Support for dropping the nap part 9.

[Buntybear]

Dedicated mum, I agree that this does sound like UT. If you had been getting 1 hour naps then I would cut that back to 45 mins in the first instance (we always did things in 15 min increments though as it worked for us). If still showing UT signs then 30 min naps. I would also look at pushing the nap back, I find it amazing you are still getting a nap at all at 5 hour A time! We were up to about 6.5 hour A time at 3!!

On the days that you are getting really EWs I would certainly look for a cat nap. For us, it would be in the car as he wouldn't nap at home for while before he finally dropped it completely (only napped 3 days at nursery).

I also wanted to metion that there is regression around the 3 year birthday. I guess his is coming up soon? Sleep always goes wonky for us then  My tactics are really just try anything to get through it but try and remain consistent and do try and do the minimum required to get them to sleep. If he will only go to sleep in your bed then so be it, but have minimum contact. We did this and I would allow him in my bed but I would not talk to him and sleep with my back to him. Then when it is time for him to go back in his bed it is easier to mimic this through some gradual withdrawal.

Hope this helps x

[Dedicated mum]

Thanks for all the advice. Buntybear-i used to give him a nap so early because he has nursery starting at 12.30pm and therefore i needed him to be quite fresh for that. Thankfully it worked while he settled into nursery. Now he's happy going i will just have to see what time he wakes up and give him a nap when i think he needs it. Today he was awake at 5.30am but slept for a bit in my bed and was up for the day at 7 ish. He was moody all day and nearly fell asleep on the sofa but didn't. He was so OT at 7 that even with a long bath, massage and wind down he was crying at bedtime and screaming out for me. I am going to stick with GW because i cant handle the cry outs. I can see some light at the end of the tunnel especially with so much support on this forum. You guys are doing a fantastic job. xx

[Buntybear]

So he had a 12 hour day with no nap? Maybe try shortening that to 11.5 or even 11 hours whilst he settles into his new routine? Does he find a bath relaxing? More often than not we miss bath now as we find it hard to fit in and get a reasonable bed time.

[Dedicated mum]

Yes he had a 12 hour day with no nap. Last night he had a late bedtime of 9pm  because he had a 45 min nap at 3pm. But it took us nearly an hour to settle him at 9pm and he didn't sleep till nearly 10pm which means he only had a 9 hour night minus the time he fussed in my bed this morning. I think his EW this morning at 5am was due to OT.

I dont bath him every night but thought it might help him sleep better tonight so he's rested for a nursery day tomorrow. Not sure it will work though.

[Buntybear]

We also had OT EWs when we were nap dropping (alongside the 3 year regression) which is why I think it best to get a short cat nap in if you do have an EW. For us anythign under about 30 mins doesn't actually affect the time he goes to bed but just makes him less OT by BT and just keeps those EWs a bit later 

[destina23]

Someone mentioned 11 hrs is normal for a almost 4 year old (in 2 weeks).  So is early bedtimes not the answer for him?  Maybe do a quick nap 1/2 hr to get to 7pm bedtime if he wakes early like 5/5:30?  And no naps if he wakes past 6?

Past few days he's been sick.  Poor bugger.  He's been waking at 7 napping 2 hrs and asleep by 630/7 so can't judge by that. 

Thanks!

[Dedicated mum]

So we had a 5.30am wake up but i brought him into my bed and he slept till 7.30am! So a 12 hour night followed by a NND today. We had a 7pm bedtime today with him falling asleep at 7.15pm so a nearly 12 hour day. Im happy with that but is it enough sleep? I suppose time will tell. I need to somehow increase the time he spends in the morning in his cot. (because i bring him into bed he has started to ask if he can sleep there at bedtime!) I have heard about Gro-clocks but i think the lit-up stars might disturb his sleep. Would a night-light or lamp with a timer work? I think i will try this once we move him to a BBB. Any thoughts? I don't want to start now anyway because i am away next week and wont be able to stick to anything whilst sleeping in the same room as him.

[anna*]

You can set the Groclock so that it is black/off overnight and only lights up at morning time.

[KimMackay]

Hi ladies!  Desperately hoping that someone could shed some light on our situation over here.  I hate to think that my DS is getting ready to drop of his nap....but I honestly don't know what else to do to fix our sleep.

My DS is 21 months and LSN.  He's been taking 1 nap since he was 13 months and it generally lasted about 1h10-20 on average and STTN with it taking about 20 min to fall asleep at BT.  I've constantly had to push his nap out...making A time longer and longer...to get him past the 40 min mark.  If he isn't tired enough he wakes at 40 min.

Usual day...
WU - 6:30-7am
Nap - 1:30/45 letting him sleep 1hr - 1h10
BT - into bed at 7:30...asleep by 8pm (unless I've tried to let him sleep a bit longer for his nap...and then he ends up taking 40-1hr to fall asleep) 

For at least a month now, its been taking him at least 30 min to fall asleep at BT and he's waking super early in the morning.

WU - today was 5:30am...the average has been 6-6:15am
Nap - earliest I've got him to sleep is 1:25 - tried letting him sleep 1hr 15 the other day and thats when it took 1 hr to fall asleep at BT
BT - asleep for 8pm (will not fall asleep any earlier if I try EBT)

I am at such a loss.  It seems everything I have tried so far as just made his night shorter.  He used to sleep 10h45-11hr on a good night....and now we are lucky to get 10hr.

This is my last thought.....should I be pushing the nap out even more and chopping it? Could he be getting ready to drop this nap?

Any insight would be appreciated.  I desperate.....he's been a disaster in the mornings after having such short nights.

PLEASE HELP!

[Khalam's Mama]

Hi Kim, It will be good to see what others have to suggest for you.

Dedicated M I would really cut his days, fwiw when we dropped ds1 nap he went from 10hr nights to 10h days, your lo may not need that short but I think 12 hrs day is a long day. If I put k down at 12 hrs we got 12 hr nights but if at 10hrs we got 14hr nights and much better behaviours so if he seems tired don't be scared to cut he day even shorter.

I have been having awful bt with B (25mo) which has coincided with bbb and bf wean but I think it is ultimately nap dropping. I plan to alternate Nnd with naps as I think all Nnd will be too much at this stage. This worked for months with  ds1 so I hope it will with B too.

[*Kara*]

Hi Kim!

Sorry to hear that Nolan is off track again... I think you might think I am crazy for suggesting this but - I think he's way OT hun.  I  know he has really low sleep needs but honestly, that is just way too little sleep for his age... Have you every thrown caution to the wind and let him have a nice long nap?  It could well be that he is OT when he wakes from the nap, OT builds and he goes down OT, leading to a night less than 10 hrs (certainly OT driven).  My kid has LSN as well but taking a long time to settle at bedtime and then waking early screams OT to me.

For example at this age we did:
Wake 630am
Nap 1230-230pm (if I kept her up she would fight this nap)
BT 730pm and she would go right down...

[ZacsMumme]

I agree with kara that nap is pretty short for his age and we were on 1.5 during developmental leaps, then back up to 1hr45-2 when things settled. The nights are to short to be UT

We were on a later nap too like you. But when this kind of thing happened I actually pulled the nap back a bit and allowed a long on with same BT. Alternatively you an try an EBT and see if you get a longer night so he is less OT at the start of the day. 

Hugs

[Hedgehog17]

Finally ready to jump on here now (DS is 2y8mo) 

Mr High Sleep Needs has recently had a big growth spurt and developmental leap, and we're actually getting nap and BT resistance, and the odd EW as well 

He was happily doing (until about a 2 weeks ago) 7pm - 8am overnight and a 2 - 2.5hr nap from 1.30pm.

Now he's managing to push BT out to 7.30 or 8pm and waking between 7 and 7.30am. The nap has crept forward to 2pm (he ended up going down at 2.30pm today as we were running late!) and I've capped it to 1hr 45min for the last two days. He doesn't seem to be tired at all, lthough his eyes were looking shadowed today 

Bearing in mind he's always been very HSN, I don't know if I should try to cap the nap more at this stage and see if he'll tack on a bit at night, or if I should take it slowly and keep at 1hr 45min until he's used to it and see if he'll calm down a bit at BT?

[ZacsMumme]

Hi hedgehog! Your day is looking like this then?
WU 7/7.30
Nap 2-3.45
BT 7.30/8

Honestly. I think that is a good routine for his age. I know he is HSN but Z was LSN and now he is avge YK? I do think as they get a bit older their sleep needs can change a little. What do you think? - are you happy with the routine if you didn't worry about the HsN bit is he happy in himself?

[CCCmom27]

I found it Sara! I didn't even realize this thread existed; should have posted here first!  So with Z do you do naps all week long and then just NND on the weekend?  I think 5 days in a row of naps would be too much for G.  He now apparently has an ear infection which we found out at well visit so that's probably throwing things off now too.