Cold turkey to 1 nap - OT disaster - & now resisting 2 naps aarrrgggghhhh!!!

[Shiv52]

What did you do Claire?

I'd have woke at midday, did CN at 4.30 for 15-20 minutes then 7.15ish bedtime x

[clairebear79]

I let him sleep b/c every time I wake him he is never getting the sleep he needs, even though I know it can sometimes backfire.  He did 2h 15mins, woke at 12.15pm.  I'm doing an early tea & getting all his BT things ready & then we're heading out in the car at around 4.45pm in the hopes that sometime around 5pm ish he might take a wee CN.  Thats 4h 45 A time.  If he does even just 5-10mins max it should be enough to tide us over for a 7pm BT.  If he doesn't sleep, we'll be home just before 5.30pm in time to get him into bed for 6.

[Shiv52]

Hope it worked!   

[clairebear79]

No CN.  A few yawns & eye rubs & a glazed look at around 4h 45 A time but that was it.  No surprise really is it?  TBH after yesterday, I don't think he'd have had a C/N even if I had woken him up at the 2hr mark.  He is sooooo difficult to C/N - has been for months now.

So.....we had to go with EBT at 6pm.  Aaarrrrgggghhhh - I am a wee bit scared about what tomorrow will bring, though I am anticipating it will be in the 5am hour, so as not to get my hopes up that he will do the magical 12hrs.  Not really what I wanted for his day at nursery but it can't be changed now.

[Shiv52]

Yeah I'd prefer for 5am as that is reasonable and anything else is a bonus! 

What will nursery do tomorrow?

[clairebear79]

They say they will do whatever I ask them, but sometimes he does go down a lot later than I ask.  I will have to make a judgement based on how he sleeps overnight.

[Shiv52]

Will you have a chance of a CN tomorrow or is it too hard with work?

[clairebear79]

If he wakes super early I will ask nursery to try for a C/N before DH collects him at 5pm.  We only live a 5minute drive away from the nursery so there's barely time for a car C/N.  And I don't get home from work til 5.30pm.

I don't want to rush him in this transition & want to make sure he can really cope with these long A times, but honestly, are we just dragging this out doing it this way?  I feel like gradual is a better approach for O with how sensitive he is to OT (being Touchy) but it is making it awfully tricky, esp with the EW & outside care.

If we get a really decent night, would we just be better to push his A time a bit & go for the 4.75 or 5hr A & hope  pray for a really decent nap followed by EBT?  I reckon I could just about get him down for 6pm if needed, but no earlier.

[Shiv52]

I'd say if you got a 6am wake up you could do 4.75 A time, fingers crossed for a 2 hour + nap then bed at 6pm ish and that would work for sure.  I think the fact he is doing 2 hour + nap means he is more ready for one nap than you think.  It took M about 3-4 weeks to lengthen her nap from 1.5 -2.5/3 hours.. 

[clairebear79]

Yea the 2hr naps are good.  Usually what happens (this is 2-1 nap attempt no. 3) is we get a few days of fab naps then they shorten & shorten, then his nights lengthen (b/c he's exhausted) & then it happens all over again.  But a lot of the time we've perhaps stretched his day too long & he's done 5-5.5hrs either side of his nap.  Maybe that is a bit too much just yet.

[Shiv52]

I think keeping on upping the A time will help with that issue though.  Because chance are the long nights are making him really well rested and he could be doing with 5 hours A time to keep  it all together and so on. 

So 4.75 tomorrow? 

[clairebear79]

Well last night he woke crying at 7.40pm & again at 8.25pm & 9.10pm.  Then woke at 5am chattering & shouting.  At 5.20 all went quiet again & he woke for the day at 5.33am.  So he had 11h 10mins sleep altogether.  OK, but I was secretly hoping he might do a solid 11.5hr night, YK?

So, with a 5.30am WU this makes his nap 10am again, or 10.15 if I do the 4.75hrs A.  I am a bit worried about his nap starting so early in the day b/c every single day this means he has a long afternoon to BT, ends up OT by BT & does a shorter night.

WWYD today (bearing in mind he's at nursery so he can't be AP'd for a CN)

[Kay Dee]

Hey Claire, sounds like you're nearly there with the one nap! You just need to keep pushing the nap on slowly to stop that OT at bedtime and to try and get your BT and EW moved on a bit too. So I would keep moving the nap and do 4.75hrs today. I think catnaps might be a lost cause with O! But he seems to be coping really well

Best if luck for today x

[Shiv52]

I'd do 4.75 today too and I would try and get a CN when you pick him up, even 10 minutes to get him through to bedtime without being crazy OT.  Can DH drive the long way home?

[clairebear79]

LOL there is no long way home!!!!  One route only!!!!  I will be calling nursery to see when/how he slept & make a decision from there.