Should I stop nap capping?

[Joy-filled]

The past week has been all over the place and I'm wondering if my nap capping is causing the issues.  DS has historically been very sensitive to OTness and it manifests in his naps as he will not be able to transition through his sleep cycles when he is OT.  He wakes crying but 99% of the time SS's eventually and falls back asleep.  However, things have been rougher lately.  At first I figured it was a late 18 month SR, however I'm starting to wonder if my nap capping is causing more issues than it's helping.  I've been capping his nap as he was historically LSN (I'm pretty sure).  So, for the past 2 months I have been doing:

WU 6:15/6:45 (I cap at 6:45 as he goes to daycare 3 days/week so I decided to keep it consistent and I always wake him by 6:45 whether it's a daycare or home day)
Nap 12/12:15 - 2:00 (capped at 2) - He does 12 at daycare and I do 12:15 at home as I'm worried he won't be as tired, yet I usually have to wake him at 2
BT - PD at 7:00, actual time asleep varies from 7:15-8:00 for the past month.  WU time and nap length seem to have no pattern as to how long it takes him to fall asleep.

The problem is that on nights he doesn't fall asleep until 8 (he'll be almost asleep the whole time, just rolling around and quietly repositioning for ages), I have to wake him up at 6:45 as he hasn't had enough sleep.  But then he has a short night and then we end up with an OT short nap that day.  This recently spiralled us into some nastiness that we are currently recovering from. 

For about 4/5 days in a row, I was capping every nap at 2:00 and every night was capped because I kept having to wake him up at 6:45.  So, an average day looked like

WU 6:45
Nap 12:15-2:00 (woke him)= 1 hr 45 (capped)
Night – in crib 7:00 slept 7;30-6:45(woke him up) = 11 hr 15 (capped)

Then things started to decline and he was wake up mid-nap, crying.  Somedays he resettled, some he didn't and on Sunday he had a HORRIBLE night so he had an OT 30 min nap on Sunday and I actually went in and rocked him as he was so upset and unable to fall back asleep, despite trying for 30 min.

Anyway, I now don't know what to do as the past couple of days he's been catching up again and I am once again finding myself waking him in the morning and again waking him from his nap.  It's now past 2:00 and I don't know if I should wake him or not like I usually do.  He woke after 1 hr 30 and briefly cried and sat up but he fell back asleep...not sure what to do?

Any suggestions? (sorry for the long post )

[Aishi]

Is he 19 mo? 1h45 seems to short a nap at his age. Ive only started doing that with my 26mo but my dd is hsn ....i was thinking of nap capping and waking in am to get some consistency but was advised against it by fellow BWs cos of ot. The theory being if youre capping nap lo can cu on sleep in am.

If you have to wake in morning, Have you tried letting lo nap uncapped and have a 13 h day if need be?

[Joy-filled]

The reason I was nap capping is because I think he's LSN .  We've struggled with his naps from 0-16 months.  Finally at 16 months he started sleeping through for the nap instead of waking up crying mid-nap.  That took months and months to finally resolve even though he was an independent sleeper and would SS.  He was just in this forever long OT cycle that was confusing because sometimes it seemed it was an UT/OT cycle, but honestly it was never clear. 

I also capped the nap because it seemed like longer naps meant shorter nights because he'd take a while to fall asleep at night, but now I'm not so sure.  I don't see that correlation anymore. Final BT doesn't seem to have a pattern as to when he woke or how long his nap was.  Sometimes he takes longer, sometimes shorter. 

I haven't tried uncapping the nap for quite some time because I'm afraid he'll then short night it because he's UT and then we'll have OT issues.  But maybe I should try it?  I do wonder if I should do 12:00 nap at home instead of 12:15?  Perhaps he's so tired from daycare days that he needs the same/more extra sleep at home to catch up?

[Aishi]

Ugh im not going to be much help...im going thru similar ut/ot, nap length or capping affecting night issues myself but i think you either cap nap and let lo wake up naturally to minimise ot or you wake in morning and let lo nap uncapped (upto 2/2.25h) and have a longer day. If lo is very ot i would set nap at 12 and try something like this

Wu 6.45
nap 12-2.15
bt 7

wdyt? with my lo if shes rolling around and not sleeping shes already ot but singing,chattering before sleeps is ut.

[Joy-filled]

I do think I'm going to stick with set nap 12 both at home and daycare.  Not sure if I should cap at 2 hrs or 2.25.  I'm just worried about the whole silly UT/OT cycle....I have it drilled into my head that he's prone to that so I don't want to end up in that mess.  However, it does seem lately like capping all of his sleep put us in an OT/OT downward spiral instead of an UT/OT cycle.  I just want to find the right balance...

He used to cope fine on a 1.5/1.75 hr nap and an 11 hr night but he's seems to need more sleep now than he ever has in his life.  Is that normal for a baby/toddler's sleep needs to increase at this age?

Anyone else have any thoughts?

[Haribo2012]

Maybe it's just a phase and he needs a little more sleep for now? My DS is 22.5 months and still does 2 hour nap and only just thinking of capping as nights getting a bit short he is ASN.
Teeth and illness coming on often make my DS need more sleep.
Guess you could try a longer nap for a couple of days and see what happens x

[Joy-filled]

Thanks for the input.  DS has all teeth except 2 yr molars and hasn't seemed to be fighting any illness for the past few weeks.  I think I'll do 12:00 nap, cap at 2 hrs instead of 1.75/2 and if he has a shorter nap that day perhaps I'll PD for BT a touch early and if he falls asleep for BT late, perhaps i'll let him lie in a bit the next morning if he's still sleeping and it isn't a daycare day?  I think I need to be a bit less rigid and perhaps he needs more sleep than I realized...

I'll give it a go and see how things are in a few days.

Thanks!

[Haribo2012]

Sounds good, give it a go and see....u never know u might be totally surprised 

[Joy-filled]

Well, I remain confused.  On Tuesday I decided to let him sleep another 15 min until 2:15 for his nap.  PD for bed at 7 and he fell asleep at 7:25 (pretty good for him).  However, when I woke at 6 am he was quietly awake so I don't know what time he woke up but the fact that he was perfectly quiet but not trying to fall back asleep as he was just happily rolling around awake, causes me to wonder if he was UT and slept too much for his nap. 

Tues
WU 6:45 (woke him)
Nap 12:15-2:10 (1 hr 55, woke him) = 1 hr 55 capped
BT PD 7, asleep 7:25.  Woke at 5:? = 10.5 hr night max

Wed at daycare then looked like this:

WU: 5:??
Nap- 12:10-2
Night - PD at 6:50 (early as I was concerned he'd be OT from an EW), but didn't fall asleep until 7:45 .  So....of course he woke crying at 6 this am as he was OT from a long day yesterday (14 hrs?). 

So did he wake early Wed because he was UT from a "longer" nap at home (1 hr 55) on Tues and so that made him have an OT short night last night?  I don't have any other theories....but I just don't understand how he can be UT when I had to wake him Tues morning and wake him from his nap and he fell asleep in reasonable time that night for bed.  Any other reason why he then woke early Wed and then took ages to fall asleep at BT, making for a long day and then an OT short night?

[Joy-filled]

Well, nap at daycare was only 1 hr 45.  That's confusing

So, a short night and a shorter daycare nap led to OT crying at BT.  He never cries when I PD at BT but now he’s super upset and been crying for 25 min...finally crashed at 7:30.  Clearly OT.  I'm lost and don't know what to do differently.  Can any moderators help please?

[Joy-filled]

And....OT crying WU this am at 6:15.  PD for nap early but didn't fall asleep until 12:20  so as I anticipated he woke crying after 30 min as he was OT from a shorter night and a later nap.  Fortunately he fell back asleep so we didn't have a 30 min nap day and I didn't have to go in and rock him to extend the nap. 

Now I don't know what to do?  If he sleeps past 2....do I let him sleep uncapped?  Or do I cap it?  If so, at what? I really don't know what is causing his sometimes OT behaviour.  I don't know if it's OT build-up or if there's UTness messing things up?

[Aishi]

I'm having sleep issues too so may not be the best to advise but I do know if you're just starting to use set naps or is inevitable whilst lo adjusts so I'm afraid you just have to ride it out. General rule of thumb is pd for nap 15 main early if need to and up to 30 mins earlier for BT. I know u say he's lsn but as he's clearly it I wouldnt cap naps. At this age my dad was doing 3h naps and 12/12.5h days. So I would do

Wu 6.30/7 don't wake if u don't have to
Nap 12-2/ 2.5
Bt 6.30/7 depending on nap length

Hth!

[Joy-filled]

I appreciate the thoughts, however I've been doing set naps since he was 12 months and I've been doing the same set nap and bedtimes for 3 months so this isn't an issue of him needing to get used to it.

My DS has never slept the amount of time your routine has written out.  He has slept 12 hours twice in his life and he was sick and he has never slept 2.5 hrs in his life either.  I'm quite certain he's LSN yet he's incredibly sensitive to OTness, always has been.  We've battled 30 min naps and OTness the majority of his life.

Well....he just woke after 40 min and he's crying and upset as that means he's had an interrupted 1 hr 10 min nap following a 10 hr 40 min night.   

[Joy-filled]

And he fell back asleep at 1:50! That's a first.  He really must have been tired.  However, it's now 2:00 so I'm really not sure what to do.  Let him sleep?  If so, how long? Sorry for the play-by-play update today....I'm just struggling to figure him out.

[HenaV]

Hi!

Can you help with the following

1. How old is he?
2. What has his day looked like in EAS format for the last 3 days or so?
3. When did the craziness start?
4. What did his day look like before the craziness started?
5. Any sign of teeth?

Thanks

Hena