Self settling well for naps but screaming the house down every bedtime..OT?

[Honeymonster]

I'm still going round in circles trying to figure out our ideal naps and bedtime. LO self settles really well for naps with just a little bit of of a grumble or chatter then dozes off, but bedtime is another story just now. It seems to be every time i'm at work for the two days i'm away and shes with her granny (MIL) she becomes a nightmare at beds again and i spend the whole next couple of weeks trying to work out whats going on. Last time it happend i decided it was def OT but i just cant work her out sometimes. she'd mostly an angel baby and sometimes i'm just not sure at bedtimes as although i think screaming means OT sometimes she doesnt seem tired and other times she does. i've tried moving bed earlier and later and now i'm thinking shes just in the habbit of screaming until i sit with her. But why would this be different for BT and her be fine for naps? shes such a good wee baby in every way and a total joy through the days you never hear a peep out of her- if i could conquor the bedtime tears (and then start a plan for dropping the night feeds I'd be a happy lady!

shes roughly doing 3.5 then 3.10 and 3.10 A time. with 1 x 1.5hr nap and 1 x 45min nap. last time i thought she was UT i stretched the time before bed and she got worse but she also needs to be tired enough to go down. i'm confused!

[Kellyjs]

Many lo's can't do a full A time after a short nap hun. Mine can, but that's a different story to BT! There's no way at all she'd do the same length of A to BT.

She's 8mo isn't she? I see that from one of your previous posts. At 8mo we were doing 4hrs, 3.5hrs then 2.5hrs.

How about you reduce that last A to 2hrs 45mins max and stick with it for a week. There may be a bit of separation anxiety at play too as this is the prime time for it.

[Honeymonster]

Hmm yeah that's interesting. I'm always doubting myself and worried about putting her down too early cos then if she cries I worry it's UT but I like the thought of stretching morning and second A times a bit but shorter stretch to Bt. This morning she refused first nap... She never refuses first nap :-( well I say refused but she screamed and screamed and had like a mini tantrum trying to fight me and rolling madly around the cot. Usually if she's crying and I put a hand on her she calms down but this was a proper wee tantrum :-( she'd been fussy all morning so I keep thinking maybe she was OT but she didn't seem that tired and she's just hard to read sometimes.so ended up having 1x2 hr nap at lunch and an early bedtime and she fell asleep right after feed and was out for the count without  a tear. So today ende up looking like this:

7.30wake

1.15-3.15 nap

6.30 bed

I've been trying so hard to stick with the same times this week to try and keep a bit of consistency as I'm guilty of changing things to quickly when something goes wrong but today threw me a total curve ball as I was shattered and looking forward to a shower when she napped... She def suits a longer first A time so maybe as you say shortening the last A time a bit might just help but maybe stretching the lunch one out a bit to make sure she's tired enough for bed still?

[Kellyjs]

That's great that she is capable of that long lunchtime nap, it might be a little too early to transition completely as she's a little young but it definitely sounds like you're going have to start the process. Yep, mine always preferred a longer first A.

It might be worth trying to stretch that first a and do something similar to the routine I was doing around now? Wdyt?

From 2 to 1 nap transition (10-12m and older)

[Honeymonster]

Yeah I think something like that might work. I def think she'll transition early as a few times she's recused first nap and then had a long lunchtime nap but she soon gets to tired and grouchy. She'll usually do a long night though in those situations. I may try and tweak it to about what u were doing as that seems like it may work. There's been a spanner in the works though as she's had the runs for 4 days now and now has really bad nappy rash from it :/( I think its hurting her quite a bit as she's been really not herself and very clingy and upset. I was aiming for first nap in the buggy but she screamed and screamed as soon as I put her down so ended up back in the sling as we were out and never fell asleep so eventually crashed at 12.35 and slept for 2.5hrs then cried in and off most of the rest of the day. Poor thing. DP was away at a work thing so was just me and a little greety baba all eve. She's been up half the night too. HV says its prob teething related but I think it may be a wee bug as she hasn't been drooling enough to cause this much if a runny bum. :-((( she's still drinking loads and no temp so should hopefully pass. honestly sometimes I winder why I bother trying to find the right routine! :-( lots of bare bum time needed I think!

[Kellyjs]

Sorry for the both of you. Nappy rash is never great. Are you in the uk? Metanium is brilliant for clearing it up as well as nappy off time as you said. DD decided to have a poo during the night not so long ago and had a horrendous rash, I was distraught! Luckily that stuff cleared it up in a couple of days. Hope she gets better soon x

[Honeymonster]

Thanks for the msg. All better now but we had diareahh for two whole weeks! Her poor we bum was a mess. All good now and we've dropped to one nap too! It's working well and she's even STTN the odd time(don't want to get my hopes up though)
Metanium is great we use it a lot: much jetted than sudo cream.

[Kellyjs]

Oh no that's awful, poor little mite. Glad things are getting better x