HELPPPPPPPPPPP

[dannabanana]

I wrote here a few months ago, but now i'm really going crazy!!

My 10 month old was always a bad napper, until he finally started having 2 naps a day. still it wasn't much, but it was better than before. he would now sleep 30min-1hour in the morning, and usually 1 hour in the afternoon. He wakes up at around 7:30 8am and goes to bed around 8pm.

in the past few days he's been waking earlier and earlier every morning, and i'm having a really hard time putting him down for a nap each time!

This morning for example, he woke up at 6am, and would not go back to sleep. i finally had him fall back asleep at 7:30, but he was up again at 8:15. I just tried putting him down for his morning nap (usually about 3 hours after his wake up time). he fell asleep for 2min and woke up. refused to go back to sleep, until i finally gave up and took him out of bed because it's soon his lunchtime anyways.

Should i just assume that he's ready for one nap a day??
I mean, he was ready for 2 very early, so maybe he's just a bad sleeper...

I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO, AND I'M TIRED!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!

[lilac83]

He's probably not ready for one nap, but you're going to have to start shortening one or the other so he gets 2 in. I know it seems ridiculous to have to shorten an already short nap, but he'll end up way OT if you cold turkey him to 1 nap at this age.

My DD (around the same age as your DS) is currently having a 3.75hr A time followed by a (hopefully) 1.5hr nap. Then I give her just 3hrs A time and she has a catnap in the afternoon. If your little guy is fighting sleep though, you may want to try the catnap in the AM and longer nap in the PM.

[Tobysmum]

10 months was when my DS#2 started transitioning to 1 nap.  He's never been a good napper.  We are still not on the 1 nap - we had it for a bit, then something went wrong (don't know what) and we are dealing with some EWs resulting in him needing 2 naps.
Even if he's getting close to moving to 1 nap - you may well get mostly 2 nap days but the odd 1 nap day thrown in with an early bed (or catnap if he'll do one, which Gus won't!)
It's a bumpy road this 2-1 nap thing.... and I do think that for some babies it does start this early - see my thread 1 nap already 10 months on this board!
We are nearly at 12 months and are not on the consistent 1 nap - unfortunately because things are so much better when he just has the one nap.

[dannabanana]

Thanks ladies,

yesterday he did end up having one nap, but not because i pushed him to do it. He just refused the first nap, and after lunch seemed happy for a while until i decided its time for a nap. i took him into bed with me. he slept for one hour and woke up but i managed to put him back down and he slept for another hour.
He did seem tired a few hours later though.
So if it's not the 2-1 transition, why are these sudden EWs?  This morning he woke again at 5:30, and pretty much every 15 min after that, until at 7:00 he was up for good. If it was teeth would he not be up at night as well???

[dannabanana]

AHHHHHHHHH,  He's refusing his nap again!!!!!!
what should i dooooo???

[lilac83]

This is definitely the 2-1 switch. Maybe what you could try is doing some 1 nap days and some 2 nap days? Keep trying for that AM nap, but if he doesn't take it don't worry about it. Just get him out and give him one after lunch. It's not unheard of for a LO to switch to 1 nap this early and if he's always liked long A times and short naps, he probably will be an early switcher. If he starts showing signs of OT, then do everything you can to get him to take 2 naps, even if it means AP.

Have you checked out the sticky about the 2-1 transition on the top of this board? Great place to commiserate with other mom's and moan a bit!

[Tobysmum]

Sounds mighty familar!  Gus started to do exactly the same thing at 10 months (refusing the am nap - not everyday though).  We are still transitioning at almost 12 months - I'd hoped we would be a consistent 1 nap by now.  The suggestion of doing 1 nap some days and 2 naps on other days (particularly to stop OT), is a good way to go.

[dannabanana]

So i have to tell you about yesterday

After having mighty good naps the day before, he also woke up at around 7, and was kind enough to play in bed and let me continue sleeping for just a bit longer.
Then the fighting began yet again. about 4 hours after he woke up he finally fell asleep, after an hour of fighting with me.
he slept for 1hour. 4 hours later, when he was showing his usual sleepy signs (but when i know it's not too late yet) my husband and i took him into our bed, knowing he falls asleep easily there, and would stay sleeping the longest.
He was sooooooo tired, and kept almost falling asleep, and hugging his lovey and scratching his eyes, and then turning around and waking himself up again standing and wanting to play!!
after over an hour i figured it was no use, and pulled him out of bed. we gave him an early dinner, bath and he was in bed at 6:30pm (that would be 6.5 hours after his last nap!). only at 7pm he finally fell asleep.
Today i figure i'll stop fighting him because it's making me more tired than anything. I'll just see when he's really really really tired, and hope that he sleeps a good 2 hours...

[lilac83]

Have you ever read this thread: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=95670.0 That may help you a bit. My guess is, the good naps caught him up on any OT and that's why he fought the naps today. Have you given any thought to how you want to handle the 2-1 transition in regards to which nap you would like to keep long and which you would like to shorten? If he's refusing to nap though, you're best bet would be to just get him up and try again after lunch.

[dannabanana]

Thanks lilac. I'm really getting mixed signals from him. he was always difficult when it came to naps, but now that i'm pregnant again and he's soon 11 month old, i just dont have the energy to deal with his naps anymore. I came to a point of depression when he was younger, all because of fighting with him 24/7 to nap. When i gave up and let him decide what he needs, things got much much better. we noticed that he only needs 2 naps, and that no matter what we do he will probably not sleep more than 2hours total during the day.
So to answer your question, no i didnt decide anything about this transition... I think i'm going to let him decide again. it seems to work best for us. Meanwhile we've been having random 1 nap days, and the other days his morning nap has been 30 min, and his afternoon one has been 2 hours (when he's in bed with me and i get him back to sleep when he wakes up after an hour).
The problem with him is (or maybe it's always like this?!?) that he seems very tired, and almost falls asleep, and then wakes up fully. then i never know if i should "force" him to sleep or if i should give up.
What do you think i should do?
 

[lilac83]

I think if it stresses you out so much, take the pressure off yourself and just get him up. Perhaps give him 10/15 minutes to see what happens and then get him up and go with the one nap. If he's doing a 30min morning nap and a 2hr afternoon nap, that's an excellent routine! So if for some reason he decides to skip that 30min nap just go for the long one later on in the day. It sounds like he's already relatively deep into the transition, I don't think it'll be too long and he'll stay with just the 1 nap.