29 month old NW/EW issues!

[MummyofAOF]

Hello everybody! 
I haven't posted on here for a while but have been following along- trying to get some answers to issues we are currently having with our almost 30 month old DD.
She has had periods on and off of brilliant 2 hour daytime naps and has always slept well at night (aside from teething/illness etc)
Our EASY as of 5 weeks ago was:
7am ish: Wake
12.30pm: Nap for 2-2.5hr
3pm ish: Up
7pm: Bed- usually slept through.
I realise that was an awesome routine and she is now getting older/needing less sleep- however following one day of no nap 5 weeks ago then an ear infection and conjunctivitis, plus a holiday and a couple of big earthquakes our EASY looks something like this:
5.30/6am: Wake- I go in and try to resettle her by saying, "Lie down, it's not time to get up yet" or something similar- she will lie down and stay quiet for 10-15mins then start crying and calling out for me again. This repeats itself until I get her up at about 6.30am.
12.30pm: Nap. She has no issues in settling and falls asleep quickly. She will now only sleep for about 1-1.5hr.
7/7.30pm- Bedtime. No issues settling- she gets a bath, PJ's, drink of milk in a cup, and stories then into bed.
NW's- These vary. One night it can be 9pm, 3am, then awake from 5.30am; next night it could be 11.30pm, 1.30am, 4.30am. No rhyme or reason!

She always used to self settle with her bunny comforter however at all night wakings will now call out for me and start crying- I wait until I hear her start to escalate and get really upset, which is usually only 2 minutes or so, before I go in. Luckily all I have to do at these night wakings is pat the pillow, she lies down and I tuck her in, then I leave the room. Sometimes (not very often though) she will resettle herself. She has a night light and often asks me to turn on her lullaby CD.
She is in a big girl bed with a side rail and has never tried to climb out. She is not sick (had her checked out at the GP) and has all her 2 year molars through. She attends creche just one morning a week and is otherwise home with me. I am 25 weeks pregnant so am just exhausted with all this broken sleep- would love to get this sorted before I have to be up all night with a newborn too!
Am wondering if it is one of two things:
1. Accumulated overtiredness from being sick, poor naps and overnight sleep. I have tried to let her nap for as long as she wants but it is usually only 1.5hrs at max. She is always awake by 2.30pm. I have also tried putting her to bed early (6.30pm) but NW's/EW's have continued.
2. The start of 1-0. There is no way she would currently be able to last all day without a nap- I am open to the idea of capping her nap but when I have tried this (1hr max) it has not made a difference to her night sleeps. Do I need to cap more or drop the nap entirely and have a super early bedtime?
If I knew which option it was likely to be then I can stick it out for a week or so until something clicks, but I don't want to be capping her nap if she is hideously overtired!
She is grumpy during the day too- cries easily and whines/grizzles a lot.
I think that's all- hopefully someone out there has some answers/suggestions!!
Thank you so much in advance 

[*Becky*]

Hi there,
Sorry your post has been missed. How are things now - still the same? It def sounds like OT to me especially if she was sleeping really well (quite jealous!) before then.
Have you got a gro-clock or lights on a timer so she knows when it is morning? I think that would be very useful right now.

[MummyofAOF]

Hey Becky- thank you so much for your reply 
Things have gotten marginally better over the last 3 nights-
Night 1: Bed 7.30pm, slept through until 5.55am- unable to resettle her back down so up for the day then. (This was the first night in about a month that she actually slept through!! No idea what I did to get this result  )
Day 1: S- Nap 12pm
           A- 1.45pm
           Bed 7.45pm- slept through until 5.30am and shock horror resettled (after I went in, patted the pillow and tucked her in)
           then woke again at 0715hr.
Day 2: S- 1pm (had creche so couldn't put her down any earlier than this)
           A- 2.20pm
           Bed- 7.40pm- woke once at 1am, then 5.25am. Resettled and woke for day at 0640hr.
Today: S- 12.30pm
            A- 1.45pm.

I will investigate getting a Gro clock, have heard some good things about them so will give it a try!
My Mum had a thought that maybe her A time in the morning was too long and her afternoon A too short- do you think it could be OT before nap and UT before bed? Could that cause NW's/EW's or do you think it is pure OT? Not sure what routine to stick with at the moment- if she wakes at 6.30am putting her down for her nap a bit earlier (say 12pm- aim for 5.5 A time) and cap at 1/1.5hr, then in bed at 7.30pm after 6hr A; or if I need to let her sleep as much as possible to combat OT? So confusing!!
Thanks for your help anyway! 

[*Becky*]

The 1-0 is such a tough one because it kind of depends on the lo i.e. DS did much better with a capped nap and an earlier BT whereas DD does better on a longer nap, later BT. If I try to cap she gets OT.

I am guessing she has always been pretty high sleep needs - is she susceptible to OT?

I would def get a gro-clock...they are brilliant.

It seems that things are better from the days you have posted above.....unless she is sick or super OT I would not let her nap more than about 1.5 hours and aim for the day to be about 12.5/13 hours max. See how that goes for 5 days or so. I probably would not put her down at 12pm as that seems early for her age. DD is 2 years 3 months and she goes down at 1pm regardless of wake up - lo's can wake early if their nap is too early. So I would do
A - 6.30am
Nap - 1-2.30pm
BT - 7.30pm - (asleep by)

If that really does not work after a good few days then we can reassess. x

[MummyofAOF]

Awesome- thank you so much for your help, will try it for a few days and keep you posted x