Support for dropping the nap-part 6

[LisaK1]

Hi Ali...our 'routine' looks somethign like:

Awake: anywhere between 5:15 and 6:15AM  (only 6:15am on good day)
Nap: 1pm to 3pm (when I wake him up)
Bed: 7pm (usually goes down easily and asleep in 15 mins or so.

At nursery though, the 1pm nap is for 45mins to 1:15mins (a bit of a muddle really, never been consistent).

Lately, our WU has been creeping earlier (close to 5:15AM more regular), naptime has been fought (although he does look tired most days) and bedtime has been resisted.

I'm trying with a 1hr max nap to see if that makes a difference, but we are only on day 2.

We are also in midst of toilet training (going really well for No1 but really bad for No2's).

All go here!

[*Ali*]

Oh yeah Lisa I would definitely cap the nap before going napnfree. 2hrs is quite a long nap so plenty of opportunity to cap and see a difference before needing to drop completely I would have thought. Let us know how the 1hr naps affect things.

Cadan was up at 6.35 last this morning and in bed asleep by 6.50pm.

[LisaK1]

Thanks ali. After what I believe was a 6am wu, nap was 1-2pm and bt was 6.45, asleep by 7pm. H was shattered by 5.30pm tho.....   We then had wu  today of 5.45am.....

I'm wondering if I go for 1hr nap again but earlier bt, say 6.20 aiming for 6.30 asleep time?  Too early?? Too late??

I'm hoping to get a more consistent wu time at 6.30? 

[*Ali*]

I would say to do BT earlier if he has been up so early. So 6.30 asleep sounds good. could you do the nap a little rapier too? Maybe 12.30? Otherwise his A time to BT may be too short.

Cadan was up at 7am this morning so that's our first 12hr + night in ages. He definitely does better on an early BT. I'm sure the gro-clock sun woke him though as he appeared sound asleep on the video monitor until it came up and then he was up and put of bed 30 seconds later.

[LisaK1]

Yeah to a 7am wu! What will b ur plan today then?

Mind me asking what time his bt was yesterday, and where there any naps....

Lisa

[*Ali*]

No naps in bed 6.40 and fast asleep by 6.50 which isn't as early as it should be but does seem to help as opposed to in bed at 7 and asleep by 7.15. He did actually have one NW at 3am but just wanted me to stand by his door and he went straight back to sleep unlike me who was awake for 45mins as he woke Colby who resettled himself but I kept expecting him to wake up properly

[CoLacey]

We usually move BT to 6.45/7pm (usually between 7.15 and 7.30pm) on no sleep days. If I leave it to late he becomes OT and its a nightmare to put him down.
He seems to have regressed with his no nap days and has been so tired he has been napping more than not, just a lot later in the day.

Ali, I hate when you are woken up and cant go back to sleep expecting them to wake up and they dont... precious sleep time wasted!!!!

[roseola]

Hello all, it's nice to see some familiar faces as I've been away for so long. My LO is 2y 7m. This week has been a nightmare. We had three days in a row of no naps. Previous to these 3 days out routine looked like this:

Awake: 745 - 8 AM
In crib: 1:30
Asleep: 2:00
Nap capped: 3:15-3:30
In crib: 8:30
Asleep: 9:00pm

Then it started to take him much longer to fall asleep for his nap, more than  an hour.  So we tried a later nap time and it was successful: napping 3-3:30 - 4:15-4:45, with the same BT and the same sleep over night about 11 hours.

And then came than the no nap days. Day one he woke at about 12:30 AM soaking wet changed him and he went right back. The next no nap day he woke up around 12:45 AM and just needed a rub on his back and went right back to sleep. The thiday no nap day he slept through the night.

Yesterday was the fourth day, and he was exhausted. I let him nap from 150pm, and he woke on his own at 4pm. He fell right asleep at BT, even before nine last night. But then woke at 12:30 and was up for a while and then again at 6:15am. I'm not sure if he fell back to sleep but we got out of the crib at 7:50 today. Again exhausted this morning. Fell asleep in less than 10 minutes when I put him in the crib at 12:45, and now he's awake at 2:30.

I let him sleep so long yesterday to avoid overtired, but then I think the NW  last night might be from under tired. Help! This is crazy!

[*Ali*]

Welcome Roseola, I remember you from our boys' birth club I'd try a capped nap at 2-3 for 1hr and see if that helps for a few days.

[mickey44]

Well we had a no nap day as we were out and aimed for BT of 6:00 but I forgot to reset her moon nightlight and DH thought it came on at 6:15 but really it comes on at 6:30 so he talked to her until it came on then it took another 30 minutes of fighting for her to go to sleep so she was asleep around 7:00.  ERRR!!!  Hopefully our night isn't to bad.

[*Ali*]

I hope she slept well after that Stacey.

Out night was the worst ever. Cadan took 40mins to settle at BT so wasn't asleep until 7.20 then he woke briefly at 10.20 and was up for 1.5hrs at 2.20am. He just wanted us to stand at the door and kept calling out every 5mins to check we were still there so he couldn't drop off to sleep. Then DH had to get up for work at 5.45 and Cadan woke instantly and although he stayed in bed until the sun came up at 7.05 he didn't go back to sleep and was just mucking around. He is so tired. At 8am he was crying as if his heart was broken because he had to wait 10 seconds while I washed a spatula that he wanted to play with but it was covered in pancake batter. Where has my independent sleeper gone? I'm telling DH tonight that we have to wean the standing at the door and get him sleeping independently again at BT. No one is getting any sleep because we are all being woken by Cadan at night and then DH early in the morning.

[timmysmommy]

Hugs Ali!  Sounds like a rough patch!  Two days of no nap, and we'll need one today!  He is extra moody- which is OT for him.  He's been sleeping 12 hrs at night which has been heavenly, but he is cranky and clingy this morning.

Someone explain to me how he could be ot with no nap, but more total sleep than when he has a nap?  We are getting 10 hr nights with a 30 min nap. And he is soo hard to wake.  That stupid 30 min nap usually requires at least 30 min fighting to get him down, and up to an hour of crankiness.  Ugh.

I just looked in his mouth and his two yr molars are popping through.  Maybe that's the cause of the crankiness?!

[mickey44]

Wow she actually STTN until 6:00 this morning!  I was shocked!

Ali - the only thing that worked for us was WIWO to get independent sleep back after teething or whatever.  We explained everything before hand and then just did WIWO.  I think the first night it took about an hour.

Amy - the two year molars were bad for us!  Constant crankiness and LOTS of NW. 

[roseola]

After an almost 2h nap yesterday, he was in crib at 8:30pm, asleep at 8:50, awake at 6:50am-pretty early for him.

I hope I can get an early nap today, I'll cap at 1-1h15min and hopefully well be back on track....

[*Ali*]

Amy I think the longer they're awake without a nap the more stay-awake hormones (adrenaline and cortisol I believe) they get coursing though their bodies which cause them to get hyper and then sleep fitfully. So think of it like if you got 6hrs sleep after an 18hr day for two days in a row you would be less tired than if you stayed awake for 30hrs but then slept for 14hrs straight then stayed awke for 30hrs and so on. Ok it's an extreme example but similar if you think a nap-dropping toddler goes from a 5-6hr A time to a 10-12hr A time. I hope your issue resolve somewhat when the teeth cut. Cadan still doesn't have his last 4 teeth. They take quite a while to cut, I think is that right?

Stacey glad you got a sttn

Roseola, a 2hr nap was probably too much so hopefully a capped nap with help things. FX.

Cadan napped from 1.35-2.55, so 1hr20 and then I woke him. Too late really hut I had to get Colby down first so I could keep cadan in bed long enough to fall asleep without him keep getting out. He was still very tired. I'm aiming for 7.30 BT tonight and hoping he'll be asleep by 8 at the latest.