Why am I getting 30 min naps again??? 27 mth old

[abaker89]

My 27 mth old has been doing great for the last 5-6 mths.  Our schedule was:

Wake 8-8:30
Nap at 1-1:30 for 1.5 hrs, maybe twice a week she would sleep for 2 hrs
Bed at 8

So basically she was doing 12-12.5 hrs at night and 1.5 during the day.  Now in the last few weeks, I have had many more 1 hr naps and three 30 min naps already this week.  She has also been waking earlier around 7:30 am.  We used to have to wake her by 8:30 a few days a week!  Even on days she does sleep longer than 30 min, she cries out and then goes back to sleep.  I gave pain meds yesterday and got 1 hr and I gave them again today and only 30 min again.  I am 21 weeks pregnant and I need a break!!  She is teething but the pain meds don't seem to be working.  She also seems very tired and not like herself, many more tantrums.  She was horrible for the 30 min nap when she was younger but it has been a long time since she did that.  Any ideas on what would cause her to wake so thoroughly between sleep cycles and cry so much??  So right now, her schedule has been:

wake 7:30
nap 1 for 30-60 min (60 min if I am lucky)
bed at 8, we put her down early and she doesn't go to sleep for a long time

Thanks!
Aileen

[speechie]

Hi Aileen and hugs for the short naps. Sounds like the teeth are the issue. That's what happens to my LO too- short naps, EWs, crankier, etc.
Average sleep times:
2 years old                                                             1 nap - 1.5hrs
                                                                                11.5hrs at night

3 years old                                                             1 nap - 1.25hrs
                                                                                 10.75hrs at night
So she's somewhere in the middle. Do you think she's shortening her nap due to such a good long night- 11.5 hours? Where is she on the sleep needs- is she high or low sleep needs usually? Temperament?
Hugs, hoping you get some rest soon.

[Layla]

Shorter naps for us almost always meant teething.... unfortunately it was something I just had to wait to pass.

I used to leave my girls in the cot for the duration of the nap and most of the time they would go back to sleep just by playing around and being left rather than them thinking its time to wake up (especially 30mins into the nap) and then them being really cranky all afternoon. If they would cry, I would go back into the room and do wi/wo. I used to say a phrase "its nap time", comfort and then leave (comforting them might be something as simple as patting their bum or rubbing their back... nothing too stimulating like picking them up, etc...).

hth a little!
Layla

[abaker89]

Thansk for your replies, I guess according to that chart, she is on the higher end of sleep needs since she gets 13 or so every day.  She is so tired and cranky after only 30 min sleep that I think it must just be pain waking her, she still doesn't have that 2nd set of molars.  I do leave her in there for the full nap time but its hard to deal with her being cranky after that and she won't fall asleep earlier either.  She actually falls asleep faster and earlier after a 2 hr nap than a 30 min one!