Anyone Want To Talk About The 2-1 Transition? Thread #18

[clairebear79]

choc - What A time is he doing after that 40min PM nap?  Can you post your EASY for the last couple of days?  Glad to see you got your AM nap lengthened out anyway.x

Kara - yay for the 1 nap day again! & the resignation!

[*Kara*]

Still sleeping and we are just hitting the 2 hr mark!  YAY!!!!  If we can get 2 hrs - I can still sneak a CN if she needs it... since EBT means EW here

[choc]

Yes I am hoping it will rectify itself.  I don't go to him, he is usually awake from 5.30 til 5.45 then back to sleep til 6.30.

The last 2 days have been like this
6.30 wake
S -10
W - 11.30
S - 2.20
W- 3
Bed -7

I must say though that this is the 2 days after his birthday weekend where he hardly slept so I think the long nap and short first A are catch ups.  He always has his pm nap at this time and for this long because of the childminders school run.  He has been doing this nap with the 4hr A to bed with no problem since the beginning of June.

No routine lasts longer than about 2 days at the moment though!  Last week he was refusing to nap til around 11/11.30am. 

[lily528]

kara - wow now i am jealous!!!! I am fearful of the EBT=EW too...that is why i have sort of steered clear of it when i can...

[lily528]

So despite my fears I fully intended to do an EBT at 6 but got stuck at work and ended up with 6:45 :/ woke at 5:55 am tried to AP back but she wasn't having it has been a whiny crabby mess all morning ...don't even know what to do from here. There is next to no chance she will CN so we have 1 nap to count on. We've been doing 4hr 45 min A and getting 1.5 hr nap for the day. I am off til Monday now so I will definitely be doing EBT this week for as long as I need to but not sure what A to do today?  The usual A would be a 10:45 nap probably waking at 12:15 even with a 6 pm EBT that's a 6 hr A to BT....should I push the morning A and hope to still get at least a 1.5 hr nap so her A time to BT is less than 6 HRS?  Assuming she still gives at least 1.5 hrs. If so how much should I push beyond the usual 4 hr 45 min A before nap?

[lily528]

Oh my gosh ladies ...I decided to push the A this morning ...did 5 hrs 10mins instead of 4 hrs 45 mins and she seemed fine sigh but then woke at 40 mins cried a minute and appeared to be sleeping for another 10 mins and then just screamed ...so 50 min nap...guess I pushed too much after a slightly EW (due to a later BT than I wanted)  sigh so obviously need to try for a pm nap which never happens but I HAVE to try right? But when?  How long?  She was up at 12 from the crummy 50 min nap...when should I try?  Anyone out there today?!

[ZacsMumme]

Oh hun I am sorry the nap was a bust. I would try no longer than 30mins or you will feel rubbish and she will probably get mad. I wouldnt try before 3.5hours, pref 4 and if possible I would try for a CN in the car first (if she will nap in the car) with her lovey (if she has one) and if she doesnt go off then try in the cot. What do you think?
I am starting to think A may need a set nap really....you would need to stick with it for a good 5 days to see if it works though...

[*Kara*]

Melissa - When I make a big shift to Alexandra's sleeping patterns, I have always had the most luck with doing a set nap as Sara has suggested.  It really helps to reset that body clock quickly... otherwise, your EW days can really throw the actual time of the nap out, making it hard for them to adjust.

Since I am likely the meanest mom out there with nap dropping   This is what I am doing now since yesterday was proof that a CN is still a fight and she just ends up wired at bedtime for that little bit of sleep - better to skip it and move BT up an hour if need be!

So - ideally:

Wake 630am
Nap 1130-2pm
BT 730pm

Bear in mind that my DD is low sleep needs and has never slept more than 11 hours and that was only a handful of times

She does tend towards an EW on occasion, so the set nap really helps to fight that for me...

Today, she woke at 545!  Ugh.  But, mean mommy wasn't giving in completely... so I packed her up and off to playgroup we went at 10am... she had a 10 min CN in the car on the way, but then played really well until we left at 1130am.  Made it home by 1145, finished her lunch happily and had a few minutes to relax - still no yawning from her though!  Took her upstairs and suddenly she realized she was sleepy   Head on my shoulder - no talking during bum change... had a quick snuggle and sang twinkle twinkle... in the crib and out like a light at 1210.

[*Kara*]

Argh!  She was down at 1210 without a peep but my neighbours are moving and have woken her up at 150pm... she is just starting to call for me now at 203pm... 

Looks like we will be doing an EBT whether I like it or not!  Too late for a CN... 7/730 it is!

[lily528]

ok girls...here's a new one...did the nap 2.5 hrs A after her 50 min nap...this was before getting any replies back so I just went on my gut and her signs..she kept laying on me and snuggling and on the floor with her bunny..clearly tired...she slept 45 mins  so I still did an EBT at around 6...she played for a while...longer than I hoped and was asleep by 6:30....she then woke at 5 am but drifted back within a minute on her own..then up and crying at 5:30 gave her a bottle and she actually went back to sleep til 8:15!!!!! wondered if I should wake her but thought more that it was catch up and I should let her...but now what do we do for a nap here?  i was thinking about the set time...was figuring 12-12:15 but today that is only a 4 hr A...we were doing 4 hrs 45 mins...aside from yesterdays disaster of 5hrs 15 mins...so should I just do 12:15 at 4 hr A?  most days she is up around 6:30 so it would end up being a 5.5 hr A...is that too much?  Kara listed 6:30 wake up 11:30 nap...would that be better at only a 5 hr A?  when the heck do you do lunch? lol before? and it being set say she wakes at 5 one day ...still stick with it no matter how long of an A it is?  or the opposite like today where she wasn't up til 8:15...still the same time?  even though it's a shorter A?  I am thinking so if I am understanding that it is to set the body's clock...right?



edit:  asked the question a little too late...it was already 12 lol so I chose to give her a bottle and put her down..she is now asleep at 12:20...lets see what happens..but from here on in i want to make sure I understand what to do correctly...


kara how did you make out yesterday?

[lily528]

sigh 1 hr nap...its 1:23pm....what do i do now?  EBT I guess right?  blah i really just want to give up obviously i can't but all this figuring out is exhausting...truly...and i am clearly not very good at it...



edit:   sorry for all the posts...i should think things out more before bothering you girls..but wondering....maybe NOT do the EBT at 6 and try more for 7?  it WAS only a 1 hr nap BUT she did sleep til 8:20 am....if i do the 5 hr A to the EBT at 6...she'd only have done 9 hrs A total today...though she probably slept that late to catch up so maybe i should do EBT?!  aaaaahhh any advice ladies?

[*Kara*]

Hey Melissa -

To do the set naps, you do not waiver more than 15 mins from the time you have chosen, either before or after.  It can be tough on a day that they sleep in or wake up too early, but trust me when I say that they generally don't make a habit of it with a set nap.  Mine catches on very quickly   The only thing that you will have to watch for is that LO will get very sleepy and super whiny around the old nap times - don't be fooled!  The first day it may be genuine, but after a couple days, it's just the body clock telling them that they should be napping at X time, not because they really are all that tired in most cases.  If you follow cues with it, you will almost always get a short nap!

Since she was up late, I would push her as far as you can.  What is her personality type?  How does she do with a bit of OT?  I am really finding that a 20 min CN really just messes up night sleep at this point, as well as results in a really cranky baby for the rest of the evening

As for lunch - I tend to split her lunch.  She generally has fruit and veg at lunch along with some finger foods so I give her the fruit before her nap along with a big bottle (she has 3 per day now).  When she wakes, I will give her the veg and finger foods to finish her lunch.  That will get her through to dinner around 530pm.

Yesterday went so great!  She was up at 545am - gross. But I took her to a playgroup anyways to amuse her - she totally loved it!  Her BFF was there so that helped   She did sneak a 7 min CN on the way there, which I totally expected her to do.  Wasn't worried because anything less than 15 mins doesn't do much when I am going to be keeping her up for a while anyways.  She played like a crazy girl until 1130am and we left, she actually stayed awake for the whole drive without me poking and her!  Had a small lunch at 1145am and was down for a nap at 1215... she only slept for 1 hr 40 mins as she was woken by our neighbours who decided to move yesterday   But, I kept her up fairly easily until 7pm!  Had her in the bath at 630, then a bottle and bed.  Put her down fairly settled, but she squealed once I made it downstairs - tell tale sign of a burp stuck - so up I went.  Quickly picked her up and a little rub and out it came!  Back down into the crib.  Stroked her head for a few minutes to help her relax again and she was out at 710pm!  Not a sound all night!!!  Daddy woke her up when he got up this morning at 620am!  11 hrs 10 mins!!!  OMG!

[*Kara*]

Question: how long of a nap am I hoping for each day with just the one nap?  2 -2.5 hrs?  She has just woken at 210pm after going down at 1145am so just shy of 2.5 YAY!

Is there a point that you would wake LO?

[clairebear79]

Kara - you are aiming for 2-2.5hrs.  You would probably only consider capping it if you found you were consistently getting shorter nights.  2.5hrs is a fab nap!  

Melissa - Kara gave good advice re: the set nap, but be warned - it can take some LO's A LOT longer than a week for things to fall into place & you have to be prepared to ride it out, even if she gets really OT.  We tried a couple of weeks ago & did 2 weeks of set nap at 11am which was 5hrs A.  It ended with us having repeated NW & EW at 4.50am & that was the point at which I caved.  I have since been told I should have stuck it for 3/4 weeks before he would settle into it, so if you go for it, keep the 3/4 weeks in mind & hopefully your LO will settle into it within a week  

Sadly things haven't gotten any better since we tried 1 nap - I don't think I gave him enough time to catch up before pushing his nap again.  He's now in a horrible OT mess, AND he is poorly again.  He's on antibiotics for a chest infection & he has a horrible nasty that he got from nursery - hand, foot & mouth disease.  Its blisters on hands & toes & inside his mouth & the ones in his mouth are ulcerated & incredibly sore. I th

So our plan to get his nap shifted out has gone on hold til he's better.  He's had 2 more days of rubbish naps, yesterday 4hrs A, 1h 15 OT nap (woke at 30mins) & then had just 10mins PM C/N.  Today 3.75hrs A, 1hr 40 OT nap (woke at 30mins & 1.25hrs) & total PM nap refusal even though he was yawning constantly & rubbing his eyes.

I just realised I joined this thread about 3-4 months ago now & I am still floating around here in a right mess while most folks who joined with me & quite a few who joined after me have all been & gone & successfully transitioned onto 1 nap.  Is it totally down to inconsistency on my part that we are struggling so much  He is such a tricky baby & he really doesn't cope with OT well so we get in such a mess every time I try to push him.

[ZacsMumme]

2.5 is great Kara Zac usually sleeps between 2-3 hours. I usually don't cap unless he goes over 3 hours because I find he needs it and it doesnt affect our nights. Hopefully you find A starts to sleep longer at night. SInce we moved to 1 nap days Zac is in bed 12hours. We get some 11.5hour nights but nothing like we used to get with 10.5 ick!

Melissa...I agree with both PP. I guess a lot depends on your LOs nature. If she handles OT well then set naps probably will work for you, if not then you may struggle. If she is touchy the routine will work well, but the possible OT that comes with it wont which makes transitioning hard. Spritied...then you probably can jump to 1 nap and hold on. IYKWIM.

HUGS Claire, it is so hard and I know how you feel when we got in a muddle earlier with Zacs naps getting messed up (and that was just a few weeks) I guess for me, the best thing was to stick with one thing. I know it is harder to actually do, but even if you waiver a bit the odd time and PD early he will adjust, every time I changed Zacs naps around he got really messed up. I think it was the touchy in him.