Re: sleeping less and less - 16 mo off track

[babybarr]

If we do a too late a bedtime we get an even earlier wake up!!

[mmom]

Lucy, I am with you with the lack of patience. 

We had a week or so with a 7 pm bedtime and 6 am wake up.  I was very pleased with that and can live with a 6 am wake up.  But as usual, we quickly got out of that and it is taking weeks to get back.

[mmom]

Not a great day.  My LO slept for 1.5 hours.  When he woke, my mom was here and I was getting ready to leave.  But he is clingy after the nap and started hysterically crying when I couldn't hold him.  He kept hanging on my leg as I was getting dressed.  It was so sad.  When I tried picking him up to calm him, he had death grip on me and wouldn't go to my mom.  I guess he stopped crying shortly after I left. But it was heart breaking. 

He still ended up doing a 5.5 hour A, because DH and I didn't communicate well.  When I got home, we quickly got him ready for bed and he was sleeping instantly.  Hopefully, tonight isn't too bad.

[babybarr]

1.5 hr nap is good though isn't it??  I hate that clingy thing too.  We don't really get it after naps but when I come home from work he doesn't let me out of his site.  He often pulls on my top to make me sit on the floor - I guess checking I don't go anywhere!!

How was your night in the end?

[mmom]

A 1.5 hour nap isn't horrible.  It just doesn't give us a later bedtime ya know?  But he did a 5.5 hour A without a problem, even though i thought it was going to be one.  He slept from a few minutes after 6, to a few minutes after 5.  DH and I were both so tired, that we didn't move and we can't tell if it actually got quiet until 5:45 again or if we were just so tired that we didn't hear anything.  We both know that at 5:45 our LO did start getting louder and was standing in his crib.  DH got him at 6.

So with this 5 am wake up, this is where I run into issues.  I can try a cat nap this morning.   But I have a doctor's appt. at 10:15, so it would be a short cat nap.  He refused it earlier this week, so we can see.  If he won't take one, I don't think I can get him down until 11:15 or so, which is probably going to give us an OT nap.

This is what I was meant when I said that we keep getting in this cycle.  I just can't push the day back consistently, to get a consistent later wake up.

[babybarr]

I do know what you mean.  I know that very often we just do a later nap (even though it may be a shorter one) so bedtime is so early.  We never make bed before 6.15pm anyway due to mine and DH work schedules.  I don't know what to suggest.  I just know exactly how you feel when you can't get a long enough nap out of them to make the day work IYKWIM? 

I know DS won't do a catnap unless we're in the car so maybe you could try that - or yours will in the stroller?  We always run the risk of no PM nap though when he has a catnap.  Maybe an AP cat nap in the morning (even if not today) and then proper nap a bit later will work - get you to a late bed and hopefully a later wake?

How far is your docs?  Would he fall asleep on way or way back?

[mmom]

He only falls asleep in the car when we don't want him to....lol.  It is about a 15 minute drive.  I don't see him falling asleep. 
He probably would fall asleep on the way back.  But that i when i won't want him too.  I normally have to sing at the top of my lungs to keep him awake, so I can put him down here.  I can normally AP a nap out of him with a stroller.  But I don't know if we will even have time for that.  We'll see.  Historically, we have had problems with 2 naps too.  I am just trying to see how we are going to get a later bed time.

[babybarr]

Sorry I'm not much help!!

I don't know how to get a longer nap and 2 naps are awful for us.  Long naps don't necessarily come with shorter A time either....

Let me know how you go.  I guess you could just stick to a later bed time grin and bear it until he can stay up longer !!!  I'm guessing your LO is spirited???

[mmom]

He is definitely spirited when it comes to sleep.  That is really the only area though.  Fun isn't it??

[babybarr]

Not sure fun is the word I'd use when it comes to spirited sleep!!!  Exhausted!!

[mmom]

Exhausted....lol.  I am praying my next one is a sleeper - I will let you know come summer.

Well, my LO slept 1.5 hours, which I am not going to complain about given the 6 hour 20 minute A time.  I had my appt. and it took longer than I thought, but he was a trooper.  I think I am still going to go for a 6 pm bedtime, which is only a 5 hour A. But his A was so long this morning.  Is that a bad idea?

[Mashi]

I don't think so, not with the long morning A time - its the right thing to do!!

[babybarr]

Good idea - like Mashi said with a long morning A time def need to keep afternoon A tim shorter.  hope you get a good night.

Was your DS a wriggler inside you?  Mine was constantly turning over, I just wondered if you could tell before they got here!!  I don't envy you being pregnant as well.  I can't even contemplate another just yet - well to be fair DS needs me too much whilst he's little and in and out of hospital so I guess another bub will have to wait!

[mmom]

Well, bedtime didn't go as planned.  Go figure.  My LO went out with me to finish some shopping and I made sure to be home by 5, so he could eat.  After he was fed, DH came home and he was so excited, that he just wouldn't settle.  DH and I almost started fighting because I said it was time to start getting him ready for bed and DH kept saying "he is not ready - look how wide awake he looks!"  I kept saying that we still need to start winding down because it has been a long day.  DH got him ready, but our LO just wanted to play, which I am sure some of what was just relaxed to silly exhaustion.  At any rate, DH didn't put him down until 6:15 and he wasn't sleeping until 6:35.  So he had a 5.5 hour A after the nap.  I really hope we don't have issues tonight.  We also forgot to give him pain meds before bed, so that could be an issue too.

Laura, for a while I wasn't ready for another either.  We had a really hard first 10+ months, due to health issues that my LO had as well.  Ironically, it only took a few good months (yes, I can say good even though sleep isn't great. It is WAY better than before) for DH and I to get over the first 10 and think maybe we could have another.  It took us a long time to get pregnant the first time around, so we thought it would be like that again.  But it really went like this "so, maybe we could have another one now.   Our situation is similar to the way it was when we were pregnant last time."  Two weeks later I was pregnant.   So honestly, I can see where you are coming from with needing your LO to be the 1st priority.

[babybarr]

But it really went like this "so, maybe we could have another one now.   Our situation is similar to the way it was when we were pregnant last time."  Two weeks later I was pregnant.

This was a bit like me first time around... we just thought we'd see what happens and it was so much quicker than expected!!!

Let me know how your night was.  I guess your LO may have just got used to a 5.5hr A time anyway, but we have the excited Daddy's home craziness too!