Help starting!!!

[My little Liam]

YAY!!!! I am happy to report that I got a nap of 1hr25 this morning!!
Slept from 0835-1000
Now I just dont know if the A time was 1hr45 or 2hr15 depending on wakeup...

[jessmum46]

OOh great!!  Sorry our posts just overlapped!! 

Try 2h A time for the next one (middle ground ) and see what that gets you as that might give us a bit more of an idea for tweaking things x

[My little Liam]

ok i will give it a try. now how do 2 hr naps go? do they just come naturally?

by the way, he woke up crying from his nap but i think he was just hungry...

regarding the waking up at 0620. if i just leave him until 0700 every time you dont think he will eventually learn to go back to sleep until 0700?

if i get the naps on track will the  night sleep get naturally better too?

[jessmum46]

Some LOs just aren't 2h nappers......my DD has done a handful of 2h naps in her life! - usually when she's been crazy OT and catching up.  1.5h is what you're aiming for - anything there or above is considered a restorative nap.

Yes, if you get naps on track that will go some way to getting the nights to improve, though will also depend on if there are prop issues (like the paci).

regarding the waking up at 0620. if i just leave him until 0700 every time you dont think he will eventually learn to go back to sleep until 0700?

There is a certain amount of truth in this, but many LOs just don't do a 12h night at this age so to expect a 7am wakeup when BT is around 7pm just isn't always feasible.  IIWY I'd pick an absolute earliest time you are prepared to accept as W/U - I'd suggest 6 or 6.30 and treat all wakings before this as NW, then make a big fuss of starting the day once you've reached an 'acceptable' time.

[My little Liam]

short nap again... 45 min. he woke up from his morning nap crying. i thought he was just hungry but he was in such a bad mood all morning, crying on and off. it was hard to keep him up the whole 2 hrs.

[My little Liam]

now i am super confused!
kept him up 2 hrs again. put him into his crib, settled fairly quickly, was asleep for not even 1 minute and then his eyes popped wide open and he was full of energy. was talking and playing and would not settle back to sleep. i tried for over half an hour and then gave up...
how is it possible that he isnt tired after 2 hrs especially after a short nap before. he was yawning and rubbing his eyes before the 2 hr mark but he always does that so i just ignored it.

[jessmum46]

OK so let me get this straight....today was:

First A time 1h45/2h15 (depending on how you count it) - 1h25 nap
A 2h - 45 min nap
A 2h - wouldn't settle?  Did you eventually get a nap?

How did he wake from the 45 min nap?  Happy or still tired?  I think by the 3rd nap he was probably OT again - often the silliness can be a sign of OT.  Remember if you get a short nap you need to shorten the following A time - not push him to do a full A time, especially if he is showing tired signs earlier.

You've made great progress in just a day or two - now try to stick with similar A times (reducing after a short nap) so we can see if there are any patterns.  What have you decided about the mornings? 

[My little Liam]

Yes i did finally get a nap at 1535 and of course he was OT and woke after 25 min.
I know that i need to reduce A times after short naps but I thought that 2hrs would be the right amount of A time because we did 2hrs A time for the nap before and got a UT nap.

Last night was not good at all. I think he was really OT after having such a short last nap and he was also in a really fussy mood all day (teething maybe?) and i think it just continued into the night.

this is how the rest of the day and our night went:


S-1535-1605 (tried to put down to sleep at 1445, fell asleep for 1 min. then popped eyes open and was ready to play) After 2hr50 A
E-1605
A-1605-1840 (incl. WD)
E-1840
S-1845
NW-2140 (wouldn't fall back asleep with paci, BF instead of DF)
NW-2220 (wouldn't fall back asleep with paci, tossing and turning, sleeping for 15 min. then waking again (happened 3 times), BF again and finally settled)
NW-0220 (wouldn't fall back asleep with paci, crying hysterically, BF)
NW-0430 (wouldn't fall back asleep with paci, crying hysterically, BF)
 
each time at night he took a fair amount of BF so he woke this morning not hungry at all!

W-0640 but got him up at 0650 (i am thinking an A time of 2 hrs since yesterday worked well but i dont know if it was 1hr45 or 2hr15 )

[My little Liam]

So today has been a total mess so far!

I put LO down after 2hrs A time this morning and got a 45 min nap so I guess i should be counting the time he is resting in his crib in the morning as the full time - 2hr15. Ill try again tomorrow morning and see what happens.
The next nap I wasn't home and DH could not get him to sleep until 2hr10 of A time which of course resulted in a OT nap of 30 min.
He is now sleeping again after DH put him down after only 1hr30 of A time so we will see what happens. I am afraid that it isn't enough A time but I wasn't home so what can I do... I guess we will be back on track tomorrow.

I am really having a hard time figuring this all out considering there is no consistency to the naps...

[jessmum46]

Actually was going to say that 1h30 A time after an OT 30 min nap sounds good to me - though no guarantees   Was he happy when he woke from the first 45 min nap today?

Sorry about the rough night - I agree he did sound very OT.

I know it's hard but try and be patient and stick with it while you figure out what A times suit him best - it's very early days yet.  I think while you figure it out you may be best starting his day when he actually wakes in the morning, just so you have a clear idea of what A time you are dealing with, but of course this is up to you.

[My little Liam]

well he took a 30 min nap after 1hr30 A time too...
he just napped again now after 2hr A time because we were busy fixing up his new room and didnt notice the time...of course 30 min.
i guess we will start over again tomorrow and hope for the best.
tonight will be an early bedtime

[Ima shel Alon]

S-1535-1605 (tried to put down to sleep at 1445, fell asleep for 1 min. then popped eyes open and was ready to play) After 2hr50 A
E-1605
A-1605-1840 (incl. WD)
E-1840
S-1845

That was a lot of A between the last nap and BT and he went to bed OT - loads of NW! On days like this I would go with an earlier BT, like 18:30 and some babies ever respond well to earlier BT than this.

I PMd you

[My little Liam]

so last night was MUCH better!!

S-1835
DF-2300
NW-0330 (BF)
EW-0530 (would not go back to sleep so i got him up at 0615)
E-0615
A-0615-0730
S-0730-0900 (YAYYY!!!)
E-0900
A-0900-1055
S-1055-1125 (OT )

i am gonna go for 1hr30 A time this time around. lets hope for the best...

[jessmum46]

GREAT night and first nap!!  Well done   Keep reminding yourself of those successes even if you get short naps the rest of the day - you've made great progress in such a short space of time.

[My little Liam]

Thanks... although starting my day at 0530 was depressing...