28 mo old - question about her dwindling nap...

[aimeeL]

L has been on a set A time for at least the last 6 months.. She does 6 hr A time. nap, and then 5.5 hrs afterwards.  It's worked brilliantly.  But I'm sensing the winds of change... and am not sure what to tweak next.

For instance, today was:

6:30 a.m - wake up (just under 10.5 hr night)
12:40 - 2:20 p.m. - nap (1.75 hrs - I woke)
8:20 p.m. - asleep

I usually put her in bed after 5.25 hr A time - so tonight, she was in bed at 7:40 p.m.. but she didn't fall asleep until 8:20 p.m... which is a bit too long of a day, I think...

So what's the next step?  Do I keep cutting her nap?  And if so, do I do that by pushing her nap later, and keeping wakeup the same?  So making first A time longer and 2nd A time the same?  Or by keeping her first A time and just cutting her nap shorter, making the 2nd A time longer??

Or do I just leave well enough alone?  I mean, there is no *problem*, per se... she's happy as a clam for the most part and is seeming to function fine on 10-10.5 hr nights and 1.75 hr naps... I just hate to wait until it becomes a bigger deal and have to scramble to fix it...

TIA 

[sianie]

Hi there...

Not settling at BT (I assume that she's happy rather than crying?), usually indicates UT for us.

A 2hr nap at 28 mths is pretty good, I know that with DD we had to start capping her nap at around 1.5hrs when she was around 2 yo.

I guess you have a few options: 1/ keep the nap at it's current length but push BT back. 2/ Cap the nap at 1.5hrs for a few days to see if this makes a difference 3/ &/or push nap back a bit later to say 1pm & then wake by 2.30pm.

What do you think?

[aimeeL]

Yup... that's what I thought were my options.. any guesses as to which is the better one to pick?? 

[missyb]

Yup... that's what I thought were my options.. any guesses as to which is the better one to pick?? 

We are having similar issues with Ds who is 2.

For us keeping the nap at the same time but capping it worked well.

But every LO is different so it is probably just trial and error.

Good luck!!

[sianie]

Agree with PP, it's a personal choice based on what you feel would work the best for your LO. If one option doesn't work after a few days then try a different way!

Good luck! 

[aimeeL]

Ugh.  Today was:

6 a.m. - Wakeup (this is slightly earlier than her normal wakeup, but my parents are visiting and DH is gone for a few days, so I'm going to assume this is more about that than anything else..)
12:15 - 2 p.m. - Nap (I woke)
8:20!!!! p.m. - Finally asleep

I tucked her in at 7:20 p.m. and she just laid there for AN HR.  Well, actually, she got up three times and I had to tell her to go back to bed.  She was fairly amiable about it all, but she's also a pretty mellow kid.  Which is why it makes me feel bad to have her routine so wrong, ykwim?

I think I'd like to do the later, capped nap so as to keep it in line with DD2's nap..  If she does a 6:30 a.m wakeup, 1-2:30 p.m. nap.. when would you do bedtime?

[sianie]

I would probably aim for an 8pm BT.

[clazzat]

If she does a 6:30 a.m wakeup, 1-2:30 p.m. nap.. when would you do bedtime?

That's pretty much what we're running on at the moment, although nap is probably more often 12.45-2.15, and E is in bed at 6.45/6.50 and asleep well before 7.30.  Not saying this is necessarily what you should do, just offering a comparison.

[aimeeL]

So 8:20 p.m. asleep and... wait for it.. 5 a.m. wakeup.  Actually, probably earlier, but that's when *I* woke up and looked at the monitor.  SERIOUSLY!?  Less than 9 hrs??  Ugh. 

[scucci1979]

lots of hugs. 

[clazzat]

I think that sounds OT, Aimee.  I would try an earlier bedtime tonight and see if it helps.

[~*Nicole*~]

Also, since she falls asleep really well for her nap and resists bedtime more.....I'd be inclined to keep her nap the same time and cut it a bit shorter and then keep bedtime around her normal time. (This is barring any OT issues at the current moment that may need to be resolved LOL)

For us, Ava resisted her nap as much as bedtime which is why her nap got pushed later, but I otherwise would have left it the same and let bedtime get later until I couldn't handle it being any later and then cut her nap shorter. But for us she was resisting on BOTH accounts, nap AND bedtime and so we had to figure other things out (a later AND shorter nap UGHHHH).

So, yes overall, earlier bedtime tonight....she is probably OT from resisting bedtime...which has absolutely happened to Ava while she started this needing tweaks garbage   But then if she wakes at a normal time and gets a good night's sleep, I'd keep her usual nap time and try cutting and keeping her usual bedtime and see how that goes. ONLY b/c she doesn't seem to resist her nap at all so why break that if it's working.

Of course, I can SAY all this and then watch, she won't cooperate!

[aimeeL]

Yeah, OT and teeth, too, I think... I'll medicate her tonight and see how it goes.  I put her down at 11:50 a.m. and am thinking of giving her 2 hrs... so 1:50 p.m. - and then bedtime at 7:15 p.m.  I just don't see her going down any earlier.  If I cut her nap today, perhaps she would.. but that doesn't feel right either, given her super short night.

Nicole - what you said makes a LOT of sense.  Because you're right - she never gives me any nap resistance.  In fact, she almost always RUNS for her room and is asleep within 5 min of me leaving.  So once we're through with this OT business, I'll see about keeping naptime the same and cutting it bit by bit.  What a shame...

Sianie - So you'd still do a 5.5 A time after a 1.5 hr nap, huh?... hmmm... I'd really like bedtime to be more like 7:30 p.m.. is that not going to happen...? 

[~*Nicole*~]

The earlier bedtime you want, the more you'll likely have to cut the nap LOL

[aimeeL]

So we've gone from bad to worse...   I'm not sure what to make of it.

Started cutting nap to about 1.5 hrs, 1 hr 35 min.. and it seemed to be going okay.  She was falling asleep easier at bedtime - doing about 5.5/5 hr 40 min A time.  BUT - she's having at least 1 NW.  Occasionally, they're at midnight - and she often needs to pee then, so I think it's legit.  Plus, when she wakes at midnight/1 a.m., she will usually go back to sleep quickly.  But she'll sometimes do a 4/4:30 a.m. NW/EW - and that almost never has to do with pee.. she just shows up at the side of my bed and says she's done sleeping.  I put her back in, and she'll stay in bed... but will either take forever to go to sleep - so asleep by maybe 5:30 a.m., or just..not - like this morning!  She woke at 4:20 a.m... and didn't go back to sleep...I finally went and got her at 6:45 a.m.  The other day, she woke at 4 a.m. and fell back asleep at 5:30 a.m.. and then I think woke at 7:15 a.m.

I don't *think* the EWs/NWs are necessarily related to the nap cutting... it's not like it happened at the exact same time.. but then again..maybe??

And then we'll have a slew of good, normal days.. so what's the deal??  Is it teeth?  Her bottom molars are done, but her top molars are just about halfway there...

Yesterday was:
6:45 a.m. - wakeup
1 -2:30 p.m. - nap
8:10 p.m. - asleep

Surely it's not UT, right??  Do you think it's just teeth and it'll resolve itself?  I just don't know what to do with the nap on those EW days... I don't know if giving her a full 2 hrs will just perpetuate the cycle??  I AM giving her 2 hrs.. maybe even a bit more today because we have some students coming over to the house tonight and she'll be staying up a bit later than usual even... so it'll just be a crazy long, 16 hr + day..

The weird part is that on the days that she does the 4:30 wakeup and does NOT go back to sleep - she's still pretty happy.  No OT meltdowns like I would expect...  She had gymnastics today and was happy as a clam... didn't beg to go to sleep like she often does if she's grumpy or OT... just trotted dutifully to her room at noon and was asleep in a few...

Thoughts??