need nap help! 18 months old

[*Jo*]

ok, i patted him to sleep... I just figured it was worth a shot, it hasnt worked the past week but he was so tired and hes been ill so I patted him and it worked! I had to pat him for hte entire first 20mins though (just like a newborn!) as he kept jolting, kept opening his tired little eyes to look for me if i stopped. So im gonna go back in in 10 mins and do HTTJ as well.

To be honest even if we do only get a 30min nap thats more of a success than what we have been having! never thought I would see the day taht I would be grateful for a 30min nap out of him!

[alohahellokitty]

What about doing the nap then trying to get a car drive nap in later. Just to catch him up a bit and prevent a super early bt? Would that work?

[*Jo*]

I think it could Liana, its worth a shot, I just have to share, hes been asleep 40mins!!!! I didnt even have to go in and do HTTJ! Praise the Lord!!!

I will have to take him to the park for this, I told him if he did sleep we would go to the park and Im so happy with this nap that I will take him for absolute sure!!!!!

[alohahellokitty]

Oh good he's finally getting a rest! 40 min's is better than 0 min's!!!!!!!

I sure hope it works! This is what we do with Anna-Li whenever she's in this cycle. She short naps b/c she's in pain. So we just get a cat nap in later to stretch bt later.

Great! Get him to the park then see if you can get a little cn in.

Here's what I did with Anna today:

6:30 wake (I've finally got this to 7-7:30 on non-teething/ill days)
12:30 nap (only slept for 45 min's woke screaming in pain... and that was with meds)
Ran a few errands around 3:30pm and left baby lo with DH so Anna could have it quite on the way back from the market. I have a CD of scripture lullabies and I put that on when i'm needing a car nap out of her. it worked like a charm and she slept for 30 min's.
7:30 we made it to bed time!! yippie!!!

Now had we not had that car nap she would have not made it past 6pm. So on weekends when DH is able to care for baby lo, I always do a errand or two so she can have the chance to get a cn in before dinner. This helps us keep bt later and not get in that early bt/early wake cycle.

[*Jo*]

Liana - again you are a Godsend!!! I did the carnap, he slept for 25mins before I woke him so heres how today went (first time I can actually put something down on paper!!!)

Wake 6.10am
Nap 1 11.10-12 (patted for the first 20mins to help him fall asleep, was already way OT by naptime)
nap 2 3.50-4.15pm (in the car)
Bedtime 6.15pm NO CRYING WHATSOEVER HERE!

He was major cranky pants after both naps, very clingy etc, whereas the days he had no naps he was happy as a lark, go figure!

Ive decided to stick with the massage before bed as he just lays there and lets me do it, this boy does not sit still so for him to lay there in teh same spot for 10mins is a miracle and MUST mean he loves it.

We also had three more major explosive diarrhea's today again so weve only given him dry foods today, toast, boiled rice and plain noodles plus water all day (little bit of juice in some of the drinks too)

I have no idea how tonight will go or how tomorrow will go, to be honest Im thinking while teethign is happening that his A time is dramatically reduced, i tried to get him to the set nap time of 12 today but he was SO tired by 10.30, his eyes were puffy red and he was rubbing them and closing his eyes, like a big blink all the time, laying his head on my shoulder, i just couldnt ignore that so I took him to bed, had trouble of course getting him to sleep but at least he slept! I wont be taking him to playgroup tomorrow as he has had diarrhea so will probably do an A time of 4 hours as that seems to be when he gets tired.

[alohahellokitty]

Ya I wouldn't make him stay up if his cues are telling you he needs a nap. Just shoot for a car cn when he needs it until he recovers. Now I've found with Anna the car cn before the normal nap causes nap refusal most days. but all Los are different.

[*Jo*]

Well I had a bad feeling this would happen, he's been up 4-5 times and up since 4.10am. Whenever he does two naps he always does a 10hour night. OMG will this EVER end?!?! The constant screaming from Wi/Wo is ridiculous. I've had a whopping headache for two days!!! We are sti doing Wi/Wo now to try and get him back to sleep. I'm so tired

[alohahellokitty]

Hmmmmmmmmmm sounds like the two naps are a bad idea then. I guess your best option is to just do the one nap and shoot for as much 'rest' time as possible. Then just try to keep things low key so he can make it as close to bt as possible.

Will he sit down and do any activities? Play in his highchair with stuff? Scribble with crayons? Playdoh, stickers, sort through Tupperware exc...... These activities are how I stretch Anna. Also watching a 30min baby video. I'm not one for allowing much tv but desperate times call for this sometimes.

[Tweakster]

I really think he's telling you that he's only going to do 1 nap at this point, regardless of how tired he is.  He doesn't have the drive for 2 naps in a day.  Agree with Liana, low key all the way if you can.  Nothing wrong with TV in this scenario :-)

[alohahellokitty]

He sounds very low sleep needs. In that case I wouldn't really worry about ot unless he's showing really ot cues.

If he weren't low sleep needs or ot I believe he'd be making extra hours up at night. And he clearly isn't. So he doesn't need a ton of sleep. My SIL's kids are like this, all 3 of them.

That's how it sounds to me. So once he is well you have to decide where you want his sleep at and move it there. If you want to push the day back to get a more reasonable wakeup then I'd do it once he's better.

[babybarr]

That's how it sounds to me. So once he is well you have to decide where you want his sleep at and move it there. If you want to push the day back to get a more reasonable wakeup then I'd do it once he's better.

I agree. 

DS is the same - won't do 2 naps now.  Once he's had a sleep that's it. I think do what yo can while he's unwell then go back to fairly structured times - for your sake too hun.

[georgeo]

Sounds like you're getting some progress.  Glad to hear it.  Just a thought about the watching TV.  I read that it's best not to watch TV (or a computer screen) an hour before you go to bed as it makes your brain think that it's still daytime and not a time to go to sleep. I don't know if the same would apply for a nap as it's still daytime then but just something to think about. 

[*Jo*]

well it took 30mins but he went back to sleep at 4.40am... for 20mins... then woke up at 5am on the dot! then DH did Wi/Wo again for 12mins and he fell back to sleep, then woke up 15mins later at 5.35am! what does that mean???

Georgeo, i read that too, in RYSC so have put a stop to that for now, its raining today so i cant take him to the park, however since about 8.30am hes been acting like hes already OT, he looks so tired, his eyes are puffy and red rimmed and hes extra cranky... seems to only be like that around me though, not around DH, hes quite happy with DH so maybe im annoying him?? lol. I dont know what time to put him to bed, i certainly cant put him to bed right now at 9.20am as when and IF he sleeps its only for about 45-50mins (yesterdays A time was 5 hours and he slept 50mins)

I think you are right, hes low sleep needs, before this he was doing about 11 hours at night and 1.5 during the day so only 12.5 in total which makes this really hard trying to get him back to a decent waking time and bedtime. i guess i can always do the pushing bedtime further 15mins extra every other day trick and hope that works, its just that if i put him to bed at 5/5.30pm he does 12 hours or so and so therefore doesnt leave alot of room for a day nap but if i put him down any later he still wakes around 5.30/6am and wont nap at all or seems so tired so early... I am really truly completely lost!

I dont know what to do today, i have no idea what time to put him down for a nap, its all a gamble no matter what i do. Do i keep patting him to sleep for his naps? his nighttimes we dont pat, we only do Wi/Wo and it only took about 5 or 10mins to get him back to sleep at night (until the 4am one that took 30mins) if i do Wi/Wo at naps we get complete nap refusal but if i pat theres a risk he will still refuse it and then im still giving him the patting... I jsut dont know anymore!

Do you think he has a cot aversion? someone else here mentioned that earlier and I did wonder, but it doesnt seem to be so bad at night so I dont know? Its just really intense for naps.

[alohahellokitty]

Jo,

I'll be back on later, but wanted to tell you since he's low sleep needs and goes to bed pretty easily but just having trouble at naps, that means not tired enough for some kids.

They are exhausted by bt and just crash out, but at nap they aren't quite tired enough.

Not sure if that's the case for Caleb.

TBH- When Anna gets in the early bt/early wake it means I need to move her back and stop such early bt's. If she' not making up the sleep at night it means she's not really that tired. But that may just be her. Can you try keeping him really low key today and keeping things near the normal time? Is that at all do-able? Seems like if you don't push him he'll in up in the early bt/early wake cycle. Just a thought.

Will be back on later.

[*Jo*]

I did wonder that too Liana but i tried a 6 hour A time and he was just wrecked and we had nap refusal that day too. Ive just put him down now and its 10am.... so um please dont hit me but hes fallen asleep with a DUMMY!! 

While he was playing he found an old one that i hadnt thrown away (gross I know but it was somewhere that isnt used much so i didnt know it was there!) he wouldnt let go of it after that! as i was reading him a story his eyes were closing but he held onto that dummy. hten when i put him down to sleep he still got up and cried (with paci in mouth still) I did Wi/Wo about four times and now hes asleep!

He hasnt had a dummy since he was 5 months old. I sure hope its not gonna create a whole heap of more issues!