2 to 1 transition routine help needed

[Violet's mom]

Horrible day.  Fussy/cried all day.  Woke her for am nap after 45 mins, put down after 3 hrs, slept for 1 hr 15 min pm nap and was miserable all night until bedtime - didn't even like bath.  Just spent an hour in motn trying to get her to sleep. 

I'm so tired.

[Ima shel Alon]

Hugs, sweetie, the 2-1 transition is a drainer.
IIWY I would actually keep doing just that and not change anything more for the next few days - so the same amount of A times, then 45min for first nap and allow 1.5h for second nap. IF EW doesn't change then I would shorten the first nap by 10min and see if it helps.

[Violet's mom]

Is there anything I can do to make sure she doesn't do another 1 hr 15 min nap?

Thanks for your help

[Violet's mom]

Should I just accept that she gets up at 5am?  I feel like we've taken twelve steps back - she cries going down for naps and bed and can't be soothed easily anymore - her a times are lowering and she had a l hr crying fest last night and another short nw.  Is this normal?  Will things get better?

[Violet's mom]

Another 4:50am waking.  This isn't working.  I'm at my wits end.

[Ima shel Alon]

Could you post your EASY of yesterday or today and I will ask for some more eyes?

There is nothing to do right now with the 1:15h nap, IMO. It's hard to know if it's OT or UT so I would just wait it out a bit to see if it stretches.

[TB9]

Hi Tracy!  The 2-1 transition is so tough, lots of hugs to you 

I'm happy to throw my two cents in once you post your EASY   Just a thought, the sudden decrease in A times and long nws sound like teeth to me.  Is it possible that she has a tooth that is close to cutting?

I shoukd mention that dd1 was on one nap at 9.5months, so there are babies that are ready for it earlier   There were times during teething or sickness that we had to go back to 2 naps, but we just had to remember to push back to 1 nap once she was feeling better.

[Violet's mom]

Well today she was up from 4:50am to 5:30am and then went back to sleep until 7:00am.  So thank god she is not fussy yet today.  It usually happens after her 45 min am nap that she gets really fussy the rest of the day.

So our easy will go as follows:

E 7
A
E 9:30
A
S 10:15 (if sleepy) - 11
A
E 12
A
S 2:00 or 2:30 for goal of 1.5 hrs
E 3:30 or 4
A
E 5:15 dinner (the only meal she really eats consistently)
A bath, snuggles, book
E 6:45 bf
S by 7.

Thinking about trying for a 1 hr am nap today to see if that helps?  I don't know anymore...

[TB9]

So I think part of the problem may be A time after tht long pm nap.  If she sleeps 1.5hrs and wakes at 4pm then 7pm bedtime is too early.  That may be why you are getting ews.  Essentially during the 2-1 transition you want to have the short nap as more of a ut nap, so they can wake and can do A time after without getting too cranky.  Then after the long pm nap you need to have a normal A time before bed.  Does that make sense?

Unfortunately during the 2-1 transition days can get to 13hrs long before LO is ready for one nap days.  So bedtime may need to get closer to 8pm in order to keep wakeup around 7am.

So if it were me I would try keeping that am nap at 45min, the pm nap at 1.5-2hrs and increase A before bed to 4hrs (slowly, maybe by 15min at a time, then hold for a few days).  What do you think?

[Violet's mom]

We tried a later bedtime for almost a week and it made her get up at 4 am or have lots of night wakings...  We could try that - I don't really expect for her to sleep until 7am (6 or 6:30 would be more than ok - next months she has to be up by 6:15 in order to bf before I leave for work).  Maybe that will be he next thing I try next week?

Based on what you said, do you think we should be doing a long am/short pm?

Today I let her sleep 1 hr in the am to see if it would help her fussiness.  It helped a little - she was still fussy but not as bad.  She did 10:15-11:15 and DH put her down at 2:45 for her pm nap and I will be waking her at 4:15 if she isn't up already.  She made it past 1 hr 15 mins for the first time in days for this nap though.  I've noticed that her evening a time can't really be more than 3 hours or she is a hot mess for bedtime and bath time... 

Thanks for the advice and I appreciate your support!

[TB9]

It really is up to you whether you want to do long am/short pm or short am/long pm.  I tend to lean towards long am/short pm because then even if am nap fails I know I still have a chance for a long pm nap.  But if you have no problem getting either nap, then it really is just a matter of whatever works!

I think most LOs are cranky by the end of the day and/or after their shorter nap at this stage of the 2-1, it is just the way it is

[Violet's mom]

Thanks for the advice.  Did a 1 hr am and a 1.5 pm and bedtime of 7:15pm and she woke around 6:30am!  Going to stick with this for a couple of days and hopefully it'll get better - she was pretty happy yesterday before bedtime - a little clingy/fussy after her 1 hr nap still so I might play with it in a few days...  Maybe just see if she can get used to that.

[TB9]

Yes, give it a few days and go from there

[Violet's mom]

Ok so it's been a few days.  She slowly started waking up 10 mins earlier and earlier until the past two days she woke at 5:45.  Three days ago she woke at 5:20am but I let her be and she fell back asleep around 6 until 6:30. 

Thinking of trying the long am/short pm route?  Is this an indicator of needing that?  She has only been doing 1 hr 15 min afternoon naps.  She really does poorly on a 45 min am nap...

Yesterday's easy:
WU 5:45am
Nap 9:30 to 10:30
Nap 2:30 to 3:45
Bedtime 7:15.

[TB9]

Honestly, whether the 45min nap is in the am or pm, you may find she is cranky after it.  At least if it is in the pm then you only have to get her to bedtime...I always liked the pm cn because that meant dh was home to help deal with the crankiness

Is there one nap that she is guaranteed to take as her longer nap?  I decided on long am because both my girls would alwaystake the am nap, anandit was usually the longer nap too.