Over an hour to fall asleep - OT or UT?

[clazzat]

E will be 2 next month, and we have had a fairly good routine going for the last 3 months or so:

Wake between 6 and 6.30 (I don't know exactly - she doesn't make a noise until her light comes on at 6.30)
Nap 12.15-2.15 (I always wake her and she is always really soundly asleep)
Bed 6.45 (was generally falling asleep within 20 mins or so)

Suddenly she started taking 1-1.5h to go to sleep at night, and then I would wake her at 6.45 to start the day.  I have tried moving the nap a bit later and a bit earlier (but I am really restricted in this because of M's activities etc - 12.15 is generally the earliest that I can get her down) but it doesn't seem to have made a difference.  She has had a few days where her nap has been shorter but that doesn't seem to have made much difference either - the only time she has fallen asleep quickly recently was when she had 30 mins but I really can't believe that we need to cut 1.5h off her nap at once!

I think she has generally been about average sleep needs - certainly not high, but I don't think low, so I am struggling to think that she needs much less than 11h at night and 2h during the day.  Could she be OT on this routine?

Any suggestions very gratefully received.

[*Becky*]

Hi Clare,
Henry does a similar routine to this although the nap varies from 1.20-2 hours but we always wake him by 2.15pm. If he has done a 2 hour nap he goes to bed at 7.30pm and 1.5 or less he goes to sleep around 7pm. So I guess my vote would be UT especially if she has been on this routine for a while and if her naps and wake up time are still ok.
bx

[clazzat]

Thanks, Becky.  What time does he wake up from a 7.30 bedtime?  I'm just a bit concerned that her nights will be pretty short if she doesn't go to bed until 7.30.

[*Becky*]

He usually does a minimum of 11 hours and a max of 11.5 so 7.30pm can get us anywhere from 6.30am - 7am.

[clazzat]

Whereas E is pretty fixed at a 6-6.30 wake-up even from a later night.

Have tried putting her down at 12 today with a view to waking her at 2 - will see how that goes.

[*Becky*]

Henry used to be too but a later bedtime in our case was the only thing that helped to get a later wake up. good luck x

[clazzat]

6-6.30 is a later wake up as far as we are concerned!  But maybe we do need to look at pushing bedtime back a bit now that she is older - I often forget that what worked when they were little isn't necessarily what's going to work now.

[Mom to M&M]

With at 12-2 nap at her age, I'd suggest bedtime not before 7, maybe even 7:15-7:30.

[LucySol]

Daisy would need a 7.30 bedtime with a 12-2 nap.Tho i know how hard it is with 2 lo's to get to bed at the same ish time and i have a guilt thing going with giving Ben a bit of 'mummy' time without D around..so it gets a bit tougher when they need similar bedtimes.Have you ever tried giving her a slightly later bedtime just to see what happens?

[clazzat]

I haven't tried a properly later bedtime, but a few times she has gone down at 7ish and she has still taken forever to fall asleep and normally required me to go back repeatedly - at least at the moment she just sings to herself for the time it takes her to fall asleep.

I'm going to try a normal bedtime today having moved the nap half an hour earlier - one thing at a time and all that.  One of the reasons her afternoon has always been short is that her morning has always been really long, but now that she is consistently sleeping till 6 at least perhaps her morning isn't as long as it used to be.

[clazzat]

So the nap half an hour earlier didn't work yesterday (not asleep until 7.55 and awake at 5.55am), and cutting the nap and pushing back bed today didn't work...  I'm at a bit of a loss, tbh - she was definitely tired at bedtime, and when I woke her from her nap she was really miserable and tried to go back to sleep on my knee.  Is it possible that she is OT because her nights have been 10h for the last week or so?  And if so, what is the best way to fix that if she is taking so long to go to sleep and still waking early?

[LucySol]

Clare we are so with you on this.D is taking ages to fall asleep and it makes no difference what time she goes to bed its still the same! so sorry no advice just following along to see if you get anything figured out!

[*Becky*]

we went through exactly this Clare about 2 weeks ago. Taking ages to settle and lots of 10/10.5 nights. I never did figure it out but he had a bug and it seemed to re-set him iykwim. I did see a point of a molar two days ago though and it made me wonder if that had anything to do with it??

[clazzat]

I tried giving meds last night, but that didn't make any difference - I think that teeth might be playing a part, though, as I'm sure she's showing other signs.  The other thing that I am wondering about is it being developmental - she is having a major language explosion at the moment, so that could be keeping her awake.

[*Becky*]

he is having a major language explosion at the moment, so that could be keeping her awake.

yes h is too x