Support for dropping the nap age 2-3 part 2..

[Tweakster]

Yeah I think for now we are getting the tacking because the nap is just being cut, it's early stages for us.  What often happens is that because he's always so ahead of himself with these transitions, he 'catches up' with his A times or less sleep and then he'll stop tacking and it's a sign to tweak.  So far the tacking has only been him going back to sleep, he doesn't sleep straight through.  He'll still wake, make noises or sighs at his 5:30/6 wake time but then he'll drop back off, sometimes for an hour, sometimes less.  If we were to put him to bed too early, we would get a much earlier waking, I'm sure of it.  This morning he cried out a bit just after 6 but then didn't hear him proper until 6:40ish - and that was on the back of a 7:30 bedtime.  While we have some nap at all, we have to juggle bedtime accordingly to prevent OT but also to prevent a too early waking.  Ack!

[~*Nicole*~]

Wendy-That is the part I hate. The trying to judge bedtime bit. Esp. when DD will occasionally fall asleep for a marathon nap that she will NOT wake from and then I have NO CLUE when to even try bedtime. I am okay at judging when bed should be on NO nap but different length naps mean different A times to bed will be appropriate and it's a guessing game as to how much for how long of a nap, etc. etc. I stopped trying for naps b/c she'd never fall asleep at the same time and I couldn't always wake her and so they were never the same time or length and it was just plain stupid at that point. Now IF she falls off in the car or whatever, I just nudge bedtime later and hope for the best.

[Tweakster]

Yeah on a no nap day it's great because we are getting (fairly) confident that we do an early bed and he will tack.  But it's those 1 hr+ naps that are confusing.  He SEEMS ok but gets into second wind so easily and then we are fumbling around trying to get him into bed and getting a LO in second wind into bed is near impossible, it takes about twice as long since they faff around so much lol

I'm not letting anymore marathon naps happen.  It messes stuff up.  So we just wake him, whether he's a total monster or not...and he usually is.  I've never seen a kid so miserable being woken up lol 

[~*Nicole*~]

I'm not letting anymore marathon naps happen.  It messes stuff up.  So we just wake him, whether he's a total monster or not...and he usually is.  I've never seen a kid so miserable being woken up lol

When we do end up with one there is basically NOTHING I can do to wake the poor girl. She is like a limp wet rag. I jostle her, move her, turn on lights, carry her downstairs....she just keeps on sleeping! Although she hasn't done one like that in a while now so we may be turning the corner on this nap dropping business.

[Edesanja]

Just thought I'd share what we're doing since I haven't been here in a while. We're not a lot closer on the nap dropping but have definitely been at a happy place these past 2 months or so.
E has a nap 3 or 4 times a week (Mon, Wed, Fri and sometimes Sat).

On a nap day she's in bed at 1pm (after waking at 7am) and is usually asleep 15mins later. I check on her so I know when she's asleep and then wake her at exactly 45mins  because she is easier to wake between sleep cycles. This is key for us!! Then I carry her into our bedroom (other end of the house) where I put her on our bed and turn on music (to stop her falling asleep again!) and give her a pile of books and she has a 'rest' for another 45mins. She then goes to bed about 7.15-7.30pm and is asleep at about 8pm.

On no-nap days she has a rest for 1.5hrs and she's asleep by 7pm.

So we have no more of the taking ages to fall asleep business. Yay!

[mimi1017]

Ugh! After getting to 7 am wake up the past 2 days I was in heaven! Now yesterday she didn't nap after a 7am wake up, so bedtime was 6:45 (fell asleep right away)....Now she stirred at 5:45 and awake at 6:15   It seems like she can't sleep past 11.5 hours in a 24 hr. period...this really stinks! I'm due tomorrow and can't keep stressing over sleep, it just consumes me

[andysmom0614]

It seems like she can't sleep past 11.5 hours in a 24 hr. period...this really stinks!

I can't either. It seems to be the max for my son too.

I had my mom give Andy an extra 15 minutes on his nap yesterday because he seemed tired. Results were a 45 min NW but he slept in an extra 45 min. So, I guess I learned my lesson. No more naps over 1 hour.

[Tweakster]

I'm really struggling to know when to pull bedtime back to.  I think some OT is creeping in.

The day he had a 1 hr 20 min nap we did a 7:30.
Yesterday he had a 1 hr 30 min nap we did 7:45.
He went to gymnastics last night and was too tired to even walk up the stairs at bedtime, no word of a lie he asked to be carried then said 'bed please' while we were scrambling to change him.

Are we doing bedtime too late again?

His waking is creeping earlier, this morning he woke at 6ish chatting and then was quiet until DH went in at 7ish.  But I'm not sure he was asleep in that hour, I really don't think so.

[KathrynK]

Wendy can you do 7pm tonight to see if that will stop the creeping OT in its tracks?

Alex fell asleep in his dinner at nursery yesterday at 3.45pm. Literally in it. Baaad mummy telling them to stop his nap 

[Tweakster]

Yeah I think we'll see what the nap was like but probably do 7 pm regardless.  I am worried that it's OT.  And if we get a 5:30 waking then I'll just tell them to let him nap longer tomorrow and go back to a later bedtime.  It's the only way we'll know for sure.

Lol not funny for poor Alex but I love those videos of kids who are so tired they will drop anywhere...Finn fell asleep in the car the other day holding his box of Winnie the Pooh books open, one minute he was looking at his books, the next asleep with the box open, hands on the box, frozen in time lol

[babybarr]

O fell asleep on my friend's sofa the other day      Never ever thought I'd see that happen to the boy who would only nap in his cot!!

He had a 30min nap today after being at the zoo with my mum so did a slightly later bed.  Keep your fingers crossed we don't get night issues

[KathrynK]

Duly crossed for you xx
And lol at Finn with his books 

[Tweakster]

Ugh that did not work out.  Kid was totally OT - he could not work out Mr Potato Head so he lost his mind, a tantrum spiral which carried through dinner and made it painfully slow to get him fed.  Finally got him down at 7:15 ish.  Best we could do.

[andysmom0614]

Keep your fingers crossed we don't get night issues

Fingers crossed for you.

Ugh that did not work out.  Kid was totally OT - he could not work out Mr Potato Head so he lost his mind, a tantrum spiral which carried through dinner and made it painfully slow to get him fed.  Finally got him down at 7:15 ish.  Best we could do.

Hope he sleeps for you tonight and things are better tomorrow. Hate those evenings.

Anyone else think that maybe it is so hard right now because it is Spring and the day is getting longer? I know it is light at 5am where I am and it wakes me up. DS has black out curtains, but it is still lighter in the room. Just a thought...

[Tweakster]

Actually I am toying with that.  There was a time when we had to wake him in the AM, so I thought 'oh it's too dark in there' (we have black out blind and lined curtains lol - oh it's daaaark) and he's not waking naturally.  So I left the blind up a bit and closed the curtains.  Didn't seem to make a difference.  But past couple of days I left the curtains open and blind down.  He woke earlier (or so it seemed).  So tonight I closed everything again.

It's probably not the case but I'll try anything to prevent EW lol

Forgot to cross fingers for you Laura, was too deep in my own pit of doo doo lol  Here's hoping!!!