What is your 17 month old's routine?

[aidenmc]

Just wondering as we have early starts and I really want to shift our day. He seems to be able to take a long nap if he goes down 12:30-1. But I am usually doing a fairly early BT.

Yesterday we had a 4:44 am wu. Held him off till 1 for nap (had cleaners here and he was out with dad) and he slept till 3:40. But was fussy for the next couple of hours. Went down later than normal at about 7, asleep by 7:15 and up again at 4:44  . Usually BT is 6-6:30, slightly later if he's had a long nap.

These early mornings are so tough. We rarely get anything after 5:30.

So, just wondering what other 17 mo's are doing.

[clairebear79]

Hi Becky.  O is now 16 months & we are also having EW again.  Routine before this was 5.30ish WU, nap 11/11.30-1/1.30 & BT 6.30/7pm so we were getting a solid 2hr nap + 10.5-11hrs night sleep.  I am now trying to push DS's nap later in an effort shift BT later & therefore stop the EW & we are at 12pm nap (its shortened to 1.5hrs though - OT) & 6.30/7pm BT. 

I think A's problem is that your BT is too early after that length of nap.  If O had that amount of nap there is no way I could get him to settle for BT at 6-6.30.  That's only 3hrs.  You would be looking at more like 5-5.5hrs A after that IMHO.  I can't let O nap for that long anymore b/c we get 9.5-10hr nights meaning a very early start, so I cap his nap.

What about if you pull the nap back to 12.30, let him sleep 2hrs max then aim for more like a 7/7.30pm BT?  You might have to work towards this gradually so as not to cause more OT.

I think my DS needs a shorter nap now in order to get a longer night.  Our plan is to push nap to 12/12.30, cap at 2hrs.  BT 5hrs later.  If this doesn't help EW (which I don't expect it will) then I will push BT out gradually until I get a later WU & decide if I can live with the shorter nights.  If I can, all is fair & well, if I can't then I will start capping the nap at 1.5hrs.

HTH.xx

[aidenmc]

Thanks Claire. That's the funny thing. He seemed to be happy with the early BT even after the decent length nap. He didn't fight BT, although sometimes played for a bit before going to sleep. But it doesn't help me shift the wu time so maybe I do need to get him used to going to sleep later, even if he continues to EW for a while.

the thing is our routine doesn't seem to stick for long. We go from a few days/nights of long naps and decent nights, then naps shorten to 1.5 hrs or less (usually when at daycare) and we end up with early BTs anyway. I just wish he'd stick with something consistently so I could work on shifting things later.

[clairebear79]

I totally KWYM - we have EXACTLY the same issue, though our WU's aren't generally quite as early as yours.  O rarely resists BT either, even if the A is too short, but we will get EW for that, & I think this is b/c he is genuinely tired from the long day (so goes to sleep easily), but not tired *enough* from the A time from nap-BT (so sleeps a shorter night) IYSWIM?

WRT the routine not sticking for long, we have also had this problem.  But TBH I probably am not pushing him to stick to something solidly for long enough b/c as soon as I see he's getting OT I either do EBT or an earlier nap to help him catch up, and he does, but then we are back to square one with early wake, early nap, early BT.

So for the last week I have held him out to naptime regardless of how tired he is & believe me, he is VERY tired.  And he has been doing shorter naps too.  I have still played BT by ear, aiming for around 5hrs A, but some nights he's struggled to settle through OT, and other nights he's chattered away.  Last night I did pull BT earlier & it paid off with an 11hr night.  If it helps, our day today went:

WU: 5.35, nap 11.55 - 2pm, BT: 7.00. 

He has been incredibly tired this avo & was rubbing his eyes over & over & kept laying down on the floor, but has still kicked up a bit of a fuss once in bed so even with the long day I am still worried he wasn't quite tired enough to give us longer than 10.5hrs tonight.  I am persevering though for a while longer & will gradually start to shift BT out so we hopefully get a later WU.

I am thinking this could be a good plan for you:  Keep his nap at 12.30, cap at 2hrs & start gradually shifting BT later by 15mins every week until its solidly at 7pm.  Be consistent with your naptime & BT regardless of how he naps (pulling it earlier by 15mins max if absolutely necessary) & power on through any OT you encounter.  I seem to remember you had success with a 12-2ish nap & 7pm BT before when you first went to 1 nap didn't you?  It might be he needs pushing even further to a 7.30pm BT or a 1pm nap but those things can be done as the next step in the plan.  What do you think?

[aidenmc]

I agree that the only way to change things is to push him. With DS1 I didn't read as much about sleep and didn't think as much about OT and therefore didn't do BT as early etc. and I don't think we had the same early routine that I have with ds3 and had with ds 2.

Today he did a 1pm nap and only slept 1.5 hrs, whereas yesterday after the same wu (though slightly earlier BT) he did 2hrs 40 nap, although he did go swimming all morning...He was okay right after waking but then just a bear the rest of the afternoon today. We've done a 6pm BT and I think he's quietly chatting now at 6:20. Sometimes we do get an 11hr night and occasionally 11.5 with this BT. I am going to keep to this naptime and gradually work on BT, hoping that the nap is decent enough to get him to a decent time.



I agree with keeping nap at 12:30-1 for the time being and working towards that 7pm BT.

[clairebear79]

Sounds like a good plan Becky - good luck.

Well after our 5.35am WU, 2hr nap 12-2 & 7pm BT, we got a 5.35am WU again.  Siigh.  So 5hrs clearly isn't enough A time after a 2hr nap.  I don't think I can wait another week before stretching O's BT out so I am going to do 15mins later starting from today, and then in a week's time will add another 15mins.  And hope upon hope this pushes out his WU.