I think we may need tweaking, suggestions please!

[jrmommyx2]

Hmmmm... I wonder what could be making him so tired??? DD has a cold, but he seems to be in the clear as of now. And I don't see any tooth activity, but that's not to say something is in the works! As I suspected he hit a wall tonight! I probably should have put him down before 6pm, but I couldn't pull it together (DH was at a meeting so I was solo tonight,never goes as planned!) He started to fall apart by 6pm. He was out like a light at 6:20 though! I'll do the early nap tomorrow, but what do I do if he only sleeps an hour again? If he wakes at 12 or 12:30, do I put him to bed at 5pm?

I'm sorry I feel like I'm all over the place here... You're probably so sick of me!

[jrmommyx2]

I put him down a little after a 11 this am... But I heard him on and off up there for an hour before it was quiet. So I think he finally fell asleep by 12:15... ugh... He woke up at 1:30 So only an hour again?? What the heck? I guess it's early to bed again tonight... This is so frustrating!!!

[becky1969]

Hmmm.  Ok, there's a couple of different scenarios possible:

*11 was too early, so he played past his window (12:15) until he was OT again; or

*there's something going on with him that is making sleeping difficult -- pain/discomfort.  What teeth does he still need to get?

I might try an 11:45 nap and see how that goes.  Split the difference sort of.

[jrmommyx2]

Well, I actually left him up there when he woke yesterday and I think he went back to sleep!!!! My MIL cam over because I had to go somewhere and I told her that if they weren't up by 3:00, to wake them... She had to wake them both!!! They were also both asleep by 7:30 last night.

I think you hit the nail on the head with something brewing, he had a fever of 102 this morning!   I put them down at noon today (I didn't see you post yet) and I just hear him now, so it was a 2 hour nap! We'll see what the next few days bring...

Oh, and as for teeth- he has top 4 and 2 molars and bottom 3 and working on 2 molars... so teeth will be haunting us for awhile

[jrmommyx2]

So... after a 102 fever all day yesterday and a NW with a fever of 105... We went to the dr. this am- ear infection! Poor guy. Let's hope that when he's back on, the napping will be too!

[becky1969]

Wow.  Sounds like you found the culprit!! Hope this fixes everything.  Healing  to DS.

[jrmommyx2]

It's funny- it seemed like he was giving me a hard time about naps, (not night sleep) about a week before he showed any signs of the infection...

Well- he started on antibiotics on Friday- and we are in a bed of an OT cycle right now! He's been napping between 1 and 2 hours depending. But if he does an hour or 1.5 he is up too early in the afternoon- so I've been putting him down between 6- 6:30 to catch up. He goes right out and is TIRED- But the earlier bedtime is making him wake a tad earlier, so I feel like it's the snowball effect! He has also ha d a few NW's each night- basically just crying out, sometimes I have to go in, sometimes I don't. How do I fix this?!?

[becky1969]

You don't.  When he's done being sick it will fix itself.  He'll be able to tolerate longer As and nap will lengthen out again.  For right now you just hold on and manage the best way you can.  Seriously, it really all will be back to normal as soon as he's beat the illness.

And one of my son's first signs of illness is ALWAYS being extra tired.  Up to a week before any other signs! So interesting, isn't it?

[jrmommyx2]

Drives me cray that they can be so tired but refusing sleep! We had a crazy day yesterday. Up at 7am asleep in the car around 10 (we were on our way somewhere)- then asleep in the car on the way home- but only for 15- of course wouldn't nap after that! I panicked about bedtime, so posted for some quick suggestions. Put them down at 6pm and they woke around 7:30 this am! Thank goodness they made up for yesterday! Went down for a nap at usual noon time today. It is almost 1:30- I'm praying he'll make it to at least 2pm! Thanks so much for everything! As far as tolerating longer A times again- Do you think we're still ok in the 5 hr stretch before nap and then again before bed? That gives us 2 hrs during the day and a 12 hr night...


My praying didn't do a thing   He woke up 2 minutes shy of 1:30... I guess I can't complain too much- He did sleep 13.5 hrs last night. I'm guessing that had something to do with the shorter nap today- But I would have thought that the long night was make up from yesterday, and today would have been a new day...

[becky1969]

He'll get back to normal! You're just going to have wonky for a bit.

5 hours pre and post might be a tad much. Esp. since they do enjoy their naps typcially! I might do 5 before and 4.5 after and see how they do.  I only say that b/c they are v. v. sleepy like my guy, and even now he's happiest with shortest A before bed.  When he's ready to move nap we just lengthen pre-nap A and keep post-nap A the same length.

[jrmommyx2]

Ugh... a 1:30 wake up again! It has now been basically 2 weeks of this! It has been a week since the ear diagnosis, and they were re checked yesterday- almost completely normal again. I definitely think it is an OT (short) nap, as thsi am he woke at 7 and on the way to music group this am he started to doze... it was only 9 am and it is a 5 minutes drive!

How do I manage only doing 4.5 hrs post nap, when he gets up at 1:30??? Should I put him to bed at 6pm? I agree that 5 and 5 seemed like kind of a lot for my sleepy kiddies... but it kind of happened on their own because they started to shorted their nap. I would have just moved their nap a little later, but they also started to wake  up a little earlier too. I didn't want to do more then 5 hrs in the am, so that gets us to a noon nap. I'm afraid that if I put him down at 6, he will either not sleep to 7am or still sleep to 7, but get in the habit of taking a shorted nap because he is sleeping longer at night.... sigh..... Do you think I should go longer than 5 hrs in the am? I just wasn't sure because of the falling asleep in the car (at weird times) thing... Made me think they are tired in the am.

On another note, he has been waking really unhappy in the am and from naps... so he's got to be OT. I know you said he'll work through this, but if you look back to when I first started this tread, getting over being sick or not, I feel like not much has changed and now we just have OT on top of it!

[becky1969]

I think he needs an earlier nap to help him catch up a bit.  He's a guy that used to sleep more than 2 hours typically, right? Even if that's not the norm for him, all it will take is him catching up with one long nap and then you're back on track.

I know you tried the earlier nap before and it backfired, but he was still dealing with teeth and/or ears then, correct? So let's try an earlier nap now and see how he does.  I might go 11:15 and see how he does.  This is a tricky area because I know with Owen he has a magic nap time where if I go any earlier than that -- even if I *know* he's already been awake long enough for a good sleep -- then he won't nap long enough.  Your kiddo may be at that place too.  But we have to at least try it.  I realize that may mean he's awake even longer before bed, but I also wonder if he wouldn't do a short cat nap if you took him for a car ride in the late afternoon? That may help him make it to bedtime without being OT.  Also, on the day you're going to try the early nap: DO NOT GO ANYWHERE!!!! LOL! That will ruin EVERYTHING b/c he clearly is so tired he's going to doze in the car.  That totally ruins napping.  Even 5 minutes can throw most kids off their sleep.  And I'm beginning to wonder if *that* isn't the cause of your short naps -- he's cat napping in the car (even if only for 5 min) and that's causing him to short nap later.  I might experiment too and just cancel all pre-nap activities for about 5 days and see what happens.  They're young enough that if they miss a class or two they aren't going to fail life or anything, LOL! I realize that may be boring for you guys, but you can always do some stuff AFTER nap to help get some activity in.


That's what I'd do next, I think!

[jrmommyx2]

Thanks Becky- I think this sounds like a good plan. I actually think we've been in catch up mode for the past few days... Since my last post (Nov 13th) they both have been really tired in the evening and in bed by 6pm! Sleeping until a little before 7:30am! And he seems to be slowly moving from a 1.5 hr nap to closer to a 2 hr nap. Do you still think I should try the earlier nap? I like the idea of a catnap in the afternoon if needed- But he doesn't seem up for it- Even in the car! He manages to hold himself together until about 5pm... I shudder even thinking about what happens then! It is strange that he is so quick to fall asleep in the am, but not the pm...

And I know, I will not go anywhere... I promise! I really don't go  many places with them- It just seemed like lately, every time I got the car he was ready to doze- The shorter nap actually started before the dozing in the car. The dozing started when he started to wake up earlier- But I think you are right and they are all connected!

[jrmommyx2]

Ok, did an 11:15 nap today- I think he was asleep before 11:30!, so that was great. But it is now 1 and I hear him up Still only about 1.5 hrs, and now, what do I do about bedtime? I have to go to a meeting later this afternoon- So I'll be dropping them off at my IL's house. I don't think he'll do a catnap there

[becky1969]

Well, it sounds like it still wasn't quite early enough.  Maybe try 11 tomorrow?  As for tonight, it kind of depends on what happens when he's OT at bedtime.  If you put him to bed at 7:30 say, so 6 hours of A time, what will happen? Will have NWs? Wake at 5:30 tomorrow? Or will he catch up on his sleep?

If he'll have NWs/EWs then I'd probably do a 6:30 bedtime for him.  Is there any reason why he and DD *have* to go to bed at same time? Could she stay up until normal bedtime?   If he doesn't usually have ill effects, go ahead and keep bedtime the same.  Perhaps he'll catch up on sleep!  My DS was ALWAYS one to have NWs/EWs when put to bed too late until he turned 3.  Then magically he would catch up on sleep when put to bed late.  So don't lose heart if he's the type to sleep poorly when put to bed late.

This is a really hard situation to be in.  It's going to be just finally finding the magic nap time and then things should get better.