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

[clairebear79]

He did 2hrs from 10.20 - 12.20.  So that was 4h 50mins A time this morning.  Do you think it is feasible to just go with 6pm BT?  I can ask DH to take him for a little drive but if he doesn't sleep then that's our only option, right?

[Shiv52]

Can bedtime be any earlier?  can DH get him at 5pm get him home and straight to bed?  give him a quick bowl of porridge or something and straight to bed for 5.30?

My gut tells me 6pm is too late for an EBT after such a long A time and my instinct is to get him to take a quick CN and get a proper bedtime.    I fear he'll be up even earlier tomorrow from OT if he has to be stretched to 6pm.

[clairebear79]

I have that same worry too.  This is where we get caught out every single time.  B/C of the EW we have a long A to BT every single day.  He gets OT & the already short nights get even shorter.

What can I do about this though???  If I felt sure I could get a CN every day then I'd readily cap the AM nap at 1.5hrs every time.  But he even refused a CN after a 1.5hr nap the other day, so there seems little point in capping it, as I am just depriving him of the sleep he needs & creating an even longer A time to BT IYSWIM?

Are we just going to crash out with awful OT yet again?

I can't even reach DH to see if he'll do even earlier BT as he's driving home right now & will be just about to pick DS up.  By the time he's home it will probably be around 5.10pm, I'm not sure he'd be able to get him into bed by 5.30pm.  & I'll already be on my way home by then.

Siigh.

[Kay Dee]

How did bedtime go in the end? x

[Shiv52]

Was hoping you got your CN and can have slightly later bedtime and a chance of a decent wake up and one nap day tomorrow xx

[clairebear79]

Hi ladies.  DH actually took him for a drive b/c DS rubbed his eyes as soon as he got in the car.  But he didn't sleep.  They got home at 5.30pm & we got him ready for bed straight away.  He was in bed at 5.50pm & asleep at 6.05pm.

Ladies is there anything else I can do to help our WU situation when he won't take the CN?  We have the clocks changing on Saturday & our current 5-5.30am WU is going to become 4-4.30am.  We really don't need that & I am getting rather scared.

[Shiv52]

Nothing really hun. 

But on the day after the clocks go forward if you get a silly wake up then that next day is definately a long nap and CN day. 

I do think you are going to NEED a CN on those days when you are going to have 5.30 + A time to bed though. 

where is he tomorrow?

[clairebear79]

But on the day after the clocks go forward if you get a silly wake up then that next day is definately a long nap and CN day.

Ah & we should manage to achieve that shouldn't we b/c his nap should fall really early in the day.  I will definitely wake him up at the 2hr mark on that day.  Didn't think of that!

I do think you are going to NEED a CN on those days when you are going to have 5.30 + A time to bed though.

I see what you are saying - how the heck do I get one though???  Some days he'll take it easily, but other days he won't entertain it for a minute.  I suppose all I can do is offer him the chance, & if he refuses, get him in bed as quickly as I can.  Do you think I need to keep that PM A time at 5hrs max???

Tomorrow he's at his grandparents for the day.  Would you say I go with 4.75hrs A again?  I'm getting a bit worried I pushed too much too soon & really don't want to push too far tomorrow & get an OT nap.  Depending on WU/nap times/length, if he needs a CN I will ask grandma to try putting him down at her house, or not to sit in the back of the car with him on the way home (she always does, bless her) and there's his chance to take a CN.

[Roseii]

Claire is there any mileage in going back to am cn then longer pm, and pushing BT out a bit? X

[clairebear79]

I don't know Charli.  Is that just as a short term means to get us back to a later WU & BT again???  Or are you saying this b/c you don't think he's ready for the final push yet  

If I did it, what times do I go for?  Esp b/c he is now waking rather early???  I always wanted to go with a 10min CN at around 10am & a 2hr nap from 12.30-2.30, but I always struggled to get there with the really early waking. 

Ladies I am not saying I am going to do this, b/c I am worried that switching things up on him YET AGAIN is just going to confuse matters even more, but it does make me wonder a bit b/c at least I can guarantee I'll get both naps. 

[ZacsMumme]

Claire, when he wakes at 5.30am does he refuse to go back to sleep or do you think if you stuck with treating it as a NW it you could get that EW fixed and a later WU. this would help fix your day if you could get it...

[Roseii]

I treat 5-6am as a NW generally and do whatever it takes to get them back off

Perhaps if you reverted to short am long pm you might be able to push back BT and then WU, and be on more of an even keel to go to one nap? Maybe try it for a week? Then reevaluate? I personally don't find 10 mins is long enough in the am. I would start with 20-30 mins about 3.5 hours a time, then aim for a decent one about 3 hours later. But that is based on MY baby, who is quite high sleep needs and doesn't tolerate long a times. On 2 nap days she generally does:
A 7am
S 10-10.20
S 1.30-3.30
Bed 7.30-8

One nap is more like 7-7 with 2-2.5 hour nap around 11.30am.

Hth xx

[Shiv52]

I think the issue Charli is he is just not ready to nap that early on.  Is that right Clare? 

I think you need to cap the long am nap on the days where you are going to need a CN.  So today I would have got nursery to wake him at 1.5 hours and then i think he would have napped on the long way home. 

[ZacsMumme]

One nap is more like 7-7 with 2-2.5 hour nap around 11.30am.

Yes this is what worked for us, and the first thing I had to do (a few months back) was treat the EW as NW, push out that AM nap and Zac came right. I think as long as you have the 5.30 WU you cant really get to 1 nap without reinforcing it by needing mega EBT IYKWIM?

Ohhh I see Shiv... tricky

[Shiv52]

Its tricky because with a normal wake up EBT is fine but O doesn't consistently tack on.  So 11.5 hours is the most you can depend on really.  So 6pm bedtime is likely a 5/5.30am wake up.  Which is why I think on day where you get early wake ups I think you are going to have to get two naps in either by capping the first and getting a CN however you can get it or else doing short am-long pm.  But i think to try a one nap day and EBT is going to cause the most problems overall. 

I think Claire has tried to get him back to sleep but unless he resettles himself he will not go back over.  Same for extending naps.