Help needed with 10.5 month old 2nd nap

[Joy-filled]

Just wondering how things are going?  Did things smooth out?

[pareeta]

Hi Char,

No, things aren't really any different.  I'm trying the morning nap with an afternoon CN, but with no luck.  Last night she was awake from 2:15am - 3:45am from being OT since she didn't take her afternoon nap.  One thing i discovered is she needs an A time of 3hr and 15min before her morning nap   I can't get her afternoon A time down, though. 

How is the 1 nap transition going for you?

[Layla]

Did the short morning/longer pm nap work for you? How long is her morning nap now?

[pareeta]

It didn't work.  I tried the short morning nap and long afternoon nap for 4 days, but with no luck.  I'm going to try it again though to see if it works now that we are back home. 

Currently, her morning nap is 1.5 hours.  I know her morning A time is 3hr 15 min.  She's been in her crib for an hour and she's refusing her 2nd nap today. 

My game plan starting tomorrow is to cut her morning nap to 30 min in hopes to get a longer afternoon nap.  Do you think i should slowly cut back her morning nap or should i just do it cold turkey?

[Layla]

If she was fighting the pm nap on just 45 mins then yes, cut to 30 mins and offer pm nap around 2.5-3 hrs later. I would probably do it at once but I am a little on the impatient side and would be too scared that mine would fight the pm nap on just 1 hr . Would she fall asleep in the afternoon in the pram or if you take her for a drive in the car?

[pareeta]

I'm impatient as well so I will cut her nap to 30 min cold turkey.  She'll take a quick 30 min nap in the car.  I'm assuming pram is a stroller.  If that's correct, then she doesn't fall asleep in the pram anymore . 

[pareeta]

Yesterday I cut her morning nap to 30 min.  Her schedule:

7:00am - Awake
10:15 - Asleep
10:45 - Awake
1:45 - In crib NO NAP
6:00 - Asleep

Since she didn't take a nap yesterday, I'm cutting her A time to 2.5 hours since she was clearly tired yesterday.  Today's schedule so far:

6:00am - Awake
9:55 - Asleep
10:25 - Awake
12:55 - In crib NO NAP

She's exhausted, but she won't sleep.  Any help on this?  I'm not sure what to do. 

[Joy-filled]

Hugs to you.....that is awful.  Is she sleeping okay at night?  Or is she crashing and sleeping through?

Layla might suggest you stick with it for a few more days, but I'll let her guide you on that one.  I do wonder if your LO is like mine and simply would not do a short am long pm nap.  He wouldn't refuse the pm nap but he would scream and scream no matter what A time I used and then he'd only sleep 20-28 min so then we'd have 2 short naps in the day - the capped am nap and then the short pm nap.  I wonder if you'll have to end up doing what I did and do long am nap short pm nap and then the pm nap had to be APOPed in the car...?  Is that an option for you?  Or do you want to stick it out and keep trying the capped am nap?

[pareeta]

Thanks, Char. 

As far as i know (i might sleep through her waking if she doesn't make any noise), she sleeps through the night okay.  She crashes as soon as i put her in the crib and usually sleeps through until the next morning.  Tomorrow i'm going to put her down after 2 hrs of A time, and I will see what happens. 

My heart breaks seeing how tired she is since she's only taken a 30 min nap, so i'm not sure how much longer i can continue.  Layla any thoughts on how long i should continue to do this to get a short am nap?

Char - I don't think she will sleep in the car anymore. But if that is an option, how long do i do that?  Weeks?

[Layla]

(((hugs))) again, sorry to hear she didn't sleep well again 

The other thing you could do is just let her be in the morning and sleep as long as she wants and over a couple of weeks, try and push that nap out until it is closer to the middle of her day... she may well be ready for 1 nap. Some LOs do go down by 12 months. We too would end up with 2 short naps some days but mine wouldn't refuse the pm nap on a short morning nap until much much later... we just didn't have a long pm nap all the time.

[ZacsMumme]

Hugs! My first refused to do a short am and long pm. We would get two short naps and a cranky boy.
I think may e if it doesn't start to work soon you could try was Layla and char suggest. Push the am nap to 4 hrs and hold...work on this being a solid long nap. APOP back to sleep if you can. Then offer a late pm CN if needed, or EBT.

[pareeta]

Thanks!  So should i try the short AM nap today with an A time of 2 hours or just let her sleep to her hearts content?  BTW - she an EW today of 5:15, which she hasn't done that for the past 1.5 week. 

[Joy-filled]

I'd say it's up to you.  What is your gut saying is better?

As to your question about how long you'll have to APOP the pm nap in the car if you go that route?  It totally depends on how long it is until she's on 1 nap.  Some transition later some transition earlier (like my poor struggling DS at 11 months).  Your LO does sound similar to mine, though, TBH and I'm guessing you're going to have to end up moving to 1 nap sooner than average.  But on the bright side, I do have to say you are very blessed that your DD crashes and STTN.  My DS can't handle the OTness and NWs and EWs like crazy.

[pareeta]

I'm going with the long AM nap, and hope to get a CN in the afternoon.  I will let you know how it goes.

Thanks for all the help!

[pareeta]

Today is so weird!  Schedule so far:

5:15 - Awake
6:40 - Get out of crib
9:45 - Asleep
11:00 - Awake (she was OT; usually she takes 1.5 hour nap in the AM)
2:10 - in crib
3:05 - Asleep

Is it possible she needs a 4 hour A time after her first nap?