14 months - NW and irratic naps!!

[annette.xx]

Hi all

me again!!

Jasmine is now 14 months and ive spent the last 2 months with NW, EW weird naps and I think somewhere along the line just gave up overthinking it all and have rolled with it!!

Ive just kind of settled into this routine by chance but cant really say its working!;

wake 7
nap 1 - 11 - 11.30 (30 mins)
nap 2 - 2.45 - 4
bed - 8pm

ok so she is also still battling the yucky molars but teething is just an ongoing battle here - shes just finally cut the two lower molars and now its the top ones!

she yawns around 3 hrs a time in morning but if I attempt to put her down earlier than 3 hrs 45/4 hrs it results in nap refusal now!!

its hard work getting her down for second nap sometimes as she can seem UT but any longer than the 3 hrs 15 she gets OT and takes ages to get down!!

Ive tried 20 min am naps and this was where it all started to go wrong for me - I just dont think its long enough for her - it left her in bad moods and still refused pm nap!!

I am 100% sure that its still too early for one nap as she is knackered at 4 hrs A time!

Is it maybe because I need to let her nap for longer for pm nap and just go with later bedtime or should I just let her have an hour nap at 11 then nap again at 3 for however long she wants then just do bedtime 4 hrs after that? problem is thats going to be one late bedtime!!

can you tell ...im completely and utterly lost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and these NW have been going on forever!!!!!

any ideas ladies...pretty please!!

Annette.xx

[marlowsmom]

Why don't you try one nap?   My LO usually can handle 4 hr A but she started refusing her pm nap the last 3 days so today I went with one nap after 5 hour A. 
Her schedule was:
Awake 615am
Nap 1030-1050 (20min)
Nap 2-330 (1.5 hr)
bed 730pm

 Today;
Awake 615am
Nap 11-1
Bed 630pm  (Should be 6 but scheduling today made it not happen)

[*Becky*]

Hi Annette,
Just going to mention a couple of things although the older DS gets the more i realise how different all these toddlers are so this may not be the case / work for you.
Firstly I am not surprised she is not going down well for the pm nap as that is quite a short A time for her age after a half hour nap. DS would never have gone for that but if you say she gets OT with any longer then it is a tricky one.
Also - does she need 4 hours A at the end of the day? Could she be going to bed a bit OT. If she gets a 2 hour nap 2-4 then maybe 8pm is too early for bed but if she does 1.15 nap which I think she sometimes does, then maybe 4 hours is a touch too much?
I guess you could try a longer am, short pm nap to see if that works better for you. Do you think that would work for her?
bx

[annette.xx]

thanks ladies

marlows mum - yeah i keep thinking about going to one nap and to hell with it but I know the OT monster builds up for my LO after a few days so I will get stuck with EW, dont know if im quite ready for that yet though I do think the one nap would solve the NW at least!

becky - is 3 hrs 15 too short an A time then after a 30 min nap? I have been noticing that she doesnt seem overly tired when I put her down - maybe I need to try pushing that out again then...only problem is that it makes for a long day and then  causes OT anyway!!

what you said about the long last A time makes sense - so if she has anything under 1 hr 1/2 then I will try 3 hrs 30 A time...what do you think?

thanks ladies - this is sooooo hard!

Annette.xx

[*Becky*]

It is sooo hard I know and they are all so different at this age I find!
3.15 after 30 min nap at 14 months would not have worked for us, he needed more like 3.5/75 which is why I cut the am nap to 20 mins. Having said that he can handle long A at the beginning of the day and you have said that 20 mins did not work for you but yes I reckon she could be UT on that A time for sure.
I would def try a shorter A before bed if it is not a 1.5 hour nap minimum. The way I see it is that the long A times with shortish naps build up over the day and in my experience they can become easily OT before bed. Give it a go anyway.
Hugs xxx

[annette.xx]

Hi all

well its still pear shaped! I tried the 20 min nap followed by 3 hrs A time and got 1 hr 1/2 nap and did bed 4 hrs after that and still got the most horrendous NW so decided to go to one nap...

first one nap day got a 3 hr nap!!, next day 2 1/2 hrs, then 2 hrs then yesterday 1 hr 20 mins!!!!!!! OT building up for sure - she was miserable going down for naps and bedtime so I now know that shes just not ready yet or I need to do things in a different way...

first night of one nap no NW just EW - first time in ages with no NW (bliss!!) but then the following nights back to loads of wakings!!

MIL had her yesterday for the 1 hr 20 nap and she seems to think that she wasnt even tired when she went down for the nap (after 5 hrs A time) ...dd never wants to stop so she never looks tired but really she is...

so anyway after yesterdays bad nap and EW and multiple NW I am trying a catch up day today which Im sure will come back to haunt me tonight but im all out of ideas! I managed to get her down at 3 hrs 45 this morning as she was actually looking really tired and im just letting her nap however long she wants! then I will try for another nap later on in the day after 4 hrs A time - if day ends up extra long then so be it - im just going with whatever she decides to accept today and see where it gets me!!

im so lost right now...

Annette.xx

[*Becky*]

yes it is so hard. What I have found is that UT can be the cause of a lot of our problems. If DS goes for his nap UT then he will only nap an hour and then it is a long A to bed so he gets OT. We have found a longer A time before the nap works better but then again we rarely get 2 hour naps - I am pleased with 1.5 these days.

[MummyToBen]

Have you been bringing forward the bedtimes significantly to make up for going to one nap?  We had to do this for a while, and when he takes a short nap I have to give an earlier bedtime than normal otherwise we get an EW due to OT.  We were even giving 5.45pm bedtimes for a while  , but it meant that he made up the extra sleep at night and still woke at the normal time, or even later (6.30am - not ideal, but better than 5.30am miserable due to OT!!).  I know this doesn't work for everyone, but it is perhaps worth trying.  Otherwise the pm A times just get longer and longer if she is taking shorter naps. 
xx

[LucySol]

what about giving her a nap at 11.30 and letting her sleep for as long as she can with the option of a CN later on if needed.you can gradually phase out the CN as she gets closer to 1 nap.it might help if you can AP the CN then keep with her 8pm bedtime?

[squeakersmum]

With going to one nap there were a few times that we had to stick a two nap day in so that DS could catch up.  Perhaps you could try one nap for 2 days and then pop in a two nap day so that she does not get the chance to get too OT.

[annette.xx]

thanks to you all for wonderful advice...

today I let her sleep as long as she wanted and to my shock ...she slept 2 hrs 15 mins after just 3 hrs 45 A time - so she woke at 1pm so now where do I go from here?!! im thinking it will be too hard to get a catnap in ...if I did what time would I do it?

or do I just do an early bedtime at say 6pm so 5 hrs A time - just scared it might get me a 4am wake up call...

[LucySol]

id do 6pm and cross your fingers!!

[squeakersmum]

Only just seeing this...what did you decide?

[annette.xx]

I decided on earlier bedtime but didnt make 6pm it ended up 6.25 so 5 1/2 hr A time but we will soon find out if it was the wrong thing to do!!!...

im nervous that she is going to wake up early now but then at least I can get 2 good naps in tomorrow if that happens...but what do I do if I get an UT NW... shes only had an 11.5 hr day - do you think with a 2 1/2 hr nap as well that it was too little A?

I worry too much!!

Annette.xx

[squeakersmum]

I'm not sure that the 11.5hr day will make things too bad - on the rare occasion Ben wakes late we still go for the same bed time so if he's up at 8 (like I say very rare!) we still have him in bed for between 7.30 and 8pm.  Also as it was her first day on one nap she may be fine.

I agree that if she wakes really early to go for a 2 nap day, but if she has normal(ish) wake up then I'd try for one nap again but perhaps try for later as she will (hopefully) have had a good nights sleep - 2.5hrs is really good!

5.5hrs A is def not too short - Ben does about 5hr A each side of his nap, but I have had to cap his nap at no more than 2 hrs or we get EW.  That said he has been on 1 nap for 4 months now.

Hope tonight goes well!

Steph XXX