20 month old routine help

[YukiCat]

Hi,

My 20month old son is currently EW and I'm not sure if I should try w2s again or his routine is out. Currently he is on:

6am wakes
12.05pm nap (he often goes to his cot and says bed) asleep by 12.20pm.
1.45pm I wake him ( after 1 hour 30 min) he would like to sleep longer and quite often refuses to get out of bed for 20 minutes, and just lays around in bed.
8pm bed time takes only a few minutes to go to sleep.

A few weeks ago I tried w2s and got 745am wake ups every morning then when I stopped the w2s he started waking at 6am, but I think I may have woken him up at about 6am when I went in to check his blankets (geeze I wish I hadn't done that).

He can get quite grumpy around 5pm but generally is a very happy mellow toddler. I'd love to let him sleep longer during the day but am fearful the EW would get worse. Any suggestions on my next move are more then welcome!

[<Catherine>]

Hi there, and welcome to the site

I think I'd suggest he was OT, it sounds like it. In which case I think it's worth trying a longer nap, or maybe keep the nap as it is but bring BT forward. EWings for us always tend to mean OT.

I will get your post moved over to the toddler sleep board where you will hopefully get more help

[YukiCat]

Thanks, yes please move to the toddler section. 

Also forgot to say I have been leaving him in bed until 8am so from 6-8am he just hangs out and crawls around his cot, talking to his puppy dog. Should I get him up or just ignore him?

And should I let him sleep as long as he wants to at 12pm? Or wake him at a certain point?

[<Catherine>]

I have been leaving him in bed until 8am so from 6-8am he just hangs out an scrawls around his cot, talking to his puppy dog. Should I get him up or just ignore him?

I suppose if he's happy, I would be getting him up if he's upset or frustrated though.

And should I let him sleep as long as he wants to at 12pm?

I think I'd perhaps go no more than 2 hours for a few days and see how that goes.

[YukiCat]

Ok thank sounds good, will try a 2 hr nap for a few days and see how he goes. Thank you for your help will post again with results! They are such tricky little things! 

[<Catherine>]

Yes, I found this age onwards to be the trickiest with regards to sleep and routine! Luckily they make up for it in other ways

Let us know how it goes

[clairebear79]

Good luck!  Just wanted to add I agree with Catherine his day is long with 6hrs both sides of a capped nap so he may well be OT, but I think that the timing of his nap may be what is contributing to the issues. 

I found with my DS that an early nap leads to an early wake, and so if you want your DS to wake a bit later, I'd say you need to look at pushing that nap a wee bit later, perhaps to a 12.30 or 1pm start.  The diffficulty is doing this when he is waking early & his nights are short.  So try Catherine's advice of a longer nap which should hopefully have him waking a little later or at the very least, feeling better rested.  Then you will be in a good position to gently push the nap later by 15 mins/week & I think you will find this leads to a big improvement in his wakeup time.

HTH.x

[YukiCat]

Hi, I use to think it was the timing of his nap, until we were away and it moved earlier and he slept quite well without any EW, although he did only get an hour sleep in the pram, usually 11-12hours at night. But having said that it might be time to move it. Funny that he actually asks for bed though?

So this morning he woke at 5am calling and then crawled around his cot until 6am then He didn't move until 745am, so I guess that's some sort of progress. He asked for bed at 12.05pm but I dragged him out until 1220pm and he took 15min to settle so at 1235pm was asleep and we woke him at 220pm so about 1hr 45min. And he seemed much happier for it. He'll go to bed at 8pm tonight.

So tomorrow I'll see What time he wakes.  if he wakes early I'll let him have a 2hour nap. If it's anytime after 730 am thinking to leave it at 1hr 45min of asleep time? And trying for 1230pm?

I guess my next move after that would've to try an earlier bedtime?

(hey thanks for your help I stumbled across this forum and it's fantastic!)

[chicagomom]

i have an almost 20mo.  honestly, i would just not cap the nap at this age.  we deal with on and off EWs but things go much more smoothly at my house when he naps as much as he needs (within reason, we do not go over 3 hours).  also early to bed works well.  so typically we do a 6ish hour A time in the morning with a nap at 12:30ish and a 4-4.5h A time in the afternoon before bed.  i used to do 5h A time to bed and found we had more EWs that way, so switched to a longer morning A and shorter afternoon A and that helped a lot.

[YukiCat]

i have an almost 20mo.  honestly, i would just not cap the nap at this age.  we deal with on and off EWs but things go much more smoothly at my house when he naps as much as he needs (within reason, we do not go over 3 hours).  also early to bed works well.  so typically we do a 6ish hour A time in the morning with a nap at 12:30ish and a 4-4.5h A time in the afternoon before bed.  i used to do 5h A time to bed and found we had more EWs that way, so switched to a longer morning A and shorter afternoon A and that helped a lot.

Thanks for your help. So if he gets up at say 630 bed at say 1230pm then wakes say 330pm then bed at 8pm? Is that around what you mean? You know I've never tried to see how long he'd sleep for I'd guess abt 3 hours though.

[chicagomom]

[/quote]

Thanks for your help. So if he gets up at say 630 bed at say 1230pm then wakes say 330pm then bed at 8pm? Is that around what you mean? You know I've never tried to see how long he'd sleep for I'd guess abt 3 hours though.
[/quote]

something like that!  things vary in my house, but i have found that no matter how long the nap, if i keep DS up for 5 hours (or more) it is a short night.

[YukiCat]

Hi again, so by short night you mean 10hours or less sleep? Geeze might give it a go.

[YukiCat]

Ok here's the update we not going very well. So have tried these things:

1230pm -230pm sleep we wake him, bed at 8pm wakes at 615am

1230-230pm sleep we wake him, bed at 730pm wakes at 5.45am

So do I

Cut his day sleep back to 1 1/2hours?

Try an even earlier bedtime say 7pm

Or let him sleep as long as he wants in the afternoon?

Give him a 6hour awake time in the am and a 5hr awake time in the afternoon?

How long should i be expecting him to sleep at night?