Support Thread for 2 to 1 nap transition cont.

[Julianne1984]

2nap routine:

A 5:30
S 9-10
S 14-15:00
S 19:00

1 nap:

A 6:00
S 11:30-12:30
S 18:00

For some reason lately he wakes exactly at 1hr in naps,and I mean exactly to the minute!! :| x

[shresmummy]

what's with this 1 hr mark!! DD does that sometimes too. I always thought their sleep cycle were 40 mins. So where's this 60 min transition thing coming from?

So we had another decent 1 nap day today. Last night DD slept reasonably well, except for a brief wake at 6 Am.

last night - 7:30 PM - 6 Am, wake then back to sleep until I woke her at 7:15 this morning
Nap - 11:55 - 2:50 no waking!!!! yay! yay! yay! I couldn't believe it.
Bedtime - 7:50 (I tried since about 7:30 because she looked tired but she tossed and turned around.

I'm getting really scared that we're done 2 days in a row on one nap. So far she's had ok nights. Should I throw in a 2 nap day or just watch for signs of OT and continue the way the routine has been the past 2 days?

And what are those signs of OT setting in?

Julianna, hope he went back to sleep after the 5:30 stirring.

[Julianne1984]

Nah, he was awake and not giving in! He's napping now (and I bet he wakes exactly at an hour!)

A 5:30
S 10:20-noooooo he's awake!!! Omg! 11:141

[Julianne1984]

Argh whhhhyyyyy 1hour!! But... on a positive note... *drumroll*...

...I AP'd him back to sleep!! that's never happened!! He sometimes, but rarely nods off on the sofa after a nap without me noticing, but actually AP after a nap... never!! I've got the TV on mute because I don't quite believe he's actually asleep again! Lol. Woop!! Xx

[shresmummy]

Yay!!! Hope the success continues and you can unmute the TV

[Julianne1984]

Lol I have now, it's not interesting anywho... I think I could ap him every day as he is always waking tired after the 1hr naps... hmm x

[Julianne1984]

Omg, I just looked at my old posts, and in Feb T was sleeping until 7am+ and March was when he started waking at 5! So it's been 8months, not 5/6 aaaargh, I forgot about all that!! I only remember as far back as his B'day lol :| Ooohhh how depressing... xx

[deckchariot]

1 hr naps during the transition often indicate UT, so it may help to increase A time a bit.

Our routine during the switch was constantly changing (as you all well know), but here's a couple we had:

7:30 - wake
10:30 - nap #1 (this was when we first started the switch)
12 - wake (on her own)
3 - nap
4/4:30 - wake (on her own)
7:30 - bedtime

Then I kept shifting nap #1 by 15 min each week and shifting the pm nap by 15 min and cutting it by 15 min....so when things got challenging (at 4 hrs of A time) it looked like:

7:30 - wake
11:30 - 1/1:30 - nap (I let her sleep)
4:30 - 5 (or sometimes 5 - 5:30) catnap and I woke her
7:30/7:45 - bedtime

Then as we kept moving that first nap, she started refusing the 2nd nap so we did:
7:30 - wake
12 - 2 nap (woke on her own)
7 - bedtime

I knew she needed a minimum of 2.5 hrs of sleep, so if the first nap wasn't 2.5 hrs, I'd try a catnap at 5, if that was a bust, I did bedtime at 7.

Once we got to one nap it looked like:

7:30 - wake
12:30 - 3:30 (and sometimes even 4, I never woke her)
7:30 - bedtime

Even then, she could only do maybe 2 or 3 days of one nap and then some OT would build up and we'd throw in a 2 nap day (back to the very first routine) to ward of EWs.

It took us about 4 mos to get fully on 1 nap.  I should note that she is a textbook bub, so that made things easier for us.

[kayra]

thanks so much for that Michelle, we seem to be in stage 2 so to speak, though his first nap is rarely as long as 2 hours so his second nap is a bit longer (today at least

Julianna, I hear you about those early starts, DS started doing that last january-februrary and carried on till midsummer until I pushed his bedtime to 7. Because he was up so early I'd put him to bed around 6 but it was just a vicious cycle, so eventually I added a nap to the end of the day and slowly just pushed his bed time, and that's what brought about a later wake up. Do you think you could try something like that, I know what a killer those 5-5.30 wake ups are

[Julianne1984]

Hey, today has been ok...

A 5:30
S 10:15-11:15, AP'd back to sleep 11:30-12
S 15:30-16:00
S 18:45/19:00 ish...

Oh he was SO unhappy that I got him to sleep in his cot again AM, he's not used to being put back down after a short nap... he cried and couldn't catch his breath, but after 15m he nodded off... He woke 30mins later but when I went in (normally he is sitting/standing) he was laying on his front saying "no no no" shaking his head because he thought I was going to make him sleep again lol. I said "playtime now" and he got up lol.

I'm aiming for a 7pm bedtime every night now, and I'm going to gradually move the AM nap later, shortening the PM one Hope everyones had a good day/night (whatever it is for you right now!) Here's to no nw's and a decent wake-up time!! Xx

[babyboy26]

Hi girls!  I've been out of the loop on this thread for a while, and am trying to do some reading, but DS isn't letting me!  Is anyone doing the short am/long pm? 

[JaspersMum]

Julianne I think you've got some good advice about pushing DS's A time due to the 1 hour naps and also pushing bedtime later.  You might have some success!!  I'll be keeping all of that advice locked in my brain somewhere (hopefully!) for when I need it!

Priya I'm so happy for you with the one nap days!!  I would say continue with the one nap but if you notice some OT definitely go back to 2 naps for a day or so.  She might start doing 10.5 hour nights or increased NWs if OT.

Babyboy some days I do a short am/long pm.  I find it cuts into the day a bit though.  If I'm home all day I'll stick with long am/short pm.  Its taken me a while to figure out the A times after each nap.

DS had another one nap day with MIL yesterday.  After a 6.30am wake up he did 2hrs 20minutes (supposedly!) from 10am.  He was terribly grumpy from about 5pm onwards and I managed to only get him to bed and asleep by 6.55.  We had one NW at 11pm    He practically did an 11 hour night which isn't bad but it means he was up this morning at 6am.  We left him in his cot til 7am.  He was very unhappy when daddy got him up and changed his nappy, rather than bringing him to mummy for a BF!!  We did breakfast straight away and then BF after.  He went to sleep for his am nap at 10am and I'm going to let him sleep til 11.30am.

Michelle would you recommend that when doing a short am that you also cut the A time before that short nap?  So, if DS is waking at say 6.30am then the nap should be at 9.30?

[shresmummy]

Hi ladies, I"m in a bit of rush but I just wanted to add a few things. Rachel, regarding the short AM nap I have heard that you stick to the same A time they're used to before the short AM nap, but the you need to make sure you shorten the subsequent A time before the PM nap and let them sleep as long as they want for that 2nd nap.

Today we did a 2 nap day. DD STTN from about 7:50 last night to 6:30 this AM. I figured she couldn't do a 1 nap day with that wake. Anyway Am nap from 10:35 - 11:25ish , PM nap from 2:40 - 4ish and bedtime was 8:10. Let's see how tomorrow goes. Do you think that last night was a 10.5hr night due to OT? She woke up super happy and was very good all day long, didn't seem OT or grumpy. So I wonder...

More later ladies, hope you all have good nights/days

[deckchariot]

that was just what I was going to say about the short am/long pm approach   thanks

[babyboy26]

I do find that the short am/long pm does cut into the day also, but I had no choice really.  I was doing long am/short pm forever, but then the pm cn got too late and took away from bedtime, or he just refused it entirely.  Right now I've gotten him to a 30m am nap.  He goes down at 10:30, regardless of wake up time.  Then goes down around 2ish.  Was going to 3:45, but has been getting shorter (3:25 yesterday).  It is actually a good thing, in a way, because I think he must need a minimum of 4hrs A before bed to get an 11 hr night.  But...it also means less "me" time, because I'm only getting a 30m am nap and a 1.5hr (if I'm lucky) pm nap.  This is so hard...I've read it gets better when they go to 1 nap, but when, oh when will this happen?  How do I get there?