here we go again - nw's & ew's for my 2.5 yr old!

[s_dhroliya]

hi,
i was having sleep issues with my one year old DS, and now im having issues with my 2.5 year old, DD.  Her sleep has been pretty good for the past 4 months and this is what her EASY used to look like:

wake up - between 6-7am
nap: 1-2:30
bt: we start our routine at 7:30 and shes asleep by 8.

but, for the past week we have had ew's and now nw's   now her routine is more like this:

bt: start at 7:30, in bed by 8
nw: 1:30 - i usually just go in and pat her/comfort her  and she goes back to sleep
ew & wake up: 5:30 - she wont go back to sleep.  She will cry hsterically and ask to leave her room.  I usually have to turn on the light and just sit there and read to her until 6:30ish. 
nap: 1 - 2:30

i think she started off at UT and now might be OT (not sure though)?  her days are over 14 hours long.  Should i continue to put her to bed by 8?  do you think i need to cap her nap (so scared to do this because shes grumpy for the rest of the day).  should i still keep her nap at 1pm even when she wakes at 5:30am?  in the past, if i tried napping her earlier, i feel like it perpetuated the ew's.  not sure what to do.  please help!!!
 

[Lolly]

I think I would try shortening her day first so that she goes to bed 13 hours max after wake up. If she is EW I would try the nap a bit earlier or she will be OT going for her nap.

What do you think?

Laura

[Truly Blessed]

Hi Hun, (Hugs) this is a typical age for this to happen. Okay so first off whatever way you choose to go I recommend you keep her day at 13 hours maximum, otherwise the OT monster will stick around. I think you're probably right when you say UT became OT. I would recommend cutting the nap back, but personally I wouldn't stick with set nap when she wakes early I would go with set A time instead. 7.5 hours is a very long time to her nap, so she will most likely but very grumpy upon waking as it would need to be pretty long to be restorative enough to prevent that. So I would go with 6 hours A time to nap then cut the nap back to 1 hour 15 mins. Then EBT if necessary. So if she were to wake at 5.30 again I guess it would look like this:

WU 5.30

Nap 11.30 to 12.45

BT 6.30

That way she should settle better at BT. Typically at this age the A time to BT needs to increase so rather than making the day longer, cutting the nap back is a better option. I think once you find the magic nap length her WU will go back to normal. When she is no longer OT you could probably push the nap out an extra 15 mins or so to try and encourage that. Here's a link for help during the 1-0 transition that I put together, full of handy tips and advise which I collated from all of us who have BTDT and still doing it.

The 1-0 transition...Advice and Tips to help you through.

Also you can join us on the support thread for more advise and a good moan........

Support for dropping the nap part 8....

Hope this helps 

x.

[Truly Blessed]

Great minds think alike Laura 

x.

[Lolly]

Lol! I like your more detailed answer though! I must remember links

Laura

[s_dhroliya]

than  you both, i will definitely try keeping her day to max 13 hours and earlier nap..i will try this tomorrow.  but i have a question.i thought i read somewhere on this forum, that if your LO wakes early and if you nap them early, it could backfire because they could get used to tacking on their night sleep to the nap.  is this true?
thanks again for your advice!!

[Lolly]

That can be true but for really little ones that are going down for a nap an hour or so after they wake. If you keep at least 5 hours A time from wake up it will be fine!

Laura

[s_dhroliya]

so today looked like this:
up: 5:30am
nap: 12:30 - 2:15 (i would have liked to put her down for her nap earlier, but she didnt get back from nursery school until 12....but we got her down 1/2 earlier than usual)
bt: started at 7, asleep by 7:30 (1/2 earier than normal).
*i know we probably should have put her down at 6:30, but thats when i got home from work...
fingers crossed we have a better night!
thanks for all youu help!

[s_dhroliya]

SUCCESS!!!  THANK YOU!
capping her day to 13 hours + EBT+ Early Nap worked!  YAYAYAYAY!  THANK YOU AGAIN!

[Truly Blessed]

SUCCESS!!!  THANK YOU!
capping her day to 13 hours + EBT+ Early Nap worked!  YAYAYAYAY!  THANK YOU AGAIN!

Oh HURRAH! thank goodness, so pleased  long may it continue Honey 

x.