the beginning of the 2:1? very early! help!

[Jiinx]

congratulations on the 11.5 night.

Good luck

[Canadian_Mom]

My fingers are crossed for you!!  I know that I suck at being "exciting" for DS, after a couple of minutes of me he gets bored and crawls away...lol.

[nursemeg01]

Ok I'm stuck again....

For the past two days, she's back to her old tricks again and she'll play in the crib during her PM nap until I eventually get an OT nap. Today I woke her up from her AM nap right at an hour. I kept her up for an A time of 3.5. Put her in the crib and she rubs her eyes during the WD. I leave as usual and she sang to herself for 1.5 hours. I am not kidding. I didn't know what to do since she was happy I left her. She started fussing at 4:00 but I left her because I could see on the video monitor that she was getting on her tummy and yawning. She fell asleep at 4:10. I bet I'll get an OT nap. There are absolutely no sleepy cues unless she is OT-which makes this more frustrating. I'm just not sure what to do. I guess I could try waking her up at 45 min in the AM nap but I'm worried that if she still refuses this PM nap I'll really end up with an OT baby.

Any ideas?

[Jiinx]

Hey sweetie,
 They do keep us guessing huh Sounds like she either needs more A time between her naps or a shorter AM nap. Wow 1.5 hours..that probably wasn't a very relaxing time for you, huh?

 So with 1 hour..they're pretty rested as they have a full sleep cycle and then some. They could, most likely, do a full A time on that amount of sleep. I'd give 45 minutes a shot..and see what she does. What do you think? I know you're nervous, but she couldn't do any more than what she did today, yk?

When I had those days where I wanted to just cry with frustration I took her out in the car or the stroller to salvage her afternoon so she wouldn't be too OT. Yours does seem to go to sleep eventually though, which is great.

After an hour of sleep in the morning, she could probably do 4 hours TBH.

[Canadian_Mom]

I agree with pp.  As Jiinx kind of said...it can't hurt to at least try!  I know that DS does a long A time before bed if I let him get an hour for his second nap (after a first nap of 1.5hr), but under that he gets tired much quicker.

And wow...1.5hr.  That is awesome she is able to keep herself occupied and happy for that long!  I am thinking that if you aren't getting any sleepy cues (did you have them before?), and she was happy and playing for so long maybe she really isn't very tired?

[empowered mama]

Agree with Sarah and Nadia - I was (again) in the same boat and cut it down to 45 and we definitely saw improvement.  I was petrified of OT and guessing on the middle A time but he started settling for the 2nd nap much easier.  We had some mega OT days where he only got 45 min of naps (!)  - for various reasons - and truly that wasn't as bad as I thought.  He seemed to bounce right back the next day.

You don't have much to lose!

[nursemeg01]

I haven't had sleepy cues in a while---rarely she'll get a little more clingy but it doesn't happen often. As for tomorrow--should I do both, limit the 1st nap to 45 min and then lengthen the A time b/w nap 1 and 2? Or should I just do one of these options?

[empowered mama]

Just one option Meg - in fact, if you do a 45 min AM nap, you could try the same A time you been doing but I've found when shortening the nap, often you may have to shorten the 2nd A.  What current A time were you using before the PM nap?

[nursemeg01]

Ok I'll do a 45 min nap tomorrow. I had been doing 3 hours of A---but today she was up for 3 and then 1.5 in the crib! So I'll just aim for 3 tomorrow and stare at her in hopes she'll give me a sleepy cue!

[Canadian_Mom]

I haven't had sleepy cues in a while---rarely she'll get a little more clingy but it doesn't happen often.

That is what DS does for a sleepy cue.  He crawls over to me, pulls himself up and starts to suck his thumb (I guess one of the good things of having a thumbsucker!).

I think that you have a good plan for tomorrow.  Hope the staring goes well 

[nursemeg01]

Boo! I wish I had good news to report---woke her up at the 45 min mark for nap #1--she was so tired I just knew this was going to work...

gave her an A time of 3 hours and put her down. She played in her crib for 30 min until I went up there---she wasn't fussing or anything but i walked into her room told her it was time for a rest and did my WD all over again. She fell asleep immediately after I left, which was so weird since she was up and rolling around until I went in there. She slept for 45 min.

At first I thought this was a victory! But she was super grumpy when she woke up. I tried to put her back down to extend the nap but it didn't work. I ended up putting her down at her usual BT and she was pretty OS so it took a long while.

I guess I'll try the 45 min nap #1 again and extend the A time tomorrow b/w nap 1 and 2. Does that sound right? maybe she just really needs a long A time.

What are your thoughts ladies? ---oh and absolutely no sleepy cues. Maybe if I extend the A time tomorrow I'll finally see some?

[empowered mama]

Hugs Meg - I really know how frustrating this can be!

I was having some similar issues and finally discovered it was UT and I was putting my LO down too early.  I would think that if she is playing in the crib, then perhaps she would likely be UT.  I had a few times when DS would wake at 45 min and I gave him 5-10 min to fuss and often he would go back to sleep and finish the nap. 

Maybe a little bump might help?  Other thoughts ladies?

[nursemeg01]

I should have let her fuss...I actually believe that. Even her cry was weak and 'tired' sounding. I thought of Tracy as I went in there because I didn't STOP and listen...

I do think it was UT. All I can do is try try again tomorrow!

[Canadian_Mom]

I wouldn't extend the A time by too much, maybe try 10 min at first?  It does sound like she needs at least a little bump, but you might be close!  It does take time and experimentation to get that perfect second A time, but do it slowly.  You don't want to jump to far the other way!    I know that I have read in some other threads that some LOs need a bit of time to get used to the change so the waking up at the 45 min mark and leaving them as Carrie says for 5-10min (depending on your LO's cry at that mark), to see if they can put themselves back to sleep, after a couple of days her body might get used to the change?  Don't know what you think?

[nursemeg01]

well it worked...sort of. I kept her up for 3.5 hours but she didn't fall asleep until 4 hours. She's been asleep for almost an hour now, but the problem is that it is almost 5 here and I am going to go wake her up because it will throw off the BT now.

So how do I fix this? I guess I move the AM nap up, wake her at 45 min and then that should shift the day forward (hopefully) so that she doesn't end up taking her long nap way into the evening right? I'm going to look at some sample EASY as well. She def needs the longer A time...