10m old and need another tweak!

[Love, laughter, & PJs]

I kept thinking Grace's failure to take a good nap was illness-related or due to the fact that we were traveling but now we're back home and she's getting better and we're still off so I think I need some help!

We just can't get a good long nap our of her at all lately.  Naps are 30 min - 1h15.  We've been doing early BT, which has definitely been keeping things from going totally out of control, but wakeup time has crept earlier and earlier and I'm sure she's OT.  I keep thinking we should try a longer first A time but she's falling apart by 4h and goes down so easily. Just won't stay down.  Then I can't sort out the 2nd A time and even if we have a super short first nap I can't seem to get a good 2nd one out of her. 

Here's yesterday:

6:45: A (after starting to stir and going back down on and off from 5:30)
10:50: S
11:30: A
2:15: tried to put her down, major resistance
3: S
3:45: A
6:30: S

A couple of NWs, one long (which is unusual for her lately but she did have a new tooth - her first! - this morning so that could have explained that).

That was actually worse than things have been generally.  Here's how today has started, which has been more typical:

6:15: A
10:15: S
11:30: A, happy

I'm going to try to put her down around 3 again and see how it goes. 

I would just really like to get a nap longer than 1h15 at least once a day.  I know we're definitely doing the 2-1 and so things are going to be wonky for sure.  I was thinking about trying short AM/long PM but since I'm struggling so much with that 2nd A time I wasn't sure how it would go.  (I have tried everything from 2h30 to 3h30 after a 30min nap.)

Thanks! 

[kitcat]

When my first was about that age we cut the first nap to 20 minutes. After that we could do an earlier second nap (2h on good days) and she would get a longer last A. It also helped us move the wake-up time a little later. I found that when you cut the first nap under 45 minutes they don't last as long and if you find the right timing you should be good for a while.

[Love, laughter, & PJs]

Thanks, kitcat.  I'm hesitant to cut back so much, though.

[kitcat]

May try 30 minutes. I did 40, 30 and 10 when I did 2 to 1. You will also probably have some trial and error to determine the second A after the shorter am nap.

[Love, laughter, & PJs]

Yeah that's where I am for sure.  I'm just hesitant to intentionally cut the AM nap since I'm having such trouble with the 2nd A time.  I'd rather try to do long AM, short PM but I can't get her to do long AM.  I think she probably needs more A time since she's so often doing 1h15, but then she's a total mess if I push her longer than 4h.  Argh.

[kitcat]

Hmm what if you try an earlier morning nap, say after 3:30 or an A time you are sure she can handle. Try to get a good solid nap and allow her to recuperate if she is in the OT cycle from her early morning. After a good nap it may be easier to find the second A.... I think you may need to do trial and error for a couple days. What did you try yesterday?

I also forget what are average A times at 10 months (it is amazing how fast you forget the details...). I'm thinking there is probably an existing thread on that. Maybe someone could post the link.

[amayzie]

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.msg476652#msg476652

This also has the average A times!