1 hour 30 but I figured since he has lost a lot of sleep lately that would be ok. Then he took until 10pm to go to sleep. I just don't get it. Do I need to move bedtime now that he is older? Is he OT or UT or is this a stage? He chatted for over 3 hours, calling, needing his diaper changed, taking off his jammies, throwing toys. It is so not like him. What can I try? Do you think that he just needs way less sleep? He was getting 12.5ish hours in 24 before all this mess.

[coopers_mommy]

{{{{{{BIG HUGS}}}}}} to you as I know we always seem to have sleep issues together.  We are just behind you with cutting eye teeth (I think).  Sorry to say, no big time advice.  Although one thing that has worked (is some AP, but I'll take it on some nights) is to go in after giving DS a few minutes of trying to go to sleep and sitting by his crib and holding his hand (slightly).  It has worked the two times I've had to resort to it and DS is out within 5 minutes. 

hth

[jcsmom]

Thanks for the hugs! That is the best thing about this forum, we are all going through this together and it makes me feel better that others are suffering too .The eye teeth were by far the worst for us. But the molars are a close second!

I have difficulty APing my DS. One, if he OT or UT, he just squirms and two, I do it once, it takes a week to get him used to falling asleep alone. I really am wondering if he just needs a lot less sleep now that he is almost 2. Also, his language is exploding so I wonder if his brain just won't shut down. I mean chatting for 3 hours last night, come on?!Thanks again for your support. I hope you get through the eye teeth unscathed.

[deckchariot]

I"m guessing with all that chattering that he does indeed need less sleep - that long nap probably did it (as nice as it was for you no doubt!!).  I find that my dd now really catches up on OT pretty quickly, sometimes she doesn't even need to catch up , a good night's sleep puts her right back on track.  so I'm guessing that nap robbed his night sleep.  If he was sleep just 1.5 hrs in the day before, I'd keep it to no more than that now.

[jcsmom]

I think my DS gets over OT really easily now too. I never thought I would say that as he used to be soooooo sensitive. I mean, put him down even 10 mins late and look out! He has never ever been a chatter before sleep up until now. He has always gone straight to sleep or within 1-5 mins. So this is new for me. If he was OT he cried and cried. I don't think he has ever been UT in his life until now.

He napped for 2.25 hours again today. I am thinking I will move bedtime out to 7:30pm as we have always wanted a later bedtime for him plus 3 days a week he goes to a child minders and has short naps there. I have wanted these long naps since we moved to one nap 10 months ago so now that it is here I am at a loss for what to do  Do you think a later bedtime is better than cutting the nap or is it better to cut the nap. I never thought I would ever have to do either!

[deckchariot]

for my dd - later bedtime is almost always better!!  She's a bear if you wake her from a nap, so I personally would rather let her sleep and put her to bed later.  But that's my personal preference.  If you've been wanting to push bedtime out later, this is the perfect time to do it!!  YAY!

[jcsmom]

Well, I haven't had to move his bedtime, he has done it all himself. He is taking forever to fall asleep and the last 3 nights he has fallen asleep at 10pm, 8pm and 8:15pm. This is from my former 6:30/7 bedtime boy. I just don't get it at all. Could his molars be really bugging him enough to drop an hour of sleep? This AM he woke at 4am and it took me until 5am to get him back to sleep. Then he was up at 6:10am so only 9 hours total. Is there anything else I should be exploring or are these molars to blame?

[deckchariot]

I am told that molars are disastrous - there's actually a support thread for it:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=123988.0

Also, at both 18 mos and 24 mos, the sleep needs decrease for bubs, so that may be some of what's going on - he could be needing a bit less sleep - thus the later bedtime.  I've noticed Abby's nap are a tad shorter and she's going to bed a bit later (and her routine was the same from 14 mos til just about a month ago...).  I'd say make the later bedtime part out your "new" routine if that works better for you.  Otherwise, you could shorten the nap. 

But with NWs and unhappiness, my bet is still teeth.

[jcsmom]

Thanks for the link! I went over and read it all and I now know that this has to be teething. Thank goodness! Teeth for us are the worst. He turns into a demon child. Couple teeth with learning to talk and you have one wild child! Lord let me get through this unscathed.

ETA: do you think that I should move bedtime now that he is losing so much sleep due to NWs/EWs/late bedtimes or do I move it to say 6:30 compensate?

[deckchariot]

I'm a wimp when it comes to early bedtimes - I never did more than 30 min earlier than "normal" no matter how bad the day/night was.  I was always terrified she'd wake too early....

when I found that teething thread, it was a huge comfort to me - I had nightmare child and could not figure it out, then suddenly, it all made sense.  We will make it....