I guess we are here now...2-1 question

[~Sarah~]

Hi all-
I guess if it is not one of my toddlers, it will be the other!!

DD is spirited and I have thought she was low sleep needs.  Now at 12mo she is doing weird stuff to me.
We actually have been on 1nap since about 9.5mo.  She was doing A times of 4-5hrs happily and sttn 13hrs.  Now all of a sudden she did this today:

A 3hrs
S 40min (woke happy chatting)

A 4hrs
S 1hr and still going!  Problem is it is 445pm and I am going to have to wake her soon.

This is just today, but for the last month or so I have been going strictly on her cues as she was getting OT, so I went with the flow.  That means she will do anywhere form 2.5-4.5 first A and usually 5-6hrs second A and about 12 hr (or more to make up for a short nap).  The thing is she never sleeps more than 1.5hrs for her nap.  Sometimes she will do 2hrs...but it has been a few wks since she did that.

We did do a med wean trial and it failed so I do know her sleep has been a little off the last wk.  But she seems to be back up to speed with her meds (not screaming before every sleep anymore) so I don't think pain is the issue, plus she was doing this weird thing before the trial.

I have noticed she will sign to nurse about 20-30min before she gets tired.  That seems to be my first sign she will be wanting a nap.
Oh and she does not respond well at all trying to get her to nap UT!!  It is a physical act of strength to hold onto her just to try to calm her into sleep.  She does things her way a lot of the time!!  Did I mention she is Spirited??

I guess I just don't know if I should be doing something or continuing to go with the flow more.  My DS just did the 2-1 VERY different.  He is a day sleeper through and through.  He did 2 x 2hr naps until almost 1yr then by 14mo was fully transitioned to 1 nap x 3hrs almost over night it seemed.  He also could barely do 2.5hr first A until he switched then when he started refusing second nap I just pushed his morning A and taa daa..we had 1 long nap!! (textbook/angel)

So I guess I am just not sure what I need to do here?
TIA
Sarah

[babybarr]

Perhaps you need to try the "pushing for an additional 15 mins" after you know she's tired to see if you can encourage a good nap?

[~Sarah~]

Here is what happened and it tends to happen when she does 2nap days.

She finished the day by going to sleep at 8 which is what I expected, but then woke at 7.  So in the end she only slept 13hrs 15min in 24 hr period.  But if I keep her on 1nap even if it is short she ends up sleeping a 12-13hr night with nap added in she will have over 14hrs total sleep.

I guess the question I am asking is should I be ignoring her cues and pushing her A times again to get 1 nap and more sleep?  Also, ds just napped for2-3hrs from the start of 2-1..dd doesn't.   Will she ever sleep that long or is 1.5 all she will ever nap now??

[babybarr]

You'd probably find that perhaps she end up OT with just one nap days due to long A time.  I think atm I would perhaps alternate one nap and 2 nap days but on a 2 nap day cut the am nap to 30mins and put her down for the 2nd nap 3hrs (ish) later.  It sounds like she gives good tired cues and I would be reluctant to mess with than esp. as she isn't typically a great napper.  I too have a bad napper and going to one nap was no different unfortunately and that does seem to be the pattern.  However at least with your DD she'll make up the time at night.  Perhaps at the weekends you could do one nap to give you more flexibility and see how it goes?  How does she cope with OT?