Toddler Support Thread for 2-1 Nap Transition Continued

[Tao]

MarlowsMommy,

I did WI/WO as you had advised and it only took 20 minutes last night! Whoo hoo! I'm keeping it consistent and hope that we will get the success you had with her eventually going down on her own right away. You did this for naps and BT I'm assuming, correct?

Did your DD ever regress? Do you still have to WI/Wo ever now?

Just wondering. Thanks so much!!!

[marlowsmom]

Awesome Christine!    How long did it take the first night?   Yes, I did it for nap time and bedtime.     

If she has a NW, like she has the last 4 nights, I watch her on the video monitor and see what she does.    If she stands and cries and stays there for one full minute then I go in and see what she wants.    She woke last night at 345am and I bet it was b/c I didn't give her another dose of Motrin at 1am.   I gave her the meds, bottle, and then put her back in the crib.   She cried hard for about one minute, then fussed, then laid quite for 15 minutes until she nodded off.   

 I think she is regressing a bit only because she is teething.   I'm going with the advice I was given by my MIL which is give her what she needs and let her be.     Last night Marlow had Motrin, numbing gel, and bottle; she didn't need anything else except for me to hold her and I'm not getting roped into that again.    I'm still standing strong even though I really want to hold her until she falls asleep.    Also, my MIL said they're never going to remember any of this when they get older so I keep that thought in mind.

[Tweakster]

Our nights did not get longer, if anything we have to be really careful to monitor the nap or we get even shorter nights, if that's possible!!

The last A time is definitely a big factor though.  And it also hinges on how long the first A time was before the nap, regardless of nap length.  At least this is what we find.

[Riley&Avery'sMommy]

Just jumping in here--DD is 14 months and I'm having the same problems as many of you with teething, naps etc.  (((Hugs))) to you all, I know how hard it is to try to figure out.

[aimeeL]

Thanks for the thoughts, ladies, on battling OT.. things have settled down a bit for us now.. whew...!  But have really been struggling with that last A time, like you say, Wendy.. I feel sometimes like I have a 2 min window to put her down "perfectly"...

[marlowsmom]

Riley's Mommy- I've been following this thread too
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=168553.0

[Riley&Avery'sMommy]

Thanks!  It's nice to know that there are people literally all over the world going through the same thing!  And I love the name Marlow btw 

[mdavza]

Hi there, been lurking on this thread and need some tweaking ideas.  My lo is doing his own version of exactly what you all are going through - we should have an international meetup!  It is comforting to know that mine is not the only one, though.
He has started refusing to go down for his night sleep - I've got an independent thread going - and I've been using PD.  But I got the advice that I should not PD but just use my voice and it should be his choice to lie down eventually?  And because he's been sleeping independently before, maybe I should try WI/WO? 
It's so confusing, hey!  Good luck to all, thinking of you.
My routine yesterday:

A: 07:30
Nap 1:  11:00 - 12:30 (short for him)  He looked tired but I guess I could have pushed this A time out a bit.
Nap 2:  16:00-16:30  Too late, I know, but we went cycling with him at 2, and he usually falls asleep after about 30 mins, but uh-no. not anymore!
In bed:  07:20
Asleep:  08:15 (after 40 PD's, and medicine didn't seem to make much of a difference.)
And he woke at 4am this morning, took about 45 mins to fall asleep, he did jolt a few times, but was quite sleepy, so I just sat with him.

[nelliestar]

Hi Guys!

Not posted for a while as we have had teething issues (turns out it was 3 molars not canines). Have been lurking here though. DS has woken 4 or 5 times a night for the last couple of weeks. A few days ago he began STTN again with wakeups between 6 and 6.30 which to us is heaven at the moment! ; )

Today we are having a forced 1 nap day due to church. DS was up at 6.10am and at church at 10 and not home again til 12.15 with no nap which is so rare. I didn't go as I am not well and when he got home he was obviously tired but I knew he was hungry too so I showed him the dinner i'd prepared and he reached out for it. He ate it all then we asked was he tired and he went to the door and did the sign for bed so up he went.
 
He has been down for 2 hours now!!! We can't believe it!! We plan to wake him at 2hrs 15 and do BT 15 mins earlier.
If all goes well this will be his first successful 1 nap day. Don't feel we should do every day 1 nap yet as at nursery he won't sleep for longer than 1 hr 10 but its good to know that he can do it sometimes...or is this a fluke?! He probably has some sleep to catch up on after the weeks of disturbed nights....

Hugs to you all and I will keep following all your stories and sending  1 nap vibes...

Nell xxx

[Manueli]

I think we are coming into the 2-1 transition time as well, even though the LO is only 9months.
Hayden likes to have A times of 3.5hrs, and sometimes I even think 4hrs but he is teething and crying a lot, so I don't really know if it is because of the teeth or tired. If I put him down earlier he is so restless in his crib and wount go to sleep for over 20mins. He does have good naps and hasn't rejected any naps yet.

So far we wanted to extend the AM nap and shorten the PM nap, but since yesterday he is having super long AM naps and still wants a PM nap, so I don't really know what to do. Yesterday was a weird day, we didn't get him down before 4hrs of A time, then we let him sleep and he slept for 2hrs40min. He had another 4.5hrs of A time (he refused to sleep at 3.5hrs) and went down at 6.45pm. So we thought maybe he wants 1 nap and he just started his night sleep. But after 45min he was wide awake and didn't go to bed till 11pm. Aahh...

Anyways, today he had another 3.5hrs of first A time and has been sleeping for almost 2.5hrs now. I wanted to wake him after 2hrs so he can have another 1hr nap before bedtime, but he looked so cute and peaceful, I just couldn't do it. Bad mum. So now I am contemplating of trying this 1 nap thing again, but don't really want to risk having such a late bed time.

Could it be that if he only has 1 nap and then wakes when we put him down for bedtime, that he just isn't used to the early bedtime and 1 nap? Could I overcome that problem by trying harder to put him back down after he wakes, or should I go ahead and keep the 2 naps for now, even though I will have to wake him?

Also, he likes lots of daytime sleep cause he has bad nights. So if he has 3.5hrs-4hrs of A time, that doesn't leave that much time for naps. He likes his naps around 3hrs and more. That's why I thought maybe 1 nap is better.
 
Sorry, I am a bit confused here...

[marlowsmom]

Rileysmommy- I'm glad that thread is helping you; even if it makes you feel like you are not alone.

Nellistar- Marlow is on a two nap a day schedule but if for some reason I force her to one nap then she will do a wonderful 2 hour nap.    I'm sure that if you started making your LO do one naps right now those naps would started to shorten and she would get OT.   I've been down that road.

Manueli-  Can you post a typical schedule?

[Manueli]

Well, there isn't really a typical schedule right now, but this is the routine so far today:

W: 7am, bf
E: 8am (solids)
S: 10.30-1 (went down pretty good, finally managed to wake him at 1), bf
E: 3 (solids)
S: 5-5.45 (I think he was OS because we played outside and came back in, he always gets super excited then. Anyways he cried pretty hard, but he does that rather often these days. Woke him.), bf
E: 7 (solids)
bedtime: hopefully at 9.15 (sooo late, doesn't leave much Y time)

I guess I could have cut both naps, but I feel bad because he has so bad nights (wakes every hour) and I just want him to sleep. Plus he obviously wants to as well. Do they sleep more when they are teething?

[aimeeL]

Manueli - Yes, a lot of LOs tend to be more sleepy while they're teething.. I don't know - I'm one of those who's more inclined to put off the 2-1 transition and not rush into cutting sleep; BUT - obviously, you know your LO best and knows what he needs..  Has he always been a lower-sleep-needs LO?  I would probably try to even out the naps a bit more, so you're getting about 1.5 hrs for ea; that way, the 2nd nap wouldn't run so late and you could aim for more of a 12 hr night?  What do you think? 

Nelliestar - That's the way we started, too!  Every wk when we went to church, it was too much work to try to do a 20 min nap during the service, so we ended up just doing 1 nap that one day a wk.. and I was always thrilled with the results - usually a 2+ hr nap!  Now that we're on one nap for good, things aren't working out AS smoothly...   But such is life.. =)

MarlowsMom - How's it coming?  Any NWs recently?

We're doing okay.. although I think we're teetering on the edge of OT...   All this wk, she's only done one 2.5 hr nap - the others have been 2 hrs or 1.75 - which I know isn't TERRIBLE, but it still worries me.  Then again, almost everything worries me...   Bedtime has been going much better, though - no crying these last couple days, and no need for WIWO.. AND ever since we've done Motrin at bedtime, there have been no NWs..  Coincidence?  I'm kinda afraid to stop giving it to her now!

Our typical day is:

6:30-7 a.m. - wakeup
12:15-2 p.m. - nap (that one day, I got 12:15-2:45)
6:45-7 p.m. - bedtime. 

[marlowsmom]

Alright the first thing that jumps out is that his first nap is a giant block of sleep then he has 45 min nap that is very late in the day.  His bedtime is really late.   His total night time sleep is 9.45 hr.   He's OT and his NW lacks of hours show it.    He is trying to make up for his lack of night sleep and it appears that he is in a vicious cycle.     He should have about 2.5 to 3 hours of total day sleep and 11 to 12 hours at night.    Also, he needs to have about 3.5 to 4 hours A before bedtime.

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=85134.0

Teething will affect sleep but he sounds like he got more going on than just teething pain.

Could you try
W 7am
Nap 1 - 1000-11am
Nap 2 - 230pm- 4
Bed 8pm
Initially, he may start to wake earlier but once he balances out his day sleep then he should start extending his nights.
It leaves a bit more Y, too  

@AmieeL- No NW!    I've put her back on the 20 min AM and Long PM with an extended A time of 4 hours in between.   She is teething something awful but it hasn't really bothered her too much.   I'm going to lay off the one nap a day biz for now.   She has to show me that she is ready to handle at least 5 hr A before I will consider it again.   

[aimeeL]

Yes - Sharon said much more succinctly what I was trying to say..=)  About balancing out day and night sleep, that is.. I think the issue may be more about finding a good balance, as opposed to going to one nap right now.  But again - you know what your LO needs best. 

Sharon - (I see now that that's your name.. I can stop calling you Marlow'smom - LOVE the name, btw - and I'm Aimee!)  yay for no NWs!!  fwiw, though, L never really did 5 hr A time UNTIL we went to one nap...   But yeah - if going back to just 2 naps is working, stick with it for awhile!  No need to rock the boat, right? =)