The 2-1 journey continues....

[Shiv52]

Char you have a wonderful attitude. That's what will keep you going. My DD2 was a rubbish sleeper. Pathetic. And I didn't think I could a worse sleeper than DD1!!!!   Just keep doing what you are doing. Hope for the best, expect the worst! That was my motto.

How's he going at the daycare?  Am sure that's a big change all round xx

[jcsmom]

Awwww. Big hugs. For what it's worth, my DS was an awful sleeper and C outdoes him 10 fold. But my DS is now 6 and amazing and I try to forget those first 2 years of sleep. This too shall pass. I promise. You are such a loving mommy and that is all that matters.

Curious too how daycare is going. I went back to work too and it's tough but I get to leave C with my mom. My DS started when he was 18 months and it took a few weeks but he settled in. I am sure A will do amazing.

[ZacsMumme]

Hugs Hun, your a fantastic mum and do everything you can to help him get the sleep he needs. It's all you can do

Shiv is right, you have a fantastic attitude.

[Joy-filled]

Thanks ladies. I could use a bit of help today.  It's been a gong show, TBH.

I went back to work at the beginning of October but our home daycare couldn't start as the woman running it was in a serious car accident and needed the month of Oct to recover.  So DH ahas been using his vacation time to stay at home with A while I'm at work.  Last week we started to transition A to daycare for a couple hrs a few days and he would cry the whole time  .  Today he went for 2 hrs though and only cried at the beginning . 

He will be sleeping in a play pen there and I forgot to have him practice here a few times so he's used to it.  So....since he's starting full days at daycare tomorrow and will be napping there for the first time (eek!) I decided to try it today.  It was a complete failure.  He screamed hysterically for 20 min, refusing to lie down.  But he was so exhausted that he fell asleep sitting!  For 5 min he kept nodding his head and jerking around and then he fell over completely which woke him up and set him off screaming again.  I eventually decided to transfer him to the crib but no improvement.  Screamed and screamed.  I gave in and rocked him and he slept for 25 min but I stubbornly kept rocking and he slept another 32.  So.....when should I do BT?

Final WU today 6:45 (woke him up from a deep sleep)
A 6 hr 10 min  (Aimed for set nap at 12:00 but as you know that didn't happen....)
S 12:55-1:20 (25 min), 1:32-2:04 (32 min)

Stick with the 30 min earlier than 7:00 set BT and do 6:30 BT even though it was quite a poor nap?

[Joy-filled]

I was also wondering if anyone has any brilliant ideas about what to do about the fact that he won't even nap in a play pen in his room....never mind at daycare tomorrow .  I have a feeling that after a long, long time screaming he's going to all out refuse the nap tomorrow or eventually crash for 1 sleep cycle at best and sleep 25-30 min and then wake up screaming again.  I guess I'll just try to get him to bed as early as possible when I get home from work  ?  He sure is one sensitive little sleeper!

[K-JDA]

Hi
My DS started nursery a couple of months ago and he went from taking 1.5hr am nap/45 mins PM nap to a few days only taking 1 x 30 mins nap because he refused them!! All I can say is that it does eventually get better as they settle in and my DS is nearly back to his old sleep pattern bar the odd nap being a bust - it has taken a good 6/7 weeks tho I am afraid. X

[Shiv52]

I think you may find he'll nap better in the playpen at the daycare as that will be normal for him YK? 

How'd it go?

[Mama2Athena]

He might surprise you.  My DS (now 7) was an absolute nightmare for naps at home but would happily nap for the daycare lady.  The only way he'd nap for me was in his carseat.

Before he turned 1, he was in a pack n play at daycare, after that he slept on a mat on the floor with all the other kids.  Will there be other kids?  You may find that he will give into peer pressure and happily nap there.  Good luck!

[Joy-filled]

Mama2Athena, you guessed it! He didn't scream, barely cried, fell asleep in 10 min and slept 1 hr 45 on Wed and 1 hr 40 on Thurs  !  I was thrilled, as was the daycare provider. 

I'm not sure if it's a trend that will continue as he may have been crashing as nights before and during that time were quite poor but I'm so happy nonetheless.  And I'm keeping fx that he'll be a fabulous daycare napper!

And he just woke up from a 1 hr 45 min nap for me today!    Who knows, maybe the nap is lengthening 

On another note, DLS is tomorrow and I'm sort of dreading it.  I've been pushing his nap and BT over the past couple of weeks but the only thing it's done is shortened the night.  He is  waking between 6-6:20 regardless of previous day's nap length or BT.  So, we're getting less total sleep than usual and my hope that WU would move ahead along with nap and BT moving ahead hasn't worked.  So...I'm trying to prepare myself for 5:00 WU's  but I'm sure we'll get through it! 

But, to end on a positive note - I'm thrilled his 1st two naps at daycare were a tremendous success!

[jcsmom]

Yay A . That is awesome! What a relief that must be. What time are you doing nap at and what time is bedtime? Instead of adding to his morning his is probably adding to his nap so you will probably find that with an almost 2 hour nap your night will probably be 11 hours or shorter even. It may also take a bit for his mornings to catch up to where his nap is.
DLS is not something I am looking forward to either. C has decided this week to start waking earlier than normal (6ish instead of 6:45/7) as has my 6 year old for some odd reason so I am dreading the 5's on the clock come Sunday morning. I might do something drastic like put her to bed an hour late so she is just OT enough to go back to sleep the following morning. Who knows. Either way, it's not going to be pretty for a while  Whomever invented DLS obviously did not have kids.

[Joy-filled]

I've been moving everything ahead in 15 min increments so 12:15 nap, 7:15 BT then 12:30 nap, 7:30 BT and then today 12:45 nap, 7:45 BT.  On Sunday I'll go back to 12:00 nap and 7:00 BT.  I'll only do 15 min earlier if his WU is silly early.  Otherwise, I'll keep trying this whole set nap, set BT thing.  The thing with A is that he is so inconsistent.  Nights range from 9.5-11.75 hrs and naps range from 1 hr - 1 hr 45.  I just can't seem to find a rhythm that evens things out, despite sticking to set times religiously.  However, I do think the current plan is best so I'm going to carry on.  Thanks for sticking with me! 

[jcsmom]

Sounds like he is regulating his sleep though. Like I said with a longer nap you may find his night is 10-11 hours. Sleep needs really start to drop to closer to 13 hours or even less at this age(15-18 months 12.5-13 hours is the norm from what I have read elsewhere) and nap sleep steals from night sleep. I found with DS even 15 mins too much nap meant long NWs or EWs/short nights. He would do a 2.5 epic nap then be up for 4 hours in the night or sleep 9.5 hours at night. It wasn't like 2 hours got me an 11 hour night every time either. It also depended on the day before and night before as well. I could write a book on inconsistent sleepers!Always fun trying to figure them out. But I have read that poor sleepers tend to be bright 

C is the same, so inconsistent. I have nearly made myself mad trying to figure out that magic combo. What I do know is she needs  a long A time to nap well after a long night (12 hours) like really long (6+ A), shorter if her night was short (have yet to determine). But she loves her long nights and still short naps. I am lucky if it is 1.5 hours, mostly 75 mins. I find if it is 1.5 hours her night drastically shortens, so the following day she needs an earlier nap. Ugh. So exhausting isn't it? lol. The very elusive 2 hour nap gave us a 10.5 hour night. Go figure. I have a feeling she will be done napping at a young age 

I always think about you and A and am so happy to hear he is settling so well at daycare. I had a feeling he'd surprise you!

[Joy-filled]

Before this week, Aaron's best naps were after great nights because he'd have a shorter A time.  An A time of 5-5.5 gave 1.5-2 hr naps.  EW leading to A time of 6 hrs gave 1 hr 10 min-ish naps.  But based on how this week has gone, maybe his sleep needs are dropping?  If so, I may have to push BT later to plan for an 11 hr night.  I'll wait it out another week though as it's too soon to tell.  Plus, who knows what influence his teething molars are having.    Thanks again for walking with me!

(Is C taking good naps for you?!  You're so blessed that she STTNs but I know you've been trying to get her naps sorted out for quite some time.  Any luck?)

[jcsmom]

We're teething here too so routine has gone out the window. Plus she still has a bad cold. Our best naps come from short nights or if she has long nws. I have gone back to 2 naps here and there but that just causes EWs then a one nap day is tough. I too am just going to ride it out and stick to a set nap and bedtime from now on. I hope dst goes well!

[ZacsMumme]

Jc....T is exactly the same right now with his sleep. Ido idly have written this

Our best naps come from short nights or if she has long NW.

Also teething here and doing some CN days

So char your not alone lovely