2:1 routine has a few kinks - 10 months...

[empowered mama]

Hello lovely ladies,

ISWYM about getting the middle A right....though today....perhaps a little progress maybe?

EW @ 5:00 - feed and back to sleep

Awake @ 7:30
1st A = 3.5; nap 45 min, woke him

2nd A = 3.5 - the good news is I put him down at 3.25 and he didn't fight it one lick.  I thought for sure this was the magic #, but he gave me a 1 hr nap - seemed UT as he was in a great mood the rest of the day.

A little battle at BT, but down by 7:30.

So if you were in my shoes, would you consider cutting the AM nap to 30, or increasing the 2nd A?  OR just leaving it for a few days??

TY - I probably will be 80 years old one day and still calculating A times in my mind, lol.

[Jiinx]

45 minutes is a complete sleep cycle which may leave him rested enough for a 3.5 hour A time. You -could- try 4 hours OR cut that first nap.

Ah. I couldn't handle that "what if" she didn't go down before her second nap.

Glad you had a bit of progress today hun.

[empowered mama]

Hallelujah, hallelujah - the stars have finally aligned

We managed a long PM nap for the first time in a several weeks - I forgot what a long nap felt like!

Check out the day:

Awake @ 6:50 (after a rough night of NWs)

E -
A - 3.5
S - 10:20-11:05 (45 min nap)

E -
A - 3h40min
S - 2:45-4:30 (1h45min nap)

E -
A - 3.5
S - 8:00

Obviously our day was pretty long due to those long As, so my guess here is that we cut the AM nap to 30?  Any ideas what that 2nd A could be, or what we might shoot for after 30 min nap?

I am afraid to rock the boat with a nap cut - today was just too much bliss 

[Jiinx]

hi sweetie,
So so pleased for you and your great nap! I hope you managed to enjoy the time to yourself!

 If the first nap is capped at 30 minutes, I would think a decrease to 3 hours or less. Depends on your lo and finding the magic A time. I would imagine something between 2 hours and 30 to 3 hours. Again, I'm a bit inexperienced...but I always pushed my lo and preferred a possibility of OT than UT.

I hope you have a NW-less night

[makka]

Hi there Empowered Mama

just thought id put my 2 bob in if its ok, on a 30 min nap my lo did 3 hours exactly, would put her down around 2 hour 55 give or take 5 min more than 3 hours but would try to avoid putting her down after 3 hours as she would take much longer to fall asleep.

im now on 20 min AM nap, its ridiculious, being such long days need to preserve the last A time for bed. So just so you know on 20 min AM nap im on 2 hours 30 min

i also found that dropping to 30 min nap she was much better when i woke her, i think because at 45 min they are in a deep sleep again where 30 min on light sleep.

kirsten

[Tweakster]

How's it going Carrie?  Agree with the girls.  Some LOs can do 3-3.5 after a 30 min nap but at his age I would drop that back and err on the side of caution.

[empowered mama]

hi ladies,

DS has me a bit stumped today - here was our EASY yesterday starting with a 30 min nap:

EW @ 5:20, feed and back to sleep

Awake @ 6:45

A = 3.5
S - 10:15-10:45 (30 min)

A = 3.25 - didn't seem at all tired, so I pushed him a little...
S - 2:00 - 3:15 (1h15min nap - seemed UT *I think*)

A = 3.75 (MIL was here  )
BT = 7:00

I thought for sure we would have an OT EW as always, but he actually woke quite happy and ready for the day at 6:00 (11 hrs sleep which is typical).  He hasn't woken happy since 4/5 months old.....this was strange since he had that long last A and only 1.75 hrs naps yesterday.  Very odd.  The only logical thing I can think of is that maybe his first A time needs to be pushed a bit since too short of an A can cause EW.  IDK - anything pop out to you?  Maybe just a fluke?

[empowered mama]

I do have a question for all of you - if your LO wakes happy in the morning and you leave them in the crib for say 15-30 min, when do you typically start the first awake time?  I left DS for 15 min until he started fussing, then I think that threw us off today and our naps are all over the place.  Haven't really dealt with him ever waking happy, so this is new territory...

[Jiinx]

wow your boy is a stumper. He sounds like he's really low on the sleep needs, hey?
It could be a fluke but we wouldn't know until there's a bit of consistency. What did you do tonight?

With A time, I leave my dd for 20-30 minutes, but I count her A time the moment she starts babbling. Whenever their eyes open is when to start their A time.

[empowered mama]

hi ladies,

We are still tweaking over here 

Been playing around with that 2nd A time....yesterday we tried 3hrs after a 30 min nap and he gave me another seemingly UT nap of 1h15min.  So hmmm...

What has been your experience of these length naps?  Typically UT or OT for you?  Would you think if he woke fairly happy and in a good mood, that this was UT?

[Tweakster]

We never got many 1 hr 15 naps...mainly 1 hr 20 which was OT for us, he woke crying.  Once we were on a short AM/long PM anything less than a 2 hr PM nap was OT for us.  After a good nap now he wakes chirpy and happy and looks at his books in his crib or just chatters.  Anything waking crying is either discomfort or OT.  I know that doesn't help :-(

What are the nights like these days?  Is he still waking or giving you more solid nights?  He may actually need more A time in the middle A.  Some kids are like that.  I'm thinking maybe even up to 3.75 hrs.  Or you could try the 20 min AM?  Feeling brave? ;-)

[Jiinx]

for us it was always UT. always. However, I've only gotten a couple of 1.5 hours here. Increase in A would probably do it!

Congratulations ms. mod!

[empowered mama]

Thanks ladies - great to be on the team!  Now my mind can wander elsewhere instead of calculating ceaseless A times 

So...my word, this guy never ceases to elude me.  Still trying to get that long nap:

EW @ 5:20 - feed and back to sleep

Awake @ 7:35

1st A = 3.5; nap for 30 min

2nd A = 3h10min; nap for 1h20 - definitely a little OT, I could tell he was still tired upon waking, kind of cranky.

What's with this guy?  Yesterday 3hrs gave us an UT nap, today 3h10 is OT.  I guess the only thing left to try is 3h5.  Really??

I will add though that we were at the pool today getting lots of exercise, so perhaps that wore him down more quickly.

Wendy, his nights aren't bad really but every morning gets us an EW (OT 99% of the time).  No more early NWs for the most part and typically ends up with 11-12 hrs night sleep when all is said and done.  Have entertained the thought of that 20 min nap, but not too sure if I'm ready to jump off that cliff yet, lol.

Ah, well....that 1-nap routine is right around the corner; though I'm sure it will have kinks of it's own (but don't burst my hopeful bubble) ;-)

[Jiinx]

Hi Carrie,
 Yes..swimming is a big tire out activity. I used to take her swimming before her second nap in hopes she would get tired so she'd nap

 Okay, this may sound weird. I've been wondering about his EW at 5ish. Is he waking bc he's hungry? Do you think it's more of a habit now?

When did he go to bed last night? I'm just wondering if we should try starting the day when he wakes...get him two naps..and then maybe a decent bed time and hope he wakes at a decent time the next day?

Just thoughts, really...

[empowered mama]

I welcome your thoughts always   Even if we don't get this guy to sleep, the ongoing dialogue keeps me sane

So here is my theory about this EW business....what I believe is happening is that DS isn't getting enough day sleep which almost always causes for a bedtime battle from OT.  BT takes forever, then we get the EW from the previous OT day.  The good ole OT/UT loop.  Which is why I'm trying to hard to get this nap business sorted.  There really may be a chance that he is waking hungry, especially after months of feeding at the EW it may be a habit now.  However in those few instances where he did reach an adequate amount of day sleep, we didn't get the EW.  Soo....

Today's EW was at 4:30    And I just can't fathom starting the day then when I know I could get another hour or two out of him yk?  I'm also not sure how we would then get the day pushed out to a reasonable hour?

Here was our fun day yesterday:

EW - 4:30

Awake @ 7:30

1st A = 3.5; 30 min nap

2nd A = 3 hrs; 1 hr UT nap (!)

So today....I'm not going to take him swimming, going to push that 2nd A by 15 minutes and see what happens. 

Also wanted to get your take on SA - I noticed when I put him down for nap #1 yesterday he was fine, then I left the room and he had a meltdown.  Had 3 NWs last night and each time I was able to make my presence known and he went right back to sleep (which is kind of unusual).  Have any of you experienced this before?

Thank you for your thoughts ladies - really appreciate you in this time!