18mo taking 45mins-1hr to settle at BT-please help

[*foxy*]

Hi

My DP is currently doing the wind down routine so I hope she'll be asleep by 7pm but she usually doesnt go down until 7.30 no matter what time we start the bedtime routine.

Unfortunately on Wednesday and today I had no control over how long she napped for as she was with the childminder on Wednesday and her grandparents today. I asked that they wake her after 1 hour 30 but it didnt happen. When she was with me on Thursday I did a nap from 12.30-2pm.

Ill will start tomorrow as Im with her for the next 4 days. She so clingy and so tired so I hope she'll sleep better tonight. 

[*foxy*]

Friday night was just awful (horrible horrible teething and a cough) but she woke at 7am.

Saturday was:
Nap 12.15-1.30 (she woke on her own)
BT 7.30pm
NW 11.30 but settled quickly
WU 6.30am but with the clock change it was 7.30am

Today nap was 12.50-2.20pm
BT 8pm

So we'll see what time she wakes tomorrow, I'm hoping 7am then I can do a nap 12.30-2 with BT at 7.30pm! Hmmmmm....................that's the plan anyway!

[Bex09]

Yay for the better wu time hun, that is great. Hopefully now, as you say, you can keep your day closer to 12 hrs and that may help the EW a bit. Got everything crossed for you.

[*foxy*]

She slept from 8pm (with a little squeak and a cry out but didn't need us at 4.30) all the way through until 7.30! We had to go in and get her up which felt very weird! Thankyou for your help and support

[Kay Dee]

Brilliant! So glad you had a better night

[*foxy*]

Hi

We've finally achieved a lovely later WU , we had to wake her at 7 this morning which was very weird. BUT bedtimes are AWFUL!

Today was WU 7.10am (we woke her)
Nap 12.30-2
We tried for a 7.30pm BT but she's still not asleep (7.55pm). Last night she finally fell asleep at 8.10pm.

Should I cap her nap further? To 1hr 15?
Ideally we dont want her to wake any later than 7am as the days I work we have to leave early. Or should we wake her in the morning at 6.45am instead of 7am?

She just plays in her cot for ages and then gets really upset. She's yawning but just chats away to her soft toys. I guess shes UT

[clairebear79]

Yay for the later WU!!!! 

We're also having some issues with my DS taking a while to settle at BT & I too am feeling lost!, We've been doing

Wake 7am
Nap: 1-2.30
BT: 7.30

I've been keeping A time to BT at 5hrs, however I am debating whether this may even be too long as he is taking ages to go over & then today he was stirring from 5am onwards & up at 6.30am. I am thinking of trying either a 4.5hr A time to BT (since we are already doing 6hrs in the AM) or I will pull the nap back to 12.30pm & do a 5hr A to BT at 7pm, or I have to consider capping the nap more.  Its a scary prospect that they can go from a 2hr nap to a 1hr nap literally overnight though, right?!

Could you try an earlier BT first, in case she's OT?  Since she's yawning, chatting then getting upset, it sounds more like OT than UT.  How is she during the day?  Happy?  Does she seem tired at all?  I'd say if earlier BT at say 7pm doesn't do the trick (give it a few days), then I would say the next step would be to cap the nap further.

xx

[*foxy*]

Hi Claire

The tweaking never ends does it?!

We are currently doing a bath at 6.20, wind down and then she's in her cot at around 7pm. So its taking over an hour for her to go to sleep! Do you think put her down earlier? The only thing is she's up at 7am so its not like she's having a long day at all.

She's very happy in the day, no issues with her at all.

[clairebear79]

Hmmm.  Where are you at with the GW - Are you putting her in the cot & leaving her to it now?

If she's super happy & she's already in her cot at 7pm, IDK.  You can't really do a lot more than that.  OK so what about putting her in her cot 15mins later?  If she is UT when you put her in at 7, she may be taking quite a while to go over b/c of that.  Whereas if you put her in a wee bit later say 7.15 rather than 7, she may settle more quickly - what do you think?  Just a thought.  It may prove whether she is UT - if she goes over by 7.30 then you know she needs that bit more A time.  Then its down to you how you give it i.e. with a slightly later BT or by cutting the nap a wee bit more.

Maybe Kay Dee can share her thoughts on this?

[*foxy*]

She was teething very badly on Friday so that set us back a bit with GW. She doesn't need any contact anymore and I'm very close to the door, I just need to get the other side of it which I was going to ask for some advice on. We can't stand in the doorway as the hall is quite bright from the lights outside which we can't do anything about. So do I just walk out at this point? There will be lots of tears for sure.

We will try putting her down slightly later, tomorrow she's got to be up at 6.45 so that I can drop her at the childminders on my way to work so that might make a difference.

[Bex09]

Hi there, great news on the later wu time. As for getting out of the door I would get to the door first and then maybe see if she will let you WO without her crying. If she does cry you can go back in and sit by the door again. Is the light from a street light or from the hall light?

[clairebear79]

Hmmm.  If she's got to be up earlier tomorrow I'd probably hold fire on that later BT.  And maybe even until you've done the next step of the GW.  Just to completely rule it out of the equation IYSWIM?

[*foxy*]

Hi Bex, its the light from a street light, we can't do anything about it.

I'll stick with the usual BT tonight and see how  she's gets on. she should be tired from being at the childminders all day anyway.

[Bex09]

Could you maybe put a sheet or blanket up at the window as a temporary thing, just while you try the final step of getting out of the door? If not then I think once you are at the door you will have to just go for it and WO and hope that DD is ok with it.

[*foxy*]

Hi Bex, yep we can try that. I'd love to be able to just leave her! We are getting there slowly!