is there a way to get her to nap longer? or is this it? :P

[{{{Angela}}}]

Zinnia is almost 16 months old.  We made the switch to one nap at the end of January.  For the first week or so, she was napping 2.5h a day.  Then her nap decreased, then she got sick and her nap was still the shorter length.  Right now she has a cold still.

Our day looks like this:

7:15ish wake up
12:30-12:45 nap starts
2:15-2:45pm nap ends
6:50ish into bed
7:15-7:30pm asleep

The last few nights she has had some NWs - I think she is getting OT during the day because she is sick.  Her naps are usually 1.5h, once or twice they were 2h.  So I realize that she is getting about 12h during the night so 13.5h of sleep a day isn't bad.  But bedtimes are really crazy now that they are earlier (I have a 4.5 year old who insists on doing everything at the same time - i.e. bath, pajamas, teeth etc).  When she used to sleep until 3pm, the bedtime routine would start at 6:30 and she'd be in bed for 7:15, asleep 30 minutes later.

Any suggestions on how, if possible, to extend her nap?

[~Natalie~]

I forget, do you wake her at 7:15 or is she naturally up at that time?  Does she have to wake up by then to do the school run with X?  Just thinking out loud, what if she woke up later?  Then keep the nap at 12:30 when you get home which would be less A time so hopefully she would sleep longer. 

If she has to get up, or gets up on her own at 7:15 have you tried putting her down earlier on the weekends?  If you do does she sleep longer?

[huntersmummyinoz]

i was thinking maybe try the nap a little earlier too? closer to 12 and see if she sleeps longer, then you could gradually nudge the time back again when she is well. hunter's naps seem to shorten to about 1hr15/1hr20 when he is OT these days, otherwise he is good for 2/2.5hrs.

also, you can try W2S to extend naps at this age. i've heard a few mums have success with this. you can try the old way of going in her room and lightly stirring her awake. some find at this age just opening and closing the door is enuf to stir them. others, if their LO hypes up when seeing them have found subtle things like flushing the toilet in the room next to them, open a cupboard door outside, etc works too.

kirry

[Layla]

I actually think that she's getting the right amount of sleep for her age. So my only suggestion would be to shorten night sleep and that way she might sleep longer during the day.

hth
Layla

[{{{Angela}}}]

Thanks ladies.

Natalie, she is naturally up somewhere between 7 - 7:30am...I try to let her sleep as long as possible but she wakes on her own now.  So we're out at 11:40 to go pick up X, and we get home, I get her into bed asap, but it ends up being around 12:30 at the soonest.

I'll try an earlier nap today.  She was up early today too, around 6:30   all congested.   poor baby.

Layla, I'm stuck in a vicious cycle...naps are short so bedtime is earlier, so she gets a lot of night sleep.  If only she would take one longer nap and then I could reduce her night sleep without her getting OT.

I hope she naps long today.  *fingers crossed*

[huntersmummyinoz]

angela, tricky to work around picking up your other LO. could you start giving her lunch in the car so you could get her down sooner? just for a few days to get her caught up and get your bedtime back to normal. or maybe try the W2S to try and get her to nap longer at usual time?

[{{{Angela}}}]

Kirry, I give her lunch before we go to pick up DS.  I just takes so long to get them into the car, and then drive home, get all the winter gear off, get DS set in front of the TV with a snack, then finally we can go upstairs and do a quick wind down. *siiiiigh*

I'm a bit hesitant to try w2s, I always hated waking her.  How far in advance of the 1.5h mark should I go in?

[~Natalie~]

I had a thought, might not be relevant, but I will share anyway    Do you think she could be waking out of hunger?  I know you feed her before you go pick up X, so its almost an hour before nap time right?  Do you think you could give her a little bit of a snack on the way home in the car seat?  Just throwing that out there.

Let us know how the nap today goes and if it makes any difference

[{{{Angela}}}]

Sure it's relevant Natalie .  I do give her a snack in the car.  Actually I think she is so used to snacking in the car, that it's not possible to go anywhere without giving her something to munch on.   So I don't think she is hungry.

Well she didn't nap as long as I hoped.  She woke at 6:37am, I hoped to get her into bed and asleep by 11:45 but we are having company for dinner and I got distracted in dinner preparations.  So she slept from 12 to 1:40pm.  Her usual amount of sleep.  It doesn't sound that bad, 1h40min but there is no possibility of an early bedtime tonight with our visitors here.  Ah well.

I had a crazy thought though - could she be UT instead of OT?  I'm afraid to try but maybe I should put her down even later?  She is having about 5.5h of A time in the morning...what if she had 6?  Is that crazy?

[~Natalie~]

Maybe she is!  Maybe the longer morning and shorter afternoon would work better for her?  Do you feel like giving it a shot tomorrow?  You can always throw her in bed if she doesn't make it. 

Glad she isn't hungry

[{{{Angela}}}]

She made it to bed and was asleep a bit before 8pm.  That's over 6h of A time, insane!!

We gave her some decongestant to help with her stuffiness, a rare thing since you're not supposed to give them that anymore, but I want her to get a good rest and get better.  We'll see how the night goes and if she gets a good sleep, I may try a longer A time in the morning.  The worse that could happen is we get another 1.5h nap, like usual, eh?

Hope all is well with you and James.

[sherry lynn]

Just reading along

[{{{Angela}}}]

Hi Sherry.

Well, she pretty much STTN (yay!), I heard crying twice in the night but she settled herself.  Was awake around 6:30am again!  Why is she waking early?? argh!  That's early for us, like 45 minutes too early. 

She had a meltdown at lunch (her bum was sore) but we snuggled and read books from 12 to 12:30 b/c I wanted to see if I could get her to 12:30.  She fell asleep in my arms during our wind down.  Okay I'll post what happens later this evening.

[huntersmummyinoz]

hiya, for W2S i'd prob try around 10/15mins before her usual wake up time.

i know she went to bed later last night but has she been doing a lot of earlier bedtimes? too many early bedtimes in a row often leads to ew. did she always do a 12hr night or less?

[sherry lynn]

Angela - the same is true for us. If Lyle goes to bed early 3 days in a row we are pretty much guaranteed an EW.