15 month old with nap issues?

[jrmommyx2]

becky 1969- Thanks for offering to help- Not sure how to to the link, but the thread I started is called:

"Naps not getting shorter but playing at bedtime"

[Evilmena]

So no other wakeups last night, he awoke this morning at 8:15am!!   

So mom put him down at 12:30pm and he slept for two hours! 

Yay for small victories!

[becky1969]

woohoo!


jrmommyx2 i'll try to check you out!

[Evilmena]

Today he woke up at 6:55am, I told mom to put him down at 11:30am-12pm...she put him down at 11:15am.  She said he slept and then she heard him again an hour later and then he was quiet and finally seemed to wake up (there's no real way of knowing other than by his silence) at 1pm.  So it seems a total of almost 2 hours but I think there was definitely some wakeup time in between.  So he'll be going to bed at 6pm.  Oy.  She said she tried to put him back down at 3pm'ish but he was having none of it, I told her no more 2nd naps.

[becky1969]

That's great he went back to sleep! My son was up for an entire hour yesterday in between sleep periods during his nap.  As long as he doesn't make me go in his room, I'm cool with it!    Your son will adjust to this 1 nap thing.  It takes a week or more for them to get good at it, but it happens! I'm so happy that you guys are here!

Early bedtime, but I think you're well on your way.  It's going to be a month or so probably of early bedtimes here and there.  Just don't let it throw you.  Over time you'll have more predictable days than not.

[Evilmena]

Thanks, I'm fine with early bedtimes but he's starting to reject them it seems.  Tonight he threw another fit and whined/cried for an hour so I went in and took him out for a bit.  He's still got quite the stuffy nose from his cold and he had pooped so I was glad I went in.  After 10 minutes I put him back down and he cried for like 2 minutes and then quickly settled.  Motrin is a godsend.  This cold and his teething certainly isn't helping the situation!

He then fell asleep and it was 7:30pm...weird how regardless of when he wakes from the nap he seems to want to go down around 7-7:30pm most times.

[becky1969]

Well, then you may have to go with that! A lot of toddlers switch to being all about clock times.  It may be time to go that way too -- 12:00 nap, 7:30 bedtime (maybe in bed at 7, that gives him 30 to wind down).  What do you think?

[Evilmena]

I'll give it a shot, I'll also see how he is at an early time and see if he will fight me or not.  If not I'll put him down, if he does I'll wait until 7pm.

Today he woke up just after 7am, mom put him down just after noon and she said she heard him 1 hour later.  Then on and off he was quiet until 1:30pm when he seemed awake for good.  She brought him down at 2pm.

What would cause the 1 hour sleep...that's not OT right, is it UT?  Should I be putting him down later??  Or will it just lengthen on its own as we've discussed if we just keep at it.

[becky1969]

I think I'd give it a week.  That's about how long it took my son to lengthen his 1 nap.  If after a week he's still taking 1 hour naps, then I'd try 30 minutes later and see if that changes things.

[Evilmena]

Thanks, I'll see how he does on the trip and then adjust if needed.

Last night he should have gone to bed at 6pm but I waited and put him down at 7pm and he went down without a fight and with no noise.  Then over an hour later he awoke crying like from a nightmare which quickly diminished to a different cry.  I left him to sort it out for 10 minutes and he fell back asleep.  This morning he awoke at 7:30am!

Just put him down at noon and it sounds like he's out.  Hopefully he gets some good rest before tomorrow's crazy travelling day!

Thanks again for all your help!

[Evilmena]

Hello,

wanted to update our situation - I tried while we were on our trip but the boards were down.

So the plane ride was great but he didn't sleep at all that day and the night was a bit hellish, he woke up crying after 30 min. or an hour but after some soothing he went to sleep for the night.

The next day he napped I think for maybe 1/2 hour or 1 hour and the two days after that he slept for over 2 hours.  Then it was pretty consistently 1 hour or so.  Bedtimes were fine after that...he went to bed no later than 8:30pm...usually around 7:30pm when we got into a routine.  I found if I tried to put him down sooner it worked against us.  His wakeups weren't early either...I'd hear him cry out around 6/6:30am'ish but then back to sleep until after 7am/7:30am.  All in all it was pretty good.  He passed out in the car and stroller once each which is huge for us as he doesn't normally do that.  The lovey came in REAL handy - only thing is now he tends to look for it all the time.  But we're trying to limit it to bed and special circumstances.

Since we've been back he's had two great days of just under 2 hour naps each.  I generally put him down around noon, or before 12:30pm if he's woken late and so far so good.  Hope it keeps on like this!  He's still not broken any teeth but I can the gums are HUGE...luckily his sleep isn't greatly affected by that...knock wood!

Thanks again for all your help ladies!

[speechie]

Hooray! Great update! Glad that things are going well and that the pattern sticks for a while.

[Evilmena]

Me too!

Actually yesterday he only slept for 1.5 hours, and today it was only 1 hour but he woke up crying and didn't want to eat before or after nap... Please let this be teeth!

I didn't do anything different and he slept fine on the weekend when I was around...I hope my mom is actually putting him down at noon and no sooner, I believe her though.  Maybe it is just teething.

[Evilmena]

New question!!

So Jack has pretty consistently been sleeping 1.5 hours...usually going down at noon, waking at 6am'ish but quiet on and off until after 7am.  He goes to bed usually at 7:30pm.

Is that the extent of what his nap will be?  Or could I tweak things a little to try to get it longer?  The wakings are a little weird too as he was waking after 7am for a while so the 6am is different.  But like I said, he's not up up, he's pretty quiet.

Should I try extending him to 12:30pm?  We're also looking at trying him out in a Montessori school for 3 mornings a week and if that happens he'd be having lunch right after and then napping which would take us to the 12:30pm time....suggestions?

[becky1969]

You may just have a 1.5 hour nap.  The nap might get longer later, but not sure if tweaking will work.  Certainly if preschool is going to move the nap to 12:30 you might want to start practicing that time zone so that he's not totally surprised by it when school starts.  Preschool can be pretty exhausting at this age, so having a new nap time AND preschool might really be a double whammy for him.

Even if 1.5 hours is all he'll do right now, it doesn't mean that it will only get shorter from here.  My son started doing 2.5 and even 3 hour naps after he hit age 3.  So, if changing nap time doesn't make nap longer, don't despair! Life events could conspire to make him sleep longer at a later date.