13.5 month old and long NWs - 1 nap for a month

[aelight]

DD has never been a great sleeper and still gets up once a night to nurse (I haven't had the energy to deal with this yet), but she usually just goes right back to sleep after. For the past 5 days, though, she has gotten up between 1:30-2:30 and stayed up (usually crying, sometimes talking - always TOTALLY awake) for 1.5 hours. When she's really hysterical, I can't even leave the room. I've been holding her to try and calm her down because if I don't pick her up, she goes totally nuts. I haven't dealt with this since she was much much younger, so I've been caught off guard in the night and am not quite sure what to do....

We transitioned to 1 nap around 12.5 months because she was refusing the PM nap and waking many times a night. Our schedule lately goes like this:

WU: 7, out of crib at 7:30
Nap: 11:45/12
WU: 1:30-2:30
BT: 7 (if up at 1:30) or 8 (if up at 2:30)
NW: 1am-2:30am for 1.5 hours

At night, she goes to sleep on her own, usually just with a bit of babbling and one cry. If she wakes before midnight, she resettles herself pretty easily, but after that, nope. I often nurse her to sleep for her nap, but she CAN fall asleep for her nap on her own (it's just easier for me, obviously!).

She's been walking for ages and has 8 teeth. She could be getting molars, though I can't feel anything? She's definitely tired because of these NWs and wants to nap at 10:30, but I push her to try and maintain some schedule!

Any advice is welcome!! Thank you!!

[Buttonbobs]

Hi hon, sorry to hear things are a bit of a struggle at the moment. Long NWs like that for us were always either UT or discomfort of some kind. You've mentioned potential teething, it is quite common to have only a little disruption to sleep with the early teeth and yet still have long NWs from molars and canines. Have you tried medicating as you go to bed, sort of like a dream feed, to see if it helps at all?

I don't think it's likely to be Ut as you've only been on one nap for a short while and your routine looks good.

If the medicating doesn't make a difference and the NW continues at the same time then come back, maybe we can try something like W2S.

[aelight]

Thanks so much for your reply! Before bed yesterday, I was totally convinced it was all about teething....so I gave her meds before bed, just in case...and she woke SCREAMING and standing at 9:30pm. Two hours after BT! Her routine yesterday was totally normal, just as I had posted before. I picked her up to make sure she was okay, and she immediately fell limp in my arms and put her head on my shoulder. I held her for just a minute and put her back down. SCREAMING. Since I didn't think she was in pain, I decided to do a version of WI/WO (I have to put a hand on her at first or she won't calm down). It took three hours for her to fall asleep. She woke at 6:30am and I fed her and put her back down, and she slept until 8.

Do you think this is more SA and not teething? I hate not to pick her up if she's in pain, but I had given her meds....the night before, I'd had to hold her for a long time when she cried because we had guests and I couldn't just let her yell! Maybe that's what she was looking for again? I'm at a loss....I feel like we're back to her 5 month self!!

Thank you!

[aelight]

Her NWs are getting earlier and earlier....tonight, she had BT at 7pm (up at 6:30am and she napped from 11:30-1) and was up at 8:15 yelling. She calmed herself down in 2 minutes but was up AGAIN at 10pm yelling and fussing. I almost went in (it definitely wasn't her panic cry), but she started babbling (?!) and then fell asleep after 7 or 8 minutes of being up.

What is going on?? She's falling asleep at BT really easily, but then waking up like she was as an infant. Any ideas?

Thank you - we're all getting really tired. She was so fussy all day, which makes me feel fussy!!

[Layla]

I wonder whether you went to 1 nap too soon. I remember pushing my lo to 1 nap and had to introduce 2 and tweak things a little as we were getting some serious night wakings too. You mentioned she was refusing the pm nap.... so perhaps you could cut her morning nap so that she will take the 2nd nap. So something like this:

7am - wake up
10.30-11 - morning nap
2-3.30 - pm nap
7.30 - bed

We didn't go down to 1 nap until 15/16 months and before that it was short morning and longer pm nap

What do you think

[Buttonbobs]

I have to agree with Layla - these wakings early in the evening after falling asleep re usually indicators that your LO is OT. Now, we have to expect some OT when moving to one nap nod it will take a while to settle. Perhaps stick to a shorter day even if you get a longer nap for a bit. Many LOs don't cope with a 13 hour day to being with.

I don't think you should go back to two naps permanently as you've been doing one nap for quite a while and if you can get a longer night from her this is likely to be more restorative than adding in a CN. Perhaps try an EBT for a couple of nights to see if it helps her get any more sleep?

[aelight]

Thanks to you both for the replies! Now I DEFINITELY think she is OT, but we're in that horrible OT cycle. I will definitely try EBT for the next couple of nights and see if I can't fix it. Last night just got worse and worse and then she was up at 6:30. And of course, we had plans today, and she only napped in the car for 45 minutes and is now up playing in her crib. UGH.

I'd rather not revert all the way back to 2 naps, but if EBT doesn't work after a few nights, I'll definitely consider it! Thank you and I'll keep you posted!

[aelight]

Well, EBT was a total fail tonight. I put her down a little before 6 (not early enough?) and she fussed and kicked and cried and yelled (with and without me there) until 6:55pm. NOT an EBT at all since she got up at 6:30am. I am not looking forward to tonight, but I guess we'll just have to try again tomorrow!!

[Layla]

We were between 2 and 1 nap during the transition period until we finally settled on 1. It might be too long of a stretch for her at this age but you know your baby best and if you don't want to go back to 2 naps, you may just have to ride out the overtiredness until she gets used to it

Fingers crossed for tonight xox

[aelight]

Hi, again

Well, things got a lot better for a while; DD even slept through the night three nights in a row! She's STTN a handful of times since the really bad week, but it's mixed in with either long NWs or EWs, which is new for us! I think after a bad night, she catches up with a long nap...and that seems to cause EW? Should I be capping her nap? Her schedule lately is:

WU: 5:30
Nap: 11:45-2:15
BT: 7, asleep by 7:30

I know with those times that 5:30 isn't a true EW, but this is with getting up at least once in the night, and she really needs 10.5-11 hours at night to be happy. On the major NW nights, she will be up from 10-12 or so and really can't resettle. If she STTN, she will sleep 7:30-6:30, which is really what she needs. She's 14 months now; does anyone cap their one nap at such a young age? 5:30 is just SO early for us! She's almost always slept until 7....

Thank you!

[aelight]

Ah, things are just getting worse and worse . Last night, she was up from 12-3am and then woke at 6:30am. Less than 8 hours sleep! Her schedule the last couple days has been so weird, and I don't know what to do!

WU: 7:30am (after being up from 12-12:30am and 5:30-6:30am)
Nap: 11:45-2:15
BT: 7:30pm
(Up 2-2:15am)

WU: 5:30am (out of crib at 6:30am)
Nap: 12-3
BT: 7:30pm
(Up 12-3)

WU: 6:30am

I know her days look long, but her naps have been so long? Does that not matter? Does she still need to be in bed at 6:30/7 tonight? Or earlier? I never know what to do with the super long NWs. I feel like I have an infant again. And she's SO crabby. I don't know what to do!!!

Thank you!

[Layla]

I really do think its because she isn't ready for 1 nap. You could try an earlier bedtime and see if that helps but it really is a long stretch before nap time and before bedtime....at least for my girls it would have been. Try earlier bedtime for a couple of days and see if that helps and if not you may have to experiment with shorter morning and longer pm nap.

Things might be getting worse because there is an accumulation of overtiredness
What do you think?

[aelight]

She must be OT . She was up again last night from 10-1. I can't take these long NWs anymore! However, when she woke today (she was up for a minute at 5:30am and then slept until 7:15am), I was holding her and finally saw two top molars pushing through. I had given her meds at 6:30pm last night, though, so it's hard to believe it's from that? Yesterday was:

WU: 6:30am
Nap: 11-1:30
BT: 6:45 (went to sleep easily)
Up 10-1, 5:30-5:40, up at 7:15

This is the 4th night in a row of 2+ hour NW. It's crazy! And before that, she was crying at BT or waking many times a night and having EW. 

I will think about going back to two naps, but she really has trouble falling asleep unless she's been up for almost 5 hours. Even today, I tried to get her down for her nap at 4.5 hours, and it was quite a struggle. Aaaaah, I'm feeling so defeated!!

Thank you!

[Buttonbobs]

Long NWs like for us were often teething. If you gave her calpol at 6.30 it would have been wearing off at around 10.30pm ish, even with ibuprofen meds I find this wears off in the early stages of the night. This could really be the cause of lots of the disruption, together with the built up Ot.

Did you medicate again during the two hour NW?

[aelight]

I didn't, but I definitely will if it happens again tonight! One of her molars really looked swollen and painful . I will get her to bed early and remedicate if she wakes early. Thank you!!