Canines, OT, routine tweak needed or early 18mo SR?

[Kellyjs]

Hi all,

I'm a little lost atm with DD. I swore I wasn't going to post and ride this out one way or another, but I can't figure out which one (or all!) of the above is at play here.

Easy is or was until the craziness started:

Wu around 6.15 or I wake at 6.30
Nap pd 12.30 S 12.40-2.40 (I usually wake)
BT 7 asleep by 7.30

Now we're getting emw at around 5. She will play quite happily normally until I come and get her. Yesterday she wasn't happy though and cried this high-pitched cry I haven't heard before! It was barely audible, so sad.

Naps are all over the place, today she's woken after 1hr 20mins (she has a definite 45mins sleep cycle so this is strange). Yesterday she refused it for an hour as we were at a friends and she wasn't impressed sleeping somewhere else. Other days she's woken an hour into the nap, ummed and ahhed for 20mins and gone back to sleep. So there's just no consistency as to what's going on!

Extra info is that I can see the lower canines are close but she is medicated before nap time and she's not overly grumpy as she was when the molars were erupting. She was also sick with the noro virus which resulted in one day of extra naps, but reverted straight back to her routine the next day with a slightly EBT for a couple of nights. Still took over 30mins to go to sleep though 

So is it time to move the nap later and or cap it? (Please say no to the second part  ), the only time she's woken at 6.30am was when I allowed a 2.5hr nap last week?? So is she OT dyt? I don't want to routine tweak if it's not needed so thought I'd check in. TIA xx

[gb18]

Hi Kelly. I know our lo's are the same age so thought I would post. Not sure if this is any help but my lo is also going thorough a rough time. NW that do not seem to correspond to naps (believe it or not we r still trying to fully transition to 1 nap everyday!) EW and no naps ever longer than 1.5 hours!

No advice as I am in in the same situation but just a thought that perhaps it's developmental as they r both the same age.

When lo wakes early do u move nap forward? I think 1hr 20 for is is normally an OT nap x

[Kellyjs]

Hi hun, lovely to hear from you again...Our lo's are the exact same age by the day if I remember correctly! Thanks so much, sorry that you're going through it too but nice to see I'm not the only one. I'm feeling for you still going through the 2-1, poor you!

I don't move the nap forward tbh as we're still on set nap and BT. I may move it forward by 15mims at most except that one day I let her sleep the 2.5 hrs. Then I put her down at 12 as she was miserable! When I've tried and put her down earlier before we've had 1.5hr naps and then the A time to BT is too long which causes OT NW's in the early part of the night.. Anything over 5hrs A seems to cause them last thing it seems. She's also resisting EBT's now which she never used to do before  xx

[Truly Blessed]

Hi Honey,

DS was having 11 hours at night and a 2 hour nap at this age too. But I remember so many periods on birthdays/half birthdays (roughly) developments ie: speech, walking and anything else where this would happen to us. I understand why you're loathe to switch up the routine when it's been working so well.

As her WU is now 5 am at the moment, if you stick with the set nap, then effectively you are pushing her A time anyway, to 7.5 hours. If you get a short nap after this I would be tempted to bring BT forward IIWM as IME pushing and pulling naps is such a long process and unless you stick with it for a few days after each change you end up with no conclusion and you don't know your arse from your elbow!!    (can you tell I've been there many times lol  ) You really need to be super patient do do this and it proved I'm not.  Long morning A time should in theory over ride the shorter 2nd one, and my gut tells me that bringing it forward by 15 mins or so might not cut it  Does she ever 'tack on?'

For us EBT was often a saviour during this periods when Sam was EW and I stuck with his set nap, but he does tack. Another thing I used to do if he was super sad and struggling is head out in the car or with the pushchair in order to allow him to choose to sleep earlier, and avoid the pressurised 'put down' at nap time. I found this to work particularly well during teething because of there being more discomfort when lying down. Of course I was a SAHM of one so very lucky to focus on Sam only.

Just some BTDT suggestions Honey, take them or leave them 

Any thoughts    (HUGS) and sleep vibes to both of you ladies.x.

[Kellyjs]

Thanks hun, I do do an EBT if the nap is rubbish but only up to 30mins beforehand. Funnily enough, I was out this  afternoon finally getting my hair done and DH was in charge of the nap... Guess what? A solid 2hrs that he had to wake her from  typical!

I will definitely use all of your suggestions. I'm thinking still do an earlier BT tonight too. I'm just so glad you didn't say it's time to start capping that nap! Huge *sigh of relief! Xx

[Truly Blessed]

I was out this  afternoon finally getting my hair done and DH was in charge of the nap... Guess what? A solid 2hrs that he had to wake her from   typical!

LOL, you gotta laugh! (ish) great news, but yes typical 

I'm just so glad you didn't say it's time to start capping that nap! Huge *sigh of relief! Xx

I think quite differently these days, learning from experience. Essentially because if it turns out the problem is down to development or teething etc, and you start switching up routines, ie: capping nap etc , you could end up with continued problems, because you've tried fixing something that wasn't actually broken. So with hindsight, I think often the way to go can be to do whatever it takes to allow the LO to CU, then see if the problem, remains and if it does, then it's more conclusive as to whether it was routine or development at the core of the problem, so caution can be wise. Does that make sense 

x.

[Kellyjs]

Of course it does! We had NW's from 3am last night on and off until 5, then DH woke her at 6.30am. Im glad in a way as at least she did manage to get through until 6.30. I'm thinking teething now. Pesky canines grrrr x

Thanks so much hun, it's always great to get some extra eyes on, so reassuring xx

[Truly Blessed]

Ugh, it's such a relief once all the teeth are through, they do cause havoc! 

So it definitely sounds like it's wise not to tweak routine.

You're so welcome, my pleasure 

x.

[gb18]

Hi Kelly. Just wondering if all your issues have resolved?

[Kellyjs]

Yes and no hun, how's it going with you?

We're still getting NW's here and there, no pattern to them whatsoever but they're easy to resettle 9 times out of 10. Naps are varying from 1.5hrs to 2hrs that's she's hard to wake from so a little better on that front. EW's are a lot better (hope I haven't jinxed that now  ), waking between 6 and Sunday she slept in until 7.. Think we've only had that once or twice EVER! I can definitely see the lower canines on their way so I'm medicating before nap and BT only atm.

[gb18]

Glad some elements have improved for you. Really good news re early waking!! I just can't seem to figure out the right A time for my lo. Seems super short on Saturdays after 3 days at nursery and we have had a mix of naps from 1hr 20 (OT) to 3hrs!! When we have had long naps he has mostly slept 11.5-12 hrs at night so I know that shorter nights r def due to OT.

Still some NW which r hard to settle from and worried I am building bad habits as he often wants a cup of milk! Think mostly the NW is OT but yesterday he woke at night following a 12 hr day and 1.5 hr nap so can't think OT would build that easily. Stopped giving calpol
But started again today as molars are close gum surface.

I know I should not stress but I just want his days at home to be good nap days as nursery days r always rubbish. If I push with 1 nap (which I am doing) how long do u think it would take to get him settled in a routine? Did it take your lo long?

[Kellyjs]

We were quite good really thinking back. At the time I thought it took forever! We managed to get to one nap within a week, but then the nap was shortening, so I had to increase the first A. Once we got to 12.30, it took another week really for everything to settle down. Since then, everything was brilliant until this recent blip. She was awake every 2hrs last night, so I'm a bit knackered this morning! I hate teeth!

I know it's going to be really difficult with daycare to set nap etc, but for us if the nap was less than 1.5hrs I just did BT 30mins earlier. I think it helped both her and I to take the guessing game out of everything so I could stop stressing about A times and when she woke in the morning. Luckily she can go forever in the morning, it's just the last a that's a problem if it's too long.

Personally I wouldn't offer milk during the night, but that's because I'm obsessed about DD's teeth. Would he take water instead? I know I need a drink during the night! I've seen on here that some people put a non-spill sippy in the cot with them at night so they can help themselves? X

[Truly Blessed]

Just sending some (HUGS) and sleepy vibes Kelly.x.

[Kellyjs]

Thanks Vicki! I need all of the vibes I can get atm!! 

[Truly Blessed]

Me too Hun, very delayed visit from the dummy fairies last Friday, I have a very sad struggling little boy, it was such a sleep cue for him, hence the delay. An hour lying with him to get to sleep, multiple NW begging for his dummy back and EWU. Honey I feel your pain 

I really think it's time you all got some sleep now, I mean enough is enough right!!!? 

x.