Claire does A add on??? A later BT may not necessarily mean a later WU. It may create the same WU giving a shorter night and allowing for a longer nap. I dunno I just think the nap is super important still at this age to recharge and continue development.
Melissa are you meaning just put him to bed later & accept that he is going to do a shorter night while he takes the longer nap?
The only glitch I have with this, is when he does the 2hr nap, followed by a 10-10.5hr night, he is absolutely awful the next day with tantrums etc b/c he simply hasn't had enough night sleep to sustain him through the required 6hrs of A time the next day. I can't shorten his AM A time really either, no less than 5.5hrs anyway, b/c his PM A time would end up silly long like 6hrs or so in order to make a 13.5hr day.
MAYBE cap the morning. If a later BT causes A to still be sleeping when you need him up just wake him in the morning....this way you can let him nap as long as he wants and needs and the later BT may cut out the play time at night. Sometimes that's OT right? I think that is what was happening for my dd.
Siigh if only I could. Yesterday, for example, he napped 1-3, went to bed at 7.30, chatted til 8pm & woke this morning at 6am. I don't have the luxury of waking him b/c he isn't sleeping in. In fact he's getting up even earlier than usual.
Letting him sleep at naptime & finding his own BT is something we have certainly considered, because I would prefer to him to wake from his nap naturally & that way I would know that when his nap starts to cuts back its because he doesn't need it anymore & not because I am forcing him to manage without it. However, I already wake him from his 2hr nap (I've no idea how long he would actually sleep if I let him) so if I stop waking him he will nap for even longer, meaning an even shorter night than we are currently getting & I don't see how 9-10hr nights coupled with 3hr naps will be restorative enough for him YK? So I don't really see how this is feasible long-term.
I do think his night sleep is more important & I think if he was having 12hr nights then he would cope with a much shorter nap no problem. And with how long he's staying awake right now with his 2hr nap I don't see we have much option other than capping the nap.
DH held him out til usual naptime of 12.30 (despite the 6am start), of course he was OT by naptime b/c of the short night & didn't settle til 12.40. I'd decided to cap his nap at 1.5hrs in order to keep the day shorter as for O, long day = more OT, but he woke himself at 2.05pm (1h 25 nap), unhappy, which is for him, is usually an OT nap. B/c of the shorter nap I've done EBT at 6.35pm, thinking since he already did 6h 40 A time before his nap a 4.5hr A would be quite enough, but he didn't show much hint of tiredness except rubbing his eyes after his bottle & he is still chatting away in bed at 7.05pm. So yet again UT at bed time put down & he'll probably be OT by the time he goes to sleep so I'll bet we'll get another EW tomorrow. I think its because he's simply not tired enough after a longer nap.