Toddler Support Thread for 2-1 Nap Transition Continued

[gavinsmum1]

Okay, I need some eyes on this, ladies.  I need to figure out what the heck I'm doing wrong here, because Jesse's afternoon nap is KILLING me.  Just brutal.  I'm sitting here eating chocolate ice cream to make myself feel better, but I can't do this every night until we're through the transition!
This is what's happening lately:

wake b/w 6:15 and 6:45
A time 3.5-3.75 hours long
nap 20-30 minutes (depending on how long his night was)
A time 3.5 ish hours long
nap 1 hour (or less, it's not enough that's all I know!)
A time 4 hours

I'm wondering if my second A time is just not long enough?  I'm just scared to push that A time longer for risk of OT.  I don't even know it that afternoon nap is OT or UT, but it seems to me that maybe the first and second A times are too short?  Could that be right?  Maybe I should do a gradual increase of 15 min for the first and second A times and see what happens.  Right now, we're sitting at 12.5 hours max sleep hours per day, that can't be enough.  At least I keep believing that's not enough.  He sure can be cranky.  I am thinking that this is taking too long for me to figure out on my own, especially considering this is my second baby!!  I hope somebody can help!  

[Tweakster]

HI there, I think you have hit it on the head.  I think his first A time is on the shorter side for his age and he's probably gotten used to going down at that time for his AM CN, it's a short A time especially if he is having solid nights...is he??  Then middle A is not long enough and is a bit UT for that second nap.  I would gradually increase and see if that second nap will push out a bit. 

You could also try pushing the first A time, doing the CN at around 4 hours and then the middle nap will probably stay where it is give or take because he won't be as rested. 

He would also build up some OT from that long A at day's end with only 1.5 hours under his belt.

Finn is 11 mths and roughly on those times so I suspect you need to do some shifting for Jesse. 

I just had a big bowl of Rolo ice cream here too hehe.  It must be that time of day (or month as it were for me).

[gavinsmum1]

Thanks, Wendy!!  I'm going to give that a shot tomorrow.  Last A time was toooo long today and he just wouldn't settle quickly, so I know that's OT.
His nights are pretty good around 11 hours or so, but he's teething and getting over a cold, so that's fluctuating around here. 
MMMM, Rolo ice cream sounds delicious.  I'm in love with Heavenly Hash right now. What's with Canadians eating ice cream in the dead of winter?

[Tweakster]

Forced air heating...keeps us toasty and couch-potatoey all winter long lol.

[gavinsmum1]

Isn't that the truth.  I can relate over here in Manitoba.

Okay, I have a different set of issues now.  Just took Jesse emergency this morning as he was screaming all night.  He would sleep for 1/2 hour and then wake again crying.  Ear infection was not cleared up.  So now we are massively OT~ both of us and DH.  How do I go about reducing A times when he's had such a horrible night of broken sleep?  How long should I let him sleep?  Should I just throw out the idea of waking him until he's back to some normalcy?

[Tweakster]

Boo that's awful.  Poor Jesse!  How long was your wait?  We were in emerg for 7 hours last week :-(

I personally just went through this with Finn due to his gastro bug and his cold and really have relied on the sleep begets sleep theory...and it was dead on.  Waking him from his AM nap caused everything to go sour so I just let him sleep when he needs it right now.  It means we have moved to a long AM/short PM for the time being but honestly he's just not well and needs the sleep when he needs it.  Our nights are slightly better with only 1 NW last night - wahey lol.  Hmm I seem to remember at one point a few months back he was STTN...oh how quickly things change.  Can't remember the last STTN now.  Probably December.

I think with illness you have to just really follow what they need when they need it.  Especially with infection which takes all his body power to fight off. 

Finn has dropped back to 3 hour A times...I thought maybe those A times were a fluke yesterday but sure enough this morning at almost 2 hr 45 he was slowing down and getting extremely frustrated with his toys.  And was lying his head on the sofa by 3 hrs.  I think if Jesse doesn't have cues I would cut back to your last known good A time which produced a good nap.

[gavinsmum1]

Thanks SO much Wendy. I'm glad you happened to pop on here at the same time as me!
Our wait was less, but my DH took him in at 5 am, so maybe we beat the rush?
I think I'm going to have to rely on cues this morning.  When he starts fading, I'll put him down.  He usually still has tired cues to go by in the early part of the day.  Otherwise I think I'll aim for about 3 hours as well.  When he was sick last week, he was doing 3.5 hours max and just conking out for longer than usual periods of time.  Again, thanks for replying so quickly, I'm just in such a bind here today.

[Tweakster]

Hugs and let us know how it goes!  Finn's down now too, I am hoping for a 2 hr+ nap and then I have to finagle the PM somehow.  Luckily he gets tired at 4 hours after a good nap so I think I will manage something in the afternoon, there are still enough hours in the day this way.  Plus he's sick so his power to actually fight off naps is redirected to getting well lol. 

[Flightmommy]

Hey Ladies!
  Gavinsmum1, hope your LO is feeling better, i agree with Wendy...let him sleep when he wants, as long as he wants, he probably needs it. Those ear infections are the worst...we got hit with one that didn't clear up and we had to put Caleb on a second dose of antibiotics...oh and all this mixed up with a really bad case of the stomach bug. This was on his first bday of course...lol!!
  We're still having rotten nights here...Caleb, although he's been sitting up on his own since 5.5 months, never used to move around much in his crib and now he's taken to sleeping on his stomach and ends up on all fours (in his sleep no less!!) and then sits up...he starts to cry and doesn't appear to know how to lie down again!! Grrrr!!! I've had to go in and lay him down...he usually calms down right away, but then just plays and plays for and hour or two before he falls asleep again. It seems that if he happens to wake through the night, no matter what the reason is, he needs a couple of hours to fall asleep???
  His timing for the NW is perfect too......I go back to work next week. I work for an airline and fly for a living, so constantly struggling with fatigue and jet lag...if I thought it was hard before i had a baby, i'm in for a rude awakening now!!!
  Today was almost a perfect 2 nap day....had 30 min this morning, then exactly 3 hours A time and I had to wake him after 2 hours!!! It was coming up to 4:30...tonight, I put him down at 8pm, aiming for an 8:30 shut eye cause he usually takes him about 30 minutes to fall asleep ( this kid just  loooooves to play in his crib!!!), but he was fast asleep by 8:15. Hope it's a good night, i need to recuperate some lost sleep!!!

[*Jo*]

wooohoo, go little Caleb!!

im a bit stumped here, we went swimming this morning and usually after a swim he is exhausted and i have to wake him up from a long nap (nearly 2 hours or more!), well we got home and yes he was tired but not majorly, waited for some tired signs, put him to bed and he slept an hour and 20 mins... I was really hoping for a longer nap (dont hit me, i know its still a good nap!!) because he is going to stay with a friend for the afternoon while we drive three hours away to pick up our new car that we bought off Ebay and i figured if he had a long nap (like the ones i had to wake him from after swimming) then we mightve gotten away with no PM nap. i know for certain he wont sleep at her house, he only ever sleeps in his own bed or if he does sleep elsewhere it has to be a pitch black room

I think its time to push teh AM nap a bit more

[Flightmommy]

Yup, Jo...1h20 is always UT for us. It's crazy how fast they can increase their A times at this age...nothing like before, where a slight increase, or miscalculation on my part would put us in OT land for days!! They're certainly growing up fast!!

[Momofbeckett]

Hi ladies. My DS is 18 months old and is still taking two naps, but we are beginning to move him toward just one nap. We went for his checkup today and our pediatrician recommended just going cold turkey to one nap per day, saying that it wasn't necessary to transition him. I don't feel good about that advice and want to gradually move him to one nap, but I'm not sure the best way to do it.

Here's our current schedule:
A: 6:45-7:00ish
Awake time of 3.5 hours
S: 10:30-11:30 (I'm waking him after an hour now to help him go down easier for the PM nap - he would do about 1.5 hours in the AM if I let him)
Awake time of 3.5 hours
S: 3:00-4:00
Awake time of 4-4.5 hours
S: 8:00-8:30

He is doing great sleeping through the night. Right now, he is getting 6 teeth in (yikes!!) and he will sometimes wake up once in the night, but goes back to sleep very quickly.

I would appreciate any advice you all could give me as we start making this transition. Thanks so much!

[*Jo*]

Hun to be honest I would leave him, he's happy with that sleep and his nights are great so until he tells you he is ready for it (by starting to take shorter naps, refusing naps and/or night wakings) then I would keep him as is, if it's not broken don't fix it. That's just what I think anyway. I feel if you changed things you might make a mess of a situation that wasn't messy to begin with

[Momofbeckett]

Thanks for your help! I had just recently shortened the first nap to one hour because he had started refusing his afternoon naps. Do you think I should keep it the way it is now until he starts refusing one of the naps again?

[Tweakster]

I agree with Jo, keep it until your nights shorten/go wonky or he refuses a nap.  Since you've already had to shorten he's good at letting you know when he needs a change.  He's doing great!  Did your paed give you any rationale for moving him to 1 nap cold turkey?  Is there a need for him to be on 1 nap?