12 months - 35/40 min naps, UT or OT??

[Jessleigh]

Why can't i figure this out!! I've been charting her sleep for weeks. SOmetimes a 35/40 min nap is definitely OT, and sometimes she acts completely UT. This is driving me NUTS!!

ANd these EW's are driving me nuts too.

Here's the last few days:

1/7
WU - 5:15, up at 6:15
A - 3hrs 15 til crib, 3hrs 22 til asleep
S - 8:37 (DH put her down)-9:07 (30mins)
A - 2hrs 30 til crib, 2hrs 40 til asleep
S - 11:40-1:10 (1.5hrs!)
A - 4hrs 20mins
BT - 5:30 (help me, Jesus)

1/8
WU - 5 (yay), up 6:10
A – 3hrs 17mins (based on crib time as ½ A)
S - 8:47-9:17 (30mins) wiwo 30mins no sleep
A - 2hrs 40
S - 12-2:30 (on a walk) (2.5hrs!!) she woke at the 40, then took about 10mins to get her back down
A - 3hrs 50
BT - 6:20

1/9
too long day sleep yesterday?
WU - 4:40, back to sleep til 5:30?? (not sure), up 6:30! (wasn't even crying so no idea when she actually woke for the day)
A - 3hrs 15 based on guessed WU of 5:30, asleep 3hrs 23
S - 8:53-9:35 (40mins) then she rolled around wi making a sound for 30mins before DH got her up bc she was babbling
A - 2hrs 30 til crib, 2hrs 40 til asleep
S - 12:15-12:50 (1 hr of wiwo but no sleep)
A - 4hrs 10
EBT - 5pm!

1/10
WU - 4:24, back to sleep at some point til 6am!
A - 3hrs
S - 9-9:55 (55mins)
A - 3hrs - was acting super UT, did wiwo for 20 but realized i had put her down too soon and she was NOT tired. Took her out to play for a bit longer then knew putting her back in crib would be confusing for her so i went on a walk.
Final A time - 4 hrs! bummer
S - 1:55-2:35 (40mins) would not go back to sleep despite walking for 30 more mins...sigh...
A - 3hrs 25mins
BT - 6
NW - 12 (first time i had to do wiwo at night...very odd, she was really upset, don't know why
WU - 5:30 (i knew this was too early, held her from 5:40-6

1/11
WU - 5:30, up 6
A - 3hrs 5mins (SUPER cranky and yawning all morning)
S - 8:35-9:40 (1hr 5mins)
A - 2hrs 25
S - 1:05-1:40 (35mins) first woke screaming, been doing wiwo for 20mins now she's babbling and acting UT. So confused!!


Can anyone help me see what I'm not seeing?
Thanks

[Jessleigh]

I'm so tired of calculating A times and guessing when to put her down. SHe wakes at different times each day. and sometimes i can't tell when she actually wakes or if she goes back to sleep bc sometimes she is so quiet for an hour or more but i know she's awake, sitting there, rolling around, etc...
Frustrating feeling like i can't be consistent with A times bc i never know how to calculate it with crib time included, etc...

Makes me just want to shoot for set naps but she's so prone to OT that i'm not sure it would work...

Thoughts?

[Jessleigh]

How do i get some consistency here?

[Lolly]

Do set naps then - if she's getting OT from all the messing around then you have nothing to loose really. I would do a set nap of max 30 mins at 9am and then a longer nap at 12/12.30.

If you do the nap too early it doesn't help the EW, so stick with the times you choose for at least a week no matter what to see if it is working. Yes she probably will get OT, but you have to push through it before it gets better with set naps. If what you are doing now isn't working then it's a good idea to try.

Once she gets into a better routine you can work towards 1 nap.

Laura

[Truly Blessed]

Hi Hun,

Popping on with some extra (Hugs). I agree with Laura completely. Often when things are all over the place like this, there is no way of figuring out what the LO needs. Set naps should help that and like Laura says you have nothing to lose. Be sure to stick to it long enough for it to be conclusive.

x.

[Jessleigh]

ok thanks. Will give it a go. The problem is the second nap has been a 50/50 chance with getting a long one. today i aped it so she napped from 12-2 on a walk.

Would you recommend cutting that APing out completely? Makes me nervous. The walks sometimes save me from enduring an afternoon of a falling apart LO.

 and on days i can't resettle the second nap and only get a 35/40, do i hold onto that 6pm BT or push even earlier?

I got lucky once and put her to bed at 5, she woke at 4:30 but went back to sleep on her own til 6! Other times EBT's just mean even earlier WU's. and i feel like our whole routine just keeps getting pushed eariler and earlier as the months go on.

I know each LO is so different, but at this point I'm so confused that I'm having a really difficult time trusting my instincts.

Appreciate the help.

[Jessleigh]

And it seems she's only wanting 13-13.5 hrs sleep lately. That meant after putting her to bed at 6 she woke at 4:30!!

She did go back to sleep (I think) till 5:15/5:20 but this is ridiculous.

So it went:
WU: 5:15
S 8:30-9 (30) starting w the set nap at 9 today
S 12-2 ( 2hrs in carrier )
BT 6
WU 4:30/5:15
Total sleep: about 13/13.5

It seems although she needs less sleep she's not doing long enough A's to make up for it.

Thoughts on BT? Eventually I need to move it somehow.

[Truly Blessed]

And it seems she's only wanting 13-13.5 hrs sleep lately.

Hi Hun, this ^ is a good amount of sleep for her age. DS slept 13 hours in 24 from 12 months and that's not uncommon, so unless she is high sleep needs I wouldn't worry about that, she is probably just naturally adjusting because she needs less. However the only way to get a better WU is to increase her A time. I am no expert on 2 nap days as DS went to 1 nap from 12 months  but unless I'm mistaken she could probably go 3 hours after a 30 min cat nap. Then in turn that would have pushed BT later. Granted this would have made her day too long, but IIWM I think I would have gone for that for one day to try and shift WU later. If after a few days she is still EW then I think maybe you have to conclude that 2.5 hours day sleep is now too much and is going to rob from her night sleep. I can't help but wonder if that 2nd nap now needs to be 1.5 to get a good nights sleep, but like I say it is good to stick with a plan for a few days otherwise it isn't conclusive.

Thoughts 

(Hugs)

x.

[Jessleigh]

Yeah good idea. I'm gonna keep pm nap at 1.5.
But the only way I can see getting a later BT is if I AP the pm nap as she won't sleep longer than 35 if I give her too much A. Yesterday was a disaster. Ended up w 3 short naps just to get to 6 BT which caused 3 NWs

Today trying for
S 9-9:45
S 1-3:30
BT 7/7:30

And holding it for a few days. I don't mind aping naps if it means wus could shift. We'll see!

[Truly Blessed]

Sounds like a plan Hun, I would APOP that 2nd nap IIWY too, because when she is back on track she is more likely not to need you to anyway. Needs must and all that.

Finger's X'd for you.x.

[Jessleigh]

Oops meant S- 1:30-3
BT 7

Thanks.
Would u say it is easier to have a longer am nap when making the 2-1 transition?

If I keep the am short, how would I tradition to 1?

Since I'm deciding to AP one nap I may as well try to set us up for an easier transition if possible.

[Truly Blessed]

Would u say it is easier to have a longer am nap when making the 2-1 transition?

No, not usually Hun. As a general rule you would push a LO to 5 hours then go with EBT (early bed time) to compensate if the nap is short. So for us during the 2-1 we did a 12.5 hour day maximum if the nap was less than 1.5 hours. We got a lot of 1/1.15 naps at first so sometimes I even went for SEBT (super early bed time) if necessary and this was the first time that DS tacked on sleep, which I believe was what got us the longer naps after around 10 days or so.

Hope this helps.

x.