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

[Papaya]

That day looks good, Johnnyha - I agree to just push that morning A by 15 mins. The seeming tired around 4.30 could just be habit - stick with it for 3-4 days and see how he goes

If she can do a full A time in the evening after a short nap, is it likely that she would need an even longer A time before BT on days when she doesn't have the CN?

That seems a very long A after such a short catnap - she might be able to handle it every now and again, but I think she'd be OT if you did it every day. But after a full nap, many LOs like a slightly longer A to bed than earlier in the day (mine didn't though - her middle A was longest - so not all!).

[Moma of two]

Still struggling but I had to drop to 2 as the third nap made BT impossible.   Since starting this she wakes up every 40 min from BT until DF.  I can set my watch by it.  I am desperate as I also have a 3 year old to get to sleep.  She does not sleep independently and just broke a tooth.  I don't know what to do as morning is getting earlier and earlier so stretching out the day is impossible.  I am terrified that if I put her t bed too early I will be getting 5 am mornings.

Up 6:30 (this morn was 7)
S.  9:30 (normally get 1 hour and 20) -  10:50

S. I try to stretch her to 2:30 but never can. This nap ALWAYS ends at 40 min and I can only sometimes get her to one more cycle.

She is 29.5 weeks old.  Do you think A at 3.5 hours seems too long?

[theu.s.lees]

Hello! I think I'm going to jump on here as I may be too early. Not fully sure. My DD ("S") is 5.5 months or so. We are still getting NW, usually 1-2 and I had posted on the NW board and they suggested that S may be ready for the 3-2 transition. It's funny because since I read that, we've only been getting two naps, anyways. But her A times are still only 2 hours! Today is funny, but lately her routine is (+/- start of day by 30 minutes)

E - 7
S - 9 - 11
E - 11
S - 1 - 4
E - 4
E - 6:15
S - 6:30

NW - Around 1:30/2:30. Sometimes she will also wake a couple hours after the first one and the past two nights she's woken up around 9:30/10:30. I usually manage to get her back down with only feeding at the 1:30 one.

S has reflux that is medicated and we use gripe water often as she has a sensitive tummy it seems. We haven't started solids, but thinking that I will do that very soon!

I will go back and read a bit to catch up so hopefully I can offer some insight as well!

[Lollipop86]

Hey. I've got almost 7 month old DD and she has always been a bad sleeper. Now we are slowly getting there in the nights. Days were better before, now they are very confused. But - she usually ends her afternoon nap at 3.30-4 pm. And she is up now about 3 hours. This means BT 6.30-7 pm which I think is rather early. Especially as I noticed that if I make BT at 7 pm she is up 6-7 am! She has enough 11h of night sleep. So - do I do CN to make her BT later - 8-8.30 pm (when she had that hour she woke up 7.30-7.45 am) and that her A time increases? I'm worried of her becoming OT!

[Moma of two]

I have the same issues and get break out of it because 6 to 8 is a long day with just 3 or 3.25 Atimes.  Any suggestions?  Is it better to make second A time really long beforeA touring me further to bedtime and avoid prebec OT

[theu.s.lees]

Lollipop - Are you just wanting her to sleep in later in the morning, or you don't think that she's getting enough night sleep? Because 6:30pm-7am is great! If 7 is too early for you, you could try moving BT back a bit (15 minutes at a time). However, you will have to work on all of the A times, to balance out the day. Another idea would be to cap the CN so it isn't a full hour as you say. Instead try letting her only sleep 30-45 minutes and then you BT won't be pushed so late.

MoT - 6 to 8 is a long day period! My DS who is almost 2 does 6:30/7 - 6:30/7 (depending on how well he naps). But in general his days are 12 hours and so are his nights. Is there a reason you want BT at 8pm? For some kids a later BT means a later wake up, but many have a general time they wake up. DS has always had this internal clock where he rarely "sleeps in" even if we had a busy evening and he stayed up late. So your LO may just be an early riser! But the 6am could also be due to OT/UT. I will have to look around, but EW means either OT or UT. I just forget right now!

Yesterday we had two 2 hour naps and a 45 min CN, BT just after 7. We also started solids yesterday. It was in the evening which was taking a risk, but DH really wanted to be there and it would be a while before we could do a morning solids attempt with him there. But still had 2 NW, one around 12 (nursed her) and one at 2ish. DH was able to resettle her without feeding her.

[Moma of two]

I attempted a catnap just to make last stretch 3 until BT more manageable.  Catnap is impossible.  I just figured if I get her down at 7:30 or 8:00 with 11 hours wakeup would be around 6:30 or 7:00.  Last night had her asleep by 7 was up 8 times until I finally calked it a morning at 6.

[theu.s.lees]

You may have to just try to do no CN since she won't take it and an early BT while trying to stretch out her A times during the day. That sounds like a rough night. Could their be other causes, such as a GS or teething that are making the NW so frequent? What does the rest of your day look like?

[Moma of two]

Thanks we dropped it about two weeks ago but last nap ended at 3 so I didn't want to keep her to BT but had no choice as she refused it. Terrible night and awful day so far.  So frustrating as nothings working.  Two 40 min naps today so far

[Lollipop86]

Hm, did I say CN was 1h long? No, it's usually 30 mins. If we do it... We didn't a few times and she had BT around 7pm, waking up 6am. Before - if she had BT at 8 pm-8.30 pm, she woke up 7.45 am.
I think 11 hours is enough for her and it's ok. She has two naps 1-1,5 hours during the day. So I want to move BT back to 8 pm. I tried today with a CN and #1 - she was fighting it a bit, #2 - then she was quite awake till 8.30 pm so I was afraid that this time she would have BT too late. But when I put her down she fell asleep fast. Let's see when she wakes up in the morning
But also I'm afraid that she is used to her naps at certain hours - 10am and 2pm. And that she would want to have naps then even if she wakes up later.

[theu.s.lees]

LP - I think I just misunderstood about the CN. If you want to push things back, I think you're going to have to work on that longer A times first. If 10 and 2 are the times that she will go, try doing 10:05 for a day or two. Then 10:10. If you think 15 minutes are too drastic, which they definitely can be just move it back by 5 minutes. Maybe start with the am one first. If she naps well, then try the second A time too, but if not, you may have to move the second nap in a touch to prevent an OT baby.

When S does a CN, she does 30-45 minutes and then will go about another 1.5 hours until BT. So we don't get the full A time. Maybe your DD is similar in that you think she could do another 2 hours, but since it was such a small nap they aren't able to last as long.

MoT - It sounds like now you're dealing with an OT baby. If she wakes early from her nap again, maybe just opt for an early BT. I know that with my son, if he's had a poor nap day and we do an early BT he will still sleep until his normal wake up time. If she does end up waking up early anyway, then adjust the day accordingly and then you should be able to get a CN in. I think even if you've officially dropped the nap there will be some days that she will still need one just due to circumstances. With DS when we went from 2-1 there were times he would be okay with 1 nap, but then need 2 to catch up on poor sleep.

[Moma of two]

Thanks I will give CN a try again.  She has been up twice already!  It is going to be another long night.  Not a lot of help around here so getting a little frustrated.  I have to work on independent sleep but I don't have the energy. 

[Lollipop86]

OK, will do that

We had an awful night - waking up every 2 hours again. She woke up at 7 anyway... And we messed up the day because we should make the first nap early but we didn't. We ended up with OT baby who couldn't sleep! So she was up 4,5 hours, screaming!! Well at least then her nap was 2h15mins long. But we don't know if she can sleep for the next one because we get visitors (11) that we cannot cancel. She never sleeps when we have someone over. I hope it's not too messy in the end of the day! (and tomorrow)

[Eva's Mummy]

Just jumping on if no one minds we are going through 3-2 at the moment also 

It started well as we got 5 days of 2 good naps and then sttn then yesterday and today our second nap was 35mins ending at 2:30ish but she refused a CN last night and just cried until BT. So i think today will end up like that aswell.

What would i do then i put her to bed at 6 but she was shattered, all be it she slept till 6:50 but it just didn't seen fair on her at night time being that upset 

We have just pushed our A time to 2hrs 50 mins.

[Papaya]

Ugh, hugs. Can you AP a catnap - out in the stroller, sling etc? Any discomfort that could have caused the short naps yesterday and today? What was your EAS? xx