Hey Melinda,
Sounds pretty crazy. I'm not sure how helpful I can be- I myself am new at this and obviously trying to figure out the same thing...so take whatever I say like a grain of salt! Sorry if it's a bit discursive. I'm really tired and tried to be as lucid as a I can...but no promises!
I would say first- obviously you have to trust your motherly instincts b/c you know your child best, but make absolute sure that your LO is ready for the 2-1 switch. I had a false alarm a couple of months ago and I thought my LO was ready...but really all she needed was an adjustment in her "A" time, and once I changed it, she happily went back to 2 naps.
If you are absolutely sure that your LO is ready, would you try aiming for just one nap? That's been my goal with my daughter. Maybe if you focus on one nap (which will hopefully be longer, and therefore more consolidated and rejuvenating sleep), your LO will eventually adjust and feel less OT? I think in general with these transitions, it takes time for their little bodies to adjust...I also, btw, agree with you. I would never wake a sleeping baby...
I never aim for a cat nap. I personally think cat naps are a waste- not really rejuvenating for the baby at all since they're so short! I don't even know if the cycle through a complete sleep cycle in that time. I hear the purpose, if it will keep your child from having a meltdown, but if your child can handle the day without it, why bother? When your LO is overtired, is he very cranky?
Another thing- my older sister (who has 3 kids) told me that when going through transitions, it's always tough for at least a few weeks until the baby adjusts (and that has been my experience to, with previous sleep transitions). So with my LO for example- she's not quite ready to give up 2 naps, but she definitely does not need 2 complete naps anymore. I think she'll ultimately adjust to being awake for a longer period of time in the morning, but I keep telling myself it's just going to take time for her to adjust to it. The gap between not quite needing 2, but not quite ready for one is the torturous transition that hopefully will pass quickly!!! Being able to go with the flow is absolute key, I think (my husband always has to remind me of that!!!) But make sure you're giving your LO enough time to adjust to a new routine. It sounds like you had been doing a great job with routine before- so it probably will be somewhat difficult for your LO to all of a sudden change it up.
Here's what has been happening with my daughter. She had been a great napper- 2 naps every day for about an hour, sometimes more each. She also is a great night time sleeper- 12 hours almost without a peep!
Within the past month, her napping has gone bonkers- she could take her morning nap but if she did, no chance of any afternoon napping (she thank G-d puts herself to sleep- so I do a nap time routine and put her in her crib awake...she then will sometimes cry for a few minutes, then settle down to play for a bit and eventually fall asleep. On days when she took a morning nap, for about 2 weeks, she would not fall asleep when I put her in her crib at what I felt was the "right" time for an afternoon nap (I waited 2 weeks to rule out putting her down at the wrong time- OT or UT...so unless I kept getting it wrong for 2 weeks, I knew she was ready to switch things up to one nap. I also wanted to make absolutely sure that this was legit and not due to something else).
The issue I've been having is mainly that I find she keeps collapsing from tiredness! I work part-time and have her w/a baby sitter in the AM (until noon). I think that I'd rather keep my LO up for the whole morning, and get her to take a nice nap sometime around noon. I think that time makes a lot of sense (I think 11:30am would make more sense...but I'm not around at that time to enforce it!) And then she'll be up for the rest of the day until bedtime. The reason why I want to do it like that is because if she's awake for so long in the afternoon, I have a harder time at bedtime. It's definitely not terrible, but I think she'll feel better with more spaced out sleep.
She's not a cranky baby and handles herself really well- I just hate having her fall asleep from what seems to be exhaustion...and I don't know how to fix it! I just can't figure out when I should be getting her to nap and how to avoid what seems to be the impending exhaustion! I have been second guessing myself a little bit about whether or not I'm doing the right thing...but I don't see an alternative right now! I just don't think she would catnap, and it wouldn't be worth the struggle to try! I hate being that mommy with the baby who just collapses...I just keep telling myself that this will pass and everything will work itself out. I carefully monitor her sleep patterns every day to see if something sensible emerges...I'm still holding out and hoping it will....
Another thing that I also find to be very important that I learned only after much frustration with napping- "you" cannot force a child to do anything- you can only create the conditions that will enable the desired outcome (akin to "You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make him drink). I just keep telling myself that I can't force her to nap, I can only offer her the appropriate conditions to help facilitate a nap taking place.
what do you think?
SBekritsky
