Need Help with NW

[katie80]

Boo! When did she go to sleep last night? Waking 45 min after BT is usually OT. Are her teeth still coming in? This morning's wakes sound like OT/discomfort to me.

[MommySteezy]

Boo for sure  On the bad night she went to sleep at 8:00. I thought maybe OT, too after the 45 min wake up but I didn't want to put her down much earlier than 5 hours since she had such a good nap (3h cumulatively).

Yesterday even after the wonky CNs in the morning she ended up sleeping for 3 hours (consecutively this time) AND we had to go wake her up. Who knows how much longer she would have gone...

She had a pretty good night last night - went down at 8:30 and woke up this morning at 6:04. I tried getting her back down and she went down after 2 re-settlings and slept from 6:15-6:30.

I wasnt sure whether or not to do a CN - she did go back to sleep and wake up at 6:30, but it was only for 15 mins. I ended up doing one at 10:00 in the car and we took a little longer of a route than we should have so her CN ended up being longer than I wanted. She slept from 10:03-10:36. Her afternoon nap wasn't too awesome, only about 1h15m, I'm guessing as a result of her longer than usual CN.

I put her down before the 5 hour mark since she didn't have such a good nap and she went down pretty easily. Hoping for a good night.

YES - the teeth are STILL coming in. She teeths for SUCH a long time! Her bottom 2 seriously took about 3 months to come through. One of these is pushing right at the gum and you can see the white and feel the ridge right underneath. Every morning I check her mouth hoping it will have pushed through, but no luck so far. I hate to keep giving her pain meds bc I know prolonged dosage is not good for her but I don't want her to be in pain at night.

I feel like we have a pretty good thing going with the morning CN and nap, and for the first time in a very long time I think we are making some progress. I just don't know how to stretch these nights out. I would obviously love for her to put in a 12 hour night, but even if she just gave me 10.5 hours a night I would feel a little better. Will it take the push to 1 nap for that to happen for us? TBH - Friday night kinda of made me hesitant to try it again. I don't want her to slip backwards.

[MommySteezy]

Good News and Not-So-Good-News...

Had a couple NW last night. One around 12:30 AM (she resettled herself without my help), one at 1:20 AM (took about 15 mins to get her resettled and back down) and one at 3:02 (gave more tylenol and got her back down after about 8 mins). I think it must have been discomfort bc she would cry to herself for a little bit and try to get back to sleep and then eventually pop up. At the 1:20 NW I couldn't see her on the monitor so I wasn't sure if she was up or not so I waited it out and after a while I heard her say "hep" (aka help) 

On the good front - she slept until almost 7:00 this morning (6:53) which is the latest she has woken up in a while and the longest time in her own crib even though it wasn't consecutive.

Since she woke up so late I am going for a 1 nap day...nervous...send us good vibes. 

[MommySteezy]

Me again...

So - I put her down for her nap at 11:55 and she woke up at 1:20. When I tried to get her back down she wasn't having it at all. She acted like she was completely refreshed and was ready to get up. She kept pointing to the door and saying "up, up". I kept saying sleepy time and tried to resettle her but I had a hard time even getting her to lay her head down. A couple of times I laid her back down in the crib and she would lay there for a bit like she was trying to placate me. but then she would pop back up after a couple of minutes. I am SOOO confused  and of course nervous for what this means tonight may hold.

I guess my plan is to put her down for an early BT of 6:20. Although, I'm not really 100% sure she will make it that long on a not quite 1.5 hour nap. Should I try for a CN this afternoon, or do I do an even earlier BT? Help!

[katie80]

Ack!!! Sorry I haven't gotten back to you yet. DS is ill, I got about 4 hr sleep last night, and he rarely wants to be put down during the day, so I'm not keeping up here very well.

I hope BT went alright. I probably would've just told you to watch her carefully. If it seemed like she was fading around 4pm, I would've taken her for a little drive (just 20 min or so) and done BT at 7pm. Otherwise, the EBT of 6:20/30pm sounds just right to me. It's hard to say what it all means, because it's hard to see a pattern when you're not fully on one nap yet. It is an adjustment for them. Although she woke a bit last night, that was a longer night than she'd had in awhile, so it could be that she's ready for a bit of a push past 5hr A. Then again, it was likely hard to resettle because she'd already done almost two full sleep cycles (she didn't wake in the middle of one), so was not sleepy enough to resettle.

At the 1:20 NW I couldn't see her on the monitor so I wasn't sure if she was up or not so I waited it out and after a while I heard her say "hep" (aka help) 

As for this... I know it's a bit sad to hear, but from my perspective it's so wonderful that she knows she can communicate that to you and knows you'll come to help her. That's BWing in its essence! (And it also melts my heart.

FX for tonight for you!

[MommySteezy]

Aw - no worries. So sorry to hear that your little guy is under the weather and that it is taking a toll on you as well. Sending good positive energy your way that you both are on the mend soon. 

C did get a little fussy this afternoon, but I decided to just push through and go for an early BT. She did pretty well with BT - although she was upset that we didn't go for our usual post-dinner walk (she went to the door and had a little tantrum when I shut it and said "not tonight"  ). She was asleep in her bed by 6:35. I wanted to do a little earlier but, not being used to the early BT we had a hard time fitting everything in and I figured it was better to do things calmly than to rush through them and get her wound up.

How will I know if she's ready for a push past the 5h A? Should I wait and see what results I get on more 1 nap days before I increase the A time, or should I go ahead and start testing in small pushes now? I have been on the back end and tried to catch up and was in an awful UT/OT loop which made us all miserable so I'd rather avoid that if at all possible this time!

It totally melted my heart, too! It made me think about CIO and wonder how any one could hear something as sweet and genuine as that and ignore it. I try not to judge others, but I just can't imagine ignoring her little cry for "hep".

I hope your LO is letting you get some good restorative sleep tonight. Sweet dreams 

[becj86]

Should I wait and see what results I get on more 1 nap days before I increase the A time, or should I go ahead and start testing in small pushes now?

I'd see how she goes on a few one nap days with 2-nap days either side to minimise OT risk, then if you get the opportunity, see how she goes with two one-nap days in a row. From my experience of one  child not exactly comprehensive it worked better to get one nap established and have two naps if necessary to lengthen the day and then push beyond 5hr A time.

[MommySteezy]

Here's how last night looked for us after one nap. We had more NW than we do on a CN+N day but overall, more cumulative sleep as well.

6:35 - Asleep in bed for 3h17m
9:52 - NW1
9:56 - Asleep in bed for 1h35m
11:32 - NW2
11:40 - Asleep in bed for 50m
12:30 - NW3
12:36 - 6:15 Asleep in bed for 5h39m

C woke up at 6:15 this morning. A part of me is contemplating doing 1 nap again since she had such a long night of sleep overall.
We have Gymboree today, so I suppose I could see if she falls asleep in the car either on the way there or back and let that make the decision for me. I am guessing no one will get to this before it is time for me to make a decision, but I would love to know what your thoughts are.

[katie80]

Should I wait and see what results I get on more 1 nap days before I increase the A time, or should I go ahead and start testing in small pushes now?

I'd see how she goes on a few one nap days with 2-nap days either side to minimise OT risk, then if you get the opportunity, see how she goes with two one-nap days in a row. From my experience of one  child not exactly comprehensive it worked better to get one nap established and have two naps if necessary to lengthen the day and then push beyond 5hr A time.

Yes, this!!^^^^ That's what I was trying to say in my headache-induced state last night.  Thank goodness Bec is back!

Sounds liked a bit of OT last night as all the wakeups were before 12:30am.  But, look at that... nothing to be afraid of in an EBT!! That's a pretty good night, I'd say.  I probably would have gone for a CN today, since it would work well with the ride home and the WU was before 6:30, but I think your plan sounds just fine.  I hope whichever way it went, it worked out for you!

[MommySteezy]

I think I understand what you are saying but want to clarify to be sure... Are you saying to alternate 1 nap days and 2 nap days? (i.e. yesterday - 1 nap, today- 2 naps, tomorrow-1 nap)? Sorry if I am being dense...

Yes - nothing to be afraid of with an EBT! All things considered, I don't think she did too poorly. Perhaps if she would have taken a little longer of a nap she wouldn't have had the NW? Who knows

We did end up having a CN on the way home. She fell asleep a little later in the ride than I would have liked (about 10:35) and I let her sleep for 20 mins. When the CN pushes her nap so far back like this what do you suggest? Capping the nap after a certain amount of time? Laying down a little earlier?

[katie80]

I think I understand what you are saying but want to clarify to be sure... Are you saying to alternate 1 nap days and 2 nap days? (i.e. yesterday - 1 nap, today- 2 naps, tomorrow-1 nap)?

As a matter of course, no I wouldn't be that 'strict' about it. I always just gave two naps on the days needed (i.e. she woke too early to get to a decent nap time, which for me was 11:30 am). But, hopefully once she evens out a bit, you can work on doing more and more one nap days and get a few in a row and then do 2 nap days just here and there if needed.  I believe that's what Bec was suggesting as well, but I could be wrong.

As for today, yes, I think I'd cap the pm nap to 1.5hr (sorry, I know you don't like to do that ) and aim for a decent bedtime so hopefully she gets a longer night again.

[MommySteezy]

Thanks for the clarification.

Our afternoon got totally thrown off. When I was changing Cora's diaper before we went on our afternoon stroll I discovered a tick at the very top of her leg. I tried to get it off but the sucker (no pun intended) would NOT come out  . We ended up at the doc's office and they pulled it out for us. We JUST got home and I laid her down as soon as we walked through the door which was an hour after she was supposed to go down. Ugh!

Should I still cap her nap at a certain point? I want her to get some good sleep in so she doesn't get too OT for tonight. But, I don't want her to sleep too late in the day and end up being hard to settle in for BT.

Gotta love life's little curve balls 

[katie80]

So, what did you end up doing?  I probably would've done an hour nap and EBT.  The nap wouldn't have been too restorative, but enough to take the edge off the OT, so it hopefully wouldn't cause NWs or an EW. 

Yuk on the tick!  Worst bugs ever, I think.

[MommySteezy]

I ended up letting her sleep for a little over an hour (1h15m) and then I tried putting her down after 4 hours instead of 5. It took a while to get her down. I wouldn't say she fought it, or even got fussy or squirmy but she had a hard time falling asleep. She finally fell asleep at about 8:55. 1st NW @  10:50, 2nd NW @ 1:41, and then she woke up this morning at 6:00 on the dot. She was still tired this morning and I tried to get her back down and she laid there for a while but then popped up and waved and said "hiiiiii". I took that as my cue she was ready to get up - lol.

Yes - I have to agree that they are AWFUL. She didn't seem too phased by it and even tried to grab it when they took it out. Me, on the other hand....I still have chills over it. Blecch.

[MommySteezy]

Been wondering today....(I know...uh-oh  )

The past few PDs C hasn't gone to sleep right away. I don't want to call it "fighting" because it is definitely different than what was happening before. I guess I would describe it mostly as her taking some time to settle in. It has actually been pretty neat for me to see the progress of her becoming more involved in putting herself down. I usually stay in the room until I was positive that she was asleep, but both last night and today I left the room and she was still kind of putting herself down. Today, her eyes were open and she situated herself and sucked her thumb for a while. At one point, she even sat up a little and looked around and I thought for sure I would have to go back in, but she laid down and eventually went to sleep.

Ok - anyway - all of that to say that I am wondering about a few things with her sleep.

I am wondering if the CN is starting to make it harder for her to settle in for her nap (I usually try to put her down around 5h but she is pushing a little past - maybe 10-15 mins), and in turn starting to interfere with night sleep.
I have been doing her CN after 3.5 hours instead of 4 bc if I wait 4 hours it puts her nap so much later in the day, which usually puts her wake up time later, which pushes her BT back.
I know we have talked about doing a shorter A after her nap time to keep the day from getting too long, but when we tried that that's when we got the BT fighting again.

I am also kind of wondering if the morning CNs are creating a bit of a cycle. (Lets see if I can write this so it makes sense the same way it does in my head...) When we do the morning CN it pushed her nap time back, which is good on mornings that she has an EW. However, like I said above, the nap time is getting pushed back, so the wake time is later, so the BT is later. That leaves us with a long day which may be behind the NWs. Then, when we have an EW the next day, the cycle kind of starts all over again bc she hasn't slept in long enough to stretch to one nap and she is tired earlier on bc she had the NW and EW.
Does this make any sense at all?

Honestly, the CN days are a little more manageable for us. It is nice to have some wiggle room around lunch time and dinner time and not have to put her down too early. I just don't want them to be keeping us from STTN. Also, I think I remember you saying in a previous post that when I move to 1 nap days that they might start out with some really early BTs but eventually the timing will work out and become more reasonable.

I don't know. Maybe I am over-thinking it (I'm pretty good at that  ) If the morning CN and nap is the best way to go then I will definitely keep plugging away at it and hopefully we will eventually get longer nights with no NW or EW. I just feel like we are getting so much closer so I want to stay on top of it so we can *both* finally STTN.

Can't wait to hear what your thoughts are...if you can make any sense of this...