Support for dropping the nap part 11

[Aishi]

Thanks ladies! I think youre right! Im driving myself crazy trying to get her into bed and keep ot at bay! So i took your advice and did 6.30 BT so evenings can be less rushed and she can spend time with ds after school too!

She fell asleep as normal and didn't seem ot so I guess I'll find out tonight!

Tink that's great your dd can take such a short cn. It just made things worse with dd so we went CT.

[TB9]

Yes, the cn is a lifesaver so far!  With dd1 it was nap or nothing, no in between, but dd2 is quite content to cn.

[rachsk8]

Hi all, we've been without the nap now for a couple of months, except for times of sickness (winter here so has been a bit of it), but still have our ups and downs. Last night we had 2 NW's and today LO has fallen asleep in the car (he hardly ever does anymore). Do you think after so long without a nap this might be a catch up after the illness? Would you still cap? He seemed happy enough today so I'm a bit surprised he fell asleep. Has been a fairly quiet day without running around too much so not sure what to do here! Wake him after 45mins and then make BT 30mins later than normal?

[Aishi]

Ugh i think later BT has backfired she's had a few brief nws and has been awake from 3.30. Its 4.05 now!

[rachsk8]

Oh no, here's hoping she goes back to sleep soon.... From what I've read it will probably take a bit of an adjustment period to move BT. Perhaps start in small increments (15mims) every few days so it's more gradual? That doesn't help you right now I realise. :-(

[Aishi]

She went back to sleep at 4.30 after chattering for an hour...she's never done that before since nap dropping
Wu was 6.40 so should I stick to 6.30 bt or move it gradually and do 6pm today?

[jessmum46]

I'd do 6.30pm if it was me, I find just sticking with it and pushing through is the best way to get things back on track.  You may well get a few NWs for a bit but hopefully she'll start to sleep in a bit then her day will be shorter x

[trimbler]

I agree Aishi, just plough on with set BT and she'll get there in the end... Hope today isn't too awful after that night.

Rachsk8 - sorry bit late now, what did you do? I'd have capped but prob depends on your LO.

Tinkerbell99 - amazing that your DD2 is on 1-0 already! My DS had only just done 2-1 at that age and still naps most days! Glad the CN is working for you, just as long as you're sure it really is 1-0 and not 18mo regression? But if all else is ok then great!

I really don't know where DS is with this now, kind of miss the days when we had the monitor in his room, but it seemed silly to buy a new one for DD when he was almost 4, so now he has no problem coming out of his room when he needs us, before he would call out. Still offer a nap at the same time each day, I often go past his room to get DD down, only to find the door wide open, various toys moved into the hall and him fast asleep! So he evidently plays for a while but that's fine by me. Whether I wake him or not depends more on what DD is doing and whether I have to do both BTs solo, than on whether I think he needs it or not. He has a gro clock but will often just leave his room as soon as I've started on DD's nap, as he knows he'll be able to play with the ipad when I'm not there! Nights are similarly variable, sometimes he wakes to DD, sometimes to go to the loo (not yet consistently dry at night, and has wanted the security of pull ups again recently), then if he wakes early and sees that I'm already up, he'll just come in and join me, I don't put up much of a fight any more as I suspect he just doesn't really need that much sleep. But I'm reluctant to get rid of naps completely as that would bring BT early which is more difficult with DD especially if DH is home late... So poor DS's 1-0 seems to be dictated more by DD than by himself. But he's not overly tired so I'm not overly worried, guess my sleep focus has shifted now!

[rachsk8]

I tried waking him but he wasn't having a bar of it, I managed to get him up after about 1hr 15m and it was a later sleep time tonight (as expected) but he was out by 9pm so let's hope for a 10hr ONS! Thanks. :-)

[rachsk8]

Aishi - I would probably be guided by her mood a little. If she's simply not coping I would go for an earlier BT, and move slowly, but that's just me. :-)

Trimbler - sounds like a pretty good situation to me.., your DS sounds like he can self regulate and listen to his body.

Tinkerbell - the CN later in the day worked great for my DS also. Once he was out of the 'habit' of his nap it became a total battle I wasn't prepared to tackle every day so we 'forced' a nap in the stroller or car also. Saved my sanity and got him thru a rough transition that started just before he turned 2! Now at almost 3 we are finally done (I think, lol)

[TB9]

Trimbler - yes, its definitely the 1-0    She has always been very very low sleep needs.  When I transitioned to 1 nap she only ever slept for 1.5hrs, never got those long 2-3hr naps    She drops her day sleep by 30min every few months or so...1.5hrs day sleep at 12mo, 1hr daysleep at 15mo,  now down to 20-30minat 18mo.  I dropped the nap completely at 18mo when I was a toddler, so I completely expected this and am not surprised at all (although I realize it is quite unusual and is probably quite a shock for everyone elseto hear that she is dropping her nap!)

[Aishi]

Hmm now I remember why I'm so wary of the dreaded ot with dd...she only had a 11h night thanks to that 1h nw and she was a BEAR all day...meltdowns and tantrums over everything

I ended up having her asleep by 6 thanks for your advice but I think I'm going to have to wait for a normal night length for her (13+h) and then try to push bt fwd a bit :-/

[jessmum46]

You know her best hun xx

[rachsk8]

I feel your frustration Aishi - OT is the pits but when they get to a certain stage it's a total gamble whether to try for a nap (and how long?!), and EBT or keep a SBT... I'm still confused over ERO the past couple of weeks as it's been all over the place, we are back to falling asleep in the car, complaining of being tired (hey at least he's starting to listen to his body, right?) and some long ONS thrown in for good measure!
As I've had a throat infection, I'm wondering if he's coming down with something too, as we had phased out the nap totally over the past couple of months, and doing pretty well, now we've had a nap every week these past few weeks?!

[rachsk8]

Not sure if this is the right thread, but wondered if anyone has any ideas?

DS is 3 next week and for 2-3 months we were doing well after he finally seemed to transition to no nap. We were getting 11.5hrs ONS give or take. He will sometimes throw in a 12-12.5hr ONS and/or an 11hr night. 3 weeks ago he started seeming more tired than usual, complaining off bring tired, yawning etc and he's has several times where he's dropped off to sleep in the car again. (At the end of the 1-0 he was virtually never sleeping in the car, even when I tried for a catch-up nap in the car in generally failed, which is when I figured we were done totally with the nap).

Now if I let him have an uncapped catch-up nap it seems to effect his ONS - couple of times I let him sleep til he woke (about 1.5hrs) and moved BT 30mins later and once he did an 11hr night, next time he only did 10hrs ONS. Next time I woke him at 60mins and moved his BT 1hr later. He did an 11hr ONS that time. He can handle the NND it seems, but I'd expect he'd do a longer night after that, but seems not?

When he did the nap and 1hr later BT (made BT 8.30pm) he was asleep by 9pm and Wu was 8am. Then I went back to normal BT of 7.30pm and he was asleep by just before 8pm and Wu was 7am next morning.

He 'was' doing a minimum of a 12hr day when we were ticking along nicely. Do you think the 11.5hr day wasn't long enough?

Things that have changed:

- we have gone into daylight savings. But - I haven't changed his schedule, only the clock. Eg: his BT was 6.30-6.45pm (which is now 7.30-7.45pm) I've re-set BT at 7.30pm and now his earliest Wu seems to be 7am (prior to the clocks changing that was 6am). Iykwim?

- he's had a couple of minor colds... I have a horrible throat infection and cough which has been going on for weeks now, I wondered if he was fighting some bugs but surely he would have come down with it by now if he was going to?

Last night after a 7am Wu I brought BT slightly earlier incase he was OT. (Had a couple of meltdowns in the morning which were a bit out if character, but who knows if this is tiredness related or just part if being 3?) He seems to be happy enough at BT, and took him about 20mins to go to sleep.

To add to this, he's been yawning more lately (especially when we are out in the car, as he did this morning on his way to my parents place), looking a bit zoned at times and having some NW again. Sometimes they are an easy/quick resettle, sometimes he's quite upset - bad dreams? He WAS sttn finally, after he dropped his nap. So I'm confused about this wee regression.

Any thoughts? Growth spurt? Developmental? Schedule problem?

Would you offer a nap every few days again? Cap it at 1hr? What time should I do BT on a nap day?

Wish I could find a copy of my toddlers instruction manual! ;-)