Moved to 2 Naps, not sure I have done the right thing??

[Jbla17]

Hi Ladies!

I would appreciate your insight into this....

Over the past few weeks my DD has been resisting mostly her second nap of the day. She is in a wonder week which we should be out of by next week, and there may be teething involved as well. I took advice to up her A times which worked well and all of a sudden I've found myself at 3 hours A time. She is 6 months tomorrow. I just kept her up to see if it would make any difference and she actually went down better for the last few days. As we were at 3 hours a I dropped her catnap and she has slept the same as she does at night without it.

She doesnt always show tired signs so it can be a puzzle as she is generally always very happy while awake. Pretty much an angel baby.

Our EASY for last 4 days was pretty much

E 7
A 7-9:30/9:45
S 9:30-11:30 ( one day this nap was 1.5 hrs and the arvo was 2)
E 11:30
A 11:30-2:30
S 2:30-4
E 4
A 4-6:45 ish
sleeps through: will wake most mornings early 5:30ish but mostly goes back to sleep after a while on her own. I wake her at 7. Sometimes she'will sleep til 6:30 or 6:45....

two meals of solids breakfast and dinner 8:30am and 5:30pm

Had a meltdown just now at 2pm (2.5hours awake) She just started crying and increasingly worse. I thought it was strange as she had a flawless 2 hour nap this morning. I though well maybe she is tired even though she still looked wide awake. Tried to comfort and settle, I walked into her room and tried to lay her down. She cried hysterically so I picked her up and she started puching her mough into me and shoving her fist in her mouth and was so upset!

This is very much unheard of from her as she is not a crier at all. I though maybe it is her teeth hurting her so I did give her panadol, and she is now sleeping at 2:30pm. She has been rosy cheeked for about 5 days. ( just as a side question if anyone want to answer this: does paracetamol make bubs sleepy? I hear different stories...I have only given panadol when I suspect pain or cold/flu and she has gone straight back to sleep)

What I'm wondering to get to the point of it all is could this 3 hour A time/2 nap a day be too much of a push for her, even though she has responded fairly well the past few days. Could OT be catching up with her? Or would that show straight away? She went to sleep without a sound this morning.

Or do you think her teeth are bothering her hence the crying fit?

She has no teeth as yet but I can actually feel something at the back of her mouth where a molar would be...?? Is that even possible?

Hope I'm posting on the right board, there are a few issues but the main thing I'm wondering is if the 3 hours A is too much?

As I said she is a very calm and happy girl and seeing her like this today made me so upset!

Any advice or insight would be appreciated as I was quite puzzled by this this afternoon and I dont want to push her A time that far if she is not ready and being inexperienced with teeth I have got no idea!!

TIA xx 

[Jbla17]

Just correcting my typo.... She was rubbing her mouth into me quite hard and biting down on her fist....

[Jbla17]

Hi,

Bumping for myself and updating.....

This afternoon nap is just not going well at the moment. I have tried to put her down again at 2:30, she was very calm and content. I left the room and she was cooing away for about five mins so I decided to check on her and found her on her tummy and playing. I rolled her over covered her and told her time to sleep. She has now gotten upset again, so I picked her up and cuddled for a bit, put back down and she is now just lying there awake and not upset at 3:10pm. What is going on!?!? UT/OT I dont know!

Again, morning nap, beautiful...

I'm guessing a catnap later on will have to happen if I dont want a meltdown at bedtime.

Any thoughts much appreciated.... thanks

[Jbla17]

Hi,
Bumping myself up again...

I'm now tearing my hair out as this second nap is just not happening no matter what time I put her down!

I decided to try to go back to three naps and reduce A today. I have just put her down for her second nap, she was all calm and yawned twice. I laid her in bed and left the room. She started to cry so I gave her the dummy, told her its time to sleep. Again she is now just lying there awake playing with her hands. This was 2.5 hrs A time.

Again morning nap great, no fuss, 1hr 45 mins long.

What is going on here? Yesterday I tried to get her down a few times to no avail and eventually had to APOP in the car to get 30 mins, which I have never had to do before! Her 30 mins ws at 4:30 and I had her in bed by 6:30. We got a very early waking at 4am and took forever to go back to sleep. I woke her at 7:15.

It cant be possible she needs more than 3 hours A?? She is only just on 6 months and this has been going on three weeks now. The second A time has not made any difference to this nap, now she doesnt go to sleep at all!!

Please some advice would be helpful!!!

[Buttonbobs]

Hi there. I'm sorry we haven't got to you before now. Moderators try to look at every post before 24 hours has passed but as we are just mamas like the rest of you and we are not covering all parts of the world sometimes we are not able to get to each new post in time. Sorry if that left you feeling a bit alone.

It is difficult to say what your Dd might need based on only two days EASY patterns. I would say if she has only recently moved to two naps it is highly likely she has become a little OT. Plus the change to a higher A time might have been related to the developmental leap or teething rather than a true need for an A time extension.

If she did need longer A times anyway, then this latest behavior could well just be the leap or teething. Are you medicating for the teeth? How many days has this strange behaviour been occurring?

[Jbla17]

Oh thank you for replying!! I know you are all busy mummas too  I thought maybe some of the other mummys would have some advice for me not meaning to demand the mods attention at all  I just thought I would bump and update at the same time. You are all great with coming up with advice!
Im fine just a bit confused!

She ended up falling asleep today after 2 hrs 50mins A. I left her and she finally went off with the dummy. She woke just before 4pm....so now in that weird spot of to catnap or not to cat nap? If I did a catnap it would take us to an 8pm BT or I could just do 2hours 45 A and in bed at 6:45. What would you do? Is a 13 hour day too much?

I had the plan of doing three naps again today but she had two naps of around 1hr 45mins. So she is sleeping well for those naps.

She hasnt had an episode like the other day again so I think I might have to put that to teething.

Again while she is awake she mostly very happy....Watched her like a hawk today to see if I could spot tired as she is very good at disguising her yawns 

Is it likely if this related to the leap that A time will go back down, or do you think she would be used to it by then?

easy today

wake 4am
finally back to sleep at 6:15 ish
E 7:15
A 7:15-9:40
S 9:40-11:30
E 11:30
A 11:30-2:20
S 2:20-4
E 4
A 4-

Thank you so much for getting to me, I really appreciate it x

[Buttonbobs]

I know you are all busy mummas too   I thought maybe some of the other mummys would have some advice for me not meaning to demand the mods attention at all   

I understand. Sometimes when there are multiple replies, it gets missed as it looks like lots of people have already replied to you, if you see what I mean. Glad to help you honey

She ended up falling asleep today after 2 hrs 50mins A. I left her and she finally went off with the dummy. She woke just before 4pm....so now in that weird spot of to catnap or not to cat nap? If I did a catnap it would take us to an 8pm BT or I could just do 2hours 45 A and in bed at 6:45. What would you do? Is a 13 hour day too much?

My instinct would be that a 13 hour day is ok if you're getting three naps in. But 6.45 isn't a bad BT, particularly as you had a broken night. If you can aim for a longer night that might be better as more sleep overall in 24 hours.

Is it likely if this related to the leap that A time will go back down, or do you think she would be used to it by then?

Yes, her need for a longer A time might go down once the leap has passed, so keep an eye out for OT building up and follow her queues (hard as this is as they get older and yawns can mean boredom or hunger as well as tiredness).

That long WU of over two hours in the early morning today could well be teething related (or developmental). Did you offer medication to see if that would help her settle?

[Jbla17]

Thanks for getting back to me 

I ended up doing the 6:45 BT as she seemed fairly bright and she went down well, just a little sing to herself for 5 mins and then off she went. I'm so used to putting her down and having her be asleep within a minute. She probably is a little OT at the end of the day.

Although we have pretty much always gotten a 5:30 am wakeup, most of the time back to sleep, sometimes not. I pretty much try to leave her be until 7, just offer her the dummy.

Today has been good, second nap she fell asleep at 2:20 again after 2hrs 50 A. Although she was about to cry when I was putting her down so I quickly gave her the dummy and she was fine. Perhaps at this time of the day she really wants to stay up but obviously she cant. She rarely uses the dummy so I figure just for a little bit at this time of day until she is more settled into the new routine.

I feel after just a week of 2 naps, how could we go back to three! I just felt a little bad as maybe I was pushing it onto her...

I have been giving her paracetamol, when I think she has pain as today she had another funny episode, got very upset, rubbing into me and biting her hand. She calmed down and I gave her some cold yoghurt and she was fine!

I will definitely keep an eye on A throughout next week or so to make sure she is still handling it ok 

Thank you so much for your help 

[Buttonbobs]

That sounds really positive - well done you!!!

N xx