Anyone want to talk about the 3-2 Nap transition? Part 2

[mtashkin]

Emilia is 9 months old.

Thanks for your support Kate! I think I am going to wait for this tooth to cut and then see what happens. If she's still waking, I will probably try the DF so that I can actually get some sleep 

Mary

[Skadiver13]

Check with the mods,but DF is suggested to be dropped between 7-8 months so just my opinion I wouldn't  introduce it now. 

[Eva's Mummy]

I know i shouldn't be on this thread anymore but i was just looking for a bit of advice from you lovely ladies. For the past 2 weeks we have been getting OT cry outs after bed, sometimes 1 NW then WU of around 5:40 it seems no matter how she naps this always happens. I was going to try set naps of 10 and 2:30 (to fit around nursery in 3 weeks) but there is no way she will make 10 with a 5:40 WU so i will go for 9:30 and 2:00 but worrying this will make the NW's and EW's worse. Or if i keep at it should it make it better. I have also been doing BT at 6 as her last nap has been ending at 2:45 so don't know if this pm BT is making matters worse and becoming the norm.

Argh any advice please x

[KSquared]

Oh help please! I started reading other posts on this thread but I'm so tired nothing's making sense.

DS has been a cat napper since week 3-he's just 6 months now. One oOurr two days a week he'd get a longer nap (1 hour+) but generally 30-40 minutes. I tried literally every one of Tracy's tricks and finally accepted his funny nap habits. The thing that's always kept me going was he was a fairly good night sleeper, picking up 5 hours regularly at 3 months and by 5 typically sleeping 6.5-8.5 hours a night with occasional stints of 9-10.5. A week after that, it all went down hill when he got a cold. That ended early last week and he started sleeping super erratically-anywhere from 5 to 10.5 hours. But he suddenly dropped his third nap and was napping 1-1.5 hours twice a day. On Friday that ended, with 2 cat naps a day and sleeping 4.5-5 hour stretches at night. By the afternoon my usually perpetually cheerful baby is so grumpy and I can only get him down a third time with a walk, or car ride or in my arms, but still no longer than 30-40 minutes. When he wakes up, he's happy until bed time. He's also waking up crying 80% of the time. Before he rarely cried when he woke up. He also gets upsetif I put him down within 30 min of waking up.
Our current schedule is
5:30 am WA, 4 oz bottle, cuddle in dark
7 solids
9 nap
9:40 WA
11:30-12 bottle
12:30 nap
3:30 (inconsistent) nap if lucky
4:10ish WA
5 solids
6:30-7 bottle and bedtime
12:30 WA and bottle
I should also mention that he's bottle fed and last week he started fighting during feeding so I switched him from 4 hr EASY to 5 hr. Feeding is going much smoother now.
He's textbook developmentally, spirited in sleep, and mix in personality.

[KSquared]

I realize, after reading over our schedule, we probably goof up with waiting too long for that morning nap. He's changed his sleepy signals so I think I'm catching it too late. I'll try putting him down earlier in the morning and at night for bed and see how that works.

[ZacsMumme]

Hun with the Ew at 5.30 what time do you get him up for the day?

[Mummy23boys]

How is everyone getting on without the CN now? Things are ok here atm. I've been doing W2S the past 4 nights and it seems to have helped the EW. At least now WU is 6am today and was 6.15 yesterday! Hopefully this will continue! Naps have improved too with one or two resettles. So there is light at the end of the tunnel! it's not easy but we will get there ❤❤

[K-JDA]

Hi all - not posted on here for a few days now as we seem to be getting there.

KSquared - hugs to you. As ZM says what time are you getting up for the day? When I had EW of 5.30 I would ensure that if I couldn't get DS back to sleep again (and believe me I tried everything and just ended up holding him some days asleep to improve the WU time) then I would sit in the dark til at least 6 so as not to start the day any earlier and then use 6 as my WU time.

M2J - we seem to be getting on OK now without the CN too. Had really good consistent am naps of 1.5 hrs and a bit hit and miss with the pm naps but managing to APOP to ensure 1.5 hours in total if he does wake up. The EWs seem to have stopped also - we have had 6-6.30am wake-ups this week so he has reverted back to 11 hr STTN and 3 hours day sleep - he is 14 hours sleep a day bang on everytime when not OT!

My issue now is managing a 13hr day when he does wake at 6am and trying to ensure that OT does not creep back in. When doing the transition I would always aim to get DS back to sleep after EW so we had a reasonable length day to work with so we have not done many 13 hr days and that is really stretching A times for DS. He seems to prefer having longer A times at the beginning of the day so am just having a play with the best A times for the day. He really does not do well with more than 3 hours in the last phase of the day - I think this is because DH comes home from work and so he tends to end up getting quite over excited and can go into meltdown if we don't time bed just right! This does mean however that the A times at the beginning of the day are quite long.

Am considering set naps of 9.30 and 2.20 (we are working pretty close to this now anyway give or take 10 mins or so). I know others have discussed these on this post and other posts. Has anyone got these working yet and do you think they would work with a touchy baby (with text book a close second) as I have seen posts that suggest otherwise? I am going away for a girlie weekend in a few weeks so have MIL and DH in charge and it might be better if they had set times to work with.

[lily_layne]

Kate - I know there's a few threads on here about success with set naps.  I think Scruffymax did them successfully.  I don't have time to look for the thread for you (sorry) but it should turn up if you google scruffymax and set naps.

[KSquared]

I'm aiming for 6:15 or 6:30, and plan to adjust his eating times up a half hour to 6:30, 11:30, and 4:30. He's usually ready for his "afternoon" nap around 12-12:30 (though that might change if I can get him to take longer naps in the morning) and after dinner, it usually takes 1.5 hours to get him to bed. It's working well today on that front, but last night was rough even with the 6 pm bedtime. I'm running on 4.5 hours of sleep today.

I've tried to get him back to sleep too at 5 am. Never works; that's why I opt for quiet time in the dark. However, starting tonight (if he wakes up at 5 and has eaten later than 1, otherwise he's too hungry), I'm going to try sleep training him. PU/PD doesn't work for him, so I try patting his back with the same idea--stopping as soon as he calms down. (He's a tummy sleeper. Even if I put him on his back, he flops right over, so I save him a step and put him on his tummy.) It works pretty well for naps (to get him to sleep if he gets upset after I put him down).

Also, WA was supposed to be WU. Like I said, slightly sleep deprived. 

[Mummy23boys]

KSQuared how did it go? Hugs on the 4.5 hours sleep..I know how it feels! Ugh! 😔

Kate did you go with the set naps? Good luck with it!

Eva your in the same boat as me! 😫Are you going to do set naps? I thought we had come through the loss of the CN but I don't think we fully are! It think for us anyway we are still a bit away. We still have EW although these improved massively when I did W2S. We got a 6.15 WU the other morning!:o but last night I didn't do it and he woke at 4.50am! No re settling him! His naps and BT are horrendous. But I think he is in a wonder week so I'm going to try ride it out and keep working on him. It's so hard. I'm really feeling the stress today. Can't wait for dh to come home!

💕Hugs💕

[Eva's Mummy]

We are still working on the set naps its so hard. Can i ask how you do the W2S for EW as we seem to be getting 5:40 WU and i can't resettle? x

[Mummy23boys]

For W2S you go in to baby's room an hour before they are due to wake up and rub their cheek VERY gently, or what ever way you choose to do it. Once its enough for them to just stir but not wake. The idea is you are interrupting a sleep cycle so a new one will start so their sleep should extend. You need to be consistent and do it for a few nights, if not the week. I did 4 nights but I should of continued. But I'll carry on tonight. I added 15 mins on to the time each night as his WU got a bit later! You can also use it for naps although I never have. Here is the link...😉
How do I address habitual wakings? (wake-to-sleep and other methods)

I found this too you might be interested in xx

Wake to Sleep success???

[K-JDA]

Hi - am nowhere with set naps, not even going to try for now. EWs have snuck back in as OT has gradually built up over the course of this week. At least we got 5x STTN before 2 EWs this weekend! Am getting a good first nap but the A time to the second nap is causing an OT wake-up after 30 mins with lots of crying so have had to APOP back to sleep again. After getting advice on the general sleep board I am going to cut back on the 2nd A for a few days and see if we can catch up a bit. The issue is definitely managing a 13hr day when he STTN for 11hrs. Think it is going to take a few weeks before he can handle it consistently! Are people finding similar issues - what approach do you take?

[Clairehv]

Hi
Just wanted to continue on the thread. My DD is 7 months and 1 week now and I am not seeing any progression for her to stay awake for more than two hours so not sure how we are going to drop the last nap of the day.
If I get her overtired she fights her nap and only does 40 mins max. If I settle her at first tiredness signs then she just goes to sleep with no fuss and typically does 1.5 hr

I thought she would naturally begin to go longer between naps but it doesn't seem to be happening.

A typical day is
7ish wake
E- bottle and the breakfast
A
S nap 9.15- 10.45
A
E 11.30/45 lunch- solids
S 12.30/1 - 2.30
E 3pm bottle
A
S nap of around 30 mins starting between 4.30-5pm
E 5.30ish dinner
A bath
E 6.45 bottle
S 7-7.30pm

When should I expect the last nap to drop?

Also I seem to have a different nap issue to everyone else. If we are home my daughter does great lunchtime naps. If we are out she will do a max 30-40 mins in pram even with the snooze shade on.
This is really starting to restrict us as I don't want to go out anywhere as if she only naps 30 mins at 1-1.30, it really affects the rest of the day and we sometimes have to start bath time at 5.30pm.

DD generally settles and sleeps well at night.
Any advice re the pram issue as I am getting a bit down about wanting to just stay at home to have easy good nap days.

Thanks