need nap help! 18 months old

[*Jo*]

wow.... fantastic, another 50 min nap.... its just about 11am and hes done his nap for the day..... great... just great... we will never make it to bedtime

[*Jo*]

Ok, so he cried for about 10mins (seems the dummy didnt stay in after he fell asleep anyway so not a huge worry) and then i went in and Patted him back to sleep, decided it was worth it to get some decent sleep into him, to get him to a semi normal wake up from nap time. I patted for about 5 mins and he was out to it, then i stayed the rest of the time to watch and observe, now i havent done this kind of thing since he was 3/4/5 months old but i thought it would be a good idea to see whats going on with him. well he jolts.... ALOT and big time! i ended up keeping my hand on him for the rest of the nap so i could feel his jolts, a few times they were major jolts that actually caused him to lift his head up and look at me which required that i pat him again for another 30seconds and then back to just having the hand on the back. he jolted majorly every 10mins or so and I just applied pressure on his back and patted if needed.

at the end of it all it totalled a 2 hour nap. I think he needed it, I know I was there the entire time for the last hour but I dont think he wouldve made it to bedtime if i hadnt assisted him..

so what do you think of that?

[georgeo]

Congratulations on a 2 hour nap!  He must have needed it and if it were me I would be feeling a lot better after it too, even if I was in the room for half of it   I might be wrong, but isn't the jolting a sign of OT?  Maybe it's happening because he's so OT from having a week with nap refusals and once the OT is gone so will the jolts and nap refusal.  What about staying with him for a few days during naps if necessary to get over this OT and then try GW (although I think you might have said that didn't work with your DS) or perhaps since he is well sleep trained he'll be able to go back to having a decent nap without your help once the OT is cleaned up.  Tracy does say "sleep begets sleep" so he might be needing more sleep as he catches up.       

[alohahellokitty]

WOW a two hour nap! Excellent!!! Now he can make it no problem to bed time! Great!!! He probably really did need it.

So funny about the paci!! I wouldn't worry too much about it. DD hadn't had a paci since two months old. Then after DS was born (she was 18 months) she showed some interest but after a few days lost interest. It is funny though!

Let see how tonight goes. Hopefully it will go good since the great nap!!

[*Jo*]

thanks ladies, naptime was over at 12 so what time do you think I should aim for bedtime?

He seems in a really good mood after that nap thank goodness, hes still just clingy, i think, im pretty sure the third canine has cut through the gum, he only gives me little glimpses in there but im sure i saw its through

[babybarr]

I would still aim for no later than 6pm -I'm pleased you managed to get some sleep into him.  Fingers crossed this is the start of a bit of respite for you both.

[alohahellokitty]

What's his behavior telling you? How does he look?

[Tweakster]

I agree with both Laura and Liana, 6 p.m. at latest and also keep your eye on him, if it looks like he needs to go sooner I would consider it.  The idea is to get him back on a routine rather than push the day out yet.  He has shown his capacity to make up sleep at night if he hasn't had 2 naps so I think it's worth a shot.  He may surprise you and do another 12 or 13 hour night!  Hang in there Jo - I feel like we are in a boxing ring and you keep coming back to the corner *rubs your shoulders* lol  Sorry it's not funny but if we don't see the humour we all might go crazy together ;-)

[alethiaperry]

Hello Jo.  I've been following your thread for awhile now, cause your DS na dmine are the same age and yours seems quite spirited as well.  I was just wondering if you just stuck to the same sched every day for a week, regardless how naps or night went, if things may turn around.  I've noticed now at this age with my DS, we just keep everything the same (even if he didn't nap, had an early nap in the car, or woke early from his nap), we rarely deviate from bedtime by more than 1/2hr.  Even a few months ago he wouldn't have managed well without a nap all day... or a long stretch before bed... (he would wake 1hr after bedtime and then STTN and often sleep in).  But now he just sleeps.  I wonder.  Even if he got up early... just keep his naptime the same (12? 1?... ours is 1pm) and no matter when he wakes, get him up and go until bedtime.  Stick with it for a week and see if all irons out.  I know my advice is in stark contrast to the others on here, but it's what works for us now at this age... through travel, teething and crazy days!  Hope things get better soon.

[alohahellokitty]

LOL!! Wendy you are right!! It is the boxing ring right now!!!!!!!!!! Anna-Li is  cutting canine #2 (takes her on average 2 months per canine... and we are in utter CHAOS!!) and looks like #3 is moving up. (from the VERY brief peek she let me have this morn)

This is survival time Jo!!!!

Just wait your next one will be a angel/textbook like mine 2nd. You'll wonder what all the fuss was about with Caleb. LOL!!!!

[babybarr]

Just wait your next one will be a angel/textbook like mine 2nd

Will I get one of those too then ?!!  That's not me announcing anything BTW before you all go getting ideas! LOL!

Hope Caleb sleeps well tonight.

[alohahellokitty]

Hahahahaha sure hope you do! Mine are night and day opposites! Never knew babies could be so easy till #2 came along.

[*Jo*]

Liana - I was thinking last night that I hope my next one will be an Angel, it would be a nice rest compared to this lol

well ladies, we watched for tired signs, he was tired by 4pm! but we managed to get him to 5.15 before he really looked like he needed to sleep, so off to bed, asleep at 5.30pm and wokeup at 5.30am!!!! no NW's but he woke with an explosive diarrhea nappy again so he may have slept longer if that hadnt happened.

Alethia - we tried doing the set nap time this week, he was just way too zonked to make it to the time. I had it set for 12 and he was crashing at 10am, managed to get him to 10.30am before he was literally closing his eyes for about 5 seconds each blink. I had to put him to bed, even then he fought it bad and it was 11.10am before he finally fell asleep (had to pat him of course)

Wendy - I do feel like im in a boxing ring! I think you put that perfectly!!!

This regression really does feel like one,its like hes regressed back to newborn again, having to pat him and do HTTJ!

[Tweakster]

12 hours though!  That's great.  I really think you won this round Jo!

[babybarr]

12 hours though!  That's great.  I really think you won this round Jo!

Ditto!!