Support for dropping the nap part 12

[Haribo2012]

Thanks Vicki, I think I may have just lost the plot this morning (hormonal too lol) hes such a happy thing at the moment, feel like there might be something developemental hitting too as his speech has always been amazing but the understanding of things has gone to another level. He is 3yrs in 9 weeks so prob bit early for that shenanigans but he always has been a bit early with his leaps etc.

Might try and force a couple of naps thurs/fri when im off work just for a 20 min CN see if it helps, he just does so much better at BT on a NND, I know I need to try the 5.30pm BT but it just never seems to work out right.

I just need to chill out a bit, there are things so much worse than lack of sleep in this world. xx

[rachsk8]

Just touch base with my fellow 1-0's... hitting my head up against a brick wall lately!  Lol.....

We're 'done; with the nap now, and DS (almost 3.5yrs old now) has shown the ability to self-regulate and even 'catch up' on ONS... but WHOA he's been so emotional lately!!  He's been sleeping around 11-12 hrs a night, so I wouldn't have thought that he'd be disasterously tired, but man he is up and down like a yo-yo with his moods, and random meltdowns over I don't even know what!  It's been going on for about a week now... he had one short night in there, 10.5hrs, but surely that wouldn't throw things off too badly if his other nights have been ok?

There's not a hope he will willingly take a nap anymore... I guess I could try for a car nap, see if he takes me up on that... although sometimes I was finding a nap still mucked him up!!  I've been keeping a very consistent BT of 7.30pm, in the hope that he will self-reguilate.  He's been having some bad dreams lately, so maybe he's not having the best quality sleep??  I don't know,  Would I be better to try a short car-nap or would you try doing an EBT (maybe 7pm?) and see what happens?  I'm a little worried that if it's developmental and not that he's OT then we will screw up his sleep more, then have a doublely grouchy 3.5yr old!!  Why is this so hard sometimes!?!!?

Also, he seems to be waking around 6.30-7am (sometimes wakes from a dream, last night he was telling me about a school bus he was on and he really wanted to go home) and kind of in a really light sleep state after that, with lots of tossing and turning... not sure if that counts as real sleep or not??

[oliversmommy]

Rachsk8, my DS just turned 3.5 yrs old and I could be wrong, but his behavior sounds developmental to me.  I guess you could try an EBT of 7 pm just to see if that helps though . . . I'm pretty clueless myself so hopefully some more experienced ladies will be along to give better advice!

We are STUCK in this transition at the moment    DS is still napping at pre-school (5 days at week) and he is not falling asleep until at least 9:30 at night, sometimes later.  We put him down around 8:45 and then get BT shenanigans.  I want my evenings back!!!  On weekends we don't offer a nap - he's in bed and asleep by 7:45/8 and it's wonderful.  However if we are out and about in the afternoon on the weekends he will fall asleep in the car, and even a 30 min nap will result in a late BT if it's later in the day.  I feel like my hands are tied - we are not going to make any progress w/ nap dropping as long as he is napping at pre-school. 

Fortunately I am off work for 2 months this summer and DS will only be attending pre-school 2 days a week - my goal for this summer is to get rid of the nap completely! 

Currently DS listens to white noise when he sleeps, but I'm thinking of letting him listen to a CD of songs instead, to see if that keeps him entertained until he falls asleep (and hopefully stops calling for us every 5 seconds!)  Do you think that's a good or bad idea???

Here's my other issue - DS still sleeps in a crib.  We want to transition him to a toddler bed before summer, so he can spend the night with relatives and we can also travel with him, with him sleeping in a bed and not a pack-n-play (which is what we used last summer and he is obviously too big for now).  But is switching to a toddler bed during the 1:0 a horrible idea???  I can't imagine the freedom to get up at will helping the BT shenanigans!  So what to do??? 

I'm SO happy this is the last sleep transition!!!  I'm tired of obsessing about DS's sleep!!!

Zoe are things any better on your end???

[jessmum46]

We switched to a BGB in the midst of 1-0 and it didn't cause too many issues really - just some encouragement

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Funny - Jack has been asking to sleep in Lily's bed lately and I wondered the same about moving to a big boys bed during the 1-0.  I think it'd be the end of him napping but he's hardly napping in his cot now anyway (just 20 minutes on the odd day), so probably it wouldn't matter.

Everything is going OK here I think. Jack currently has 20/25 minutes sleep about 4 times a week, sometimes more. He doesn't seem to mind if he naps or not really, so I'm keeping the cat naps going til they stop working to keep on top of any OT.  At nursery the other day he slept from 2-2.30 instead of napping before 2pm and he took ages to go to sleep at BT and EW'd, so our window of the nap working for us is narrowing!  We could probably drop it cold turkey but there's no need really so we're just plodding along.  This is where the LSN stuff is great - he doesn't mind about day length on NNDs or need SEBT or anything. I just do 15 minutes earlier BT if he doesn't nap and he's fine.  I will be glad when we're done though -not to even have to think about it!!!

[Haribo2012]

Oooh these little monkeys like to keep us on our toes don't they! We did BBB, potty training and nap dropping pretty much at once as DS decided wanted the bed! To be honest it's been ok and he loves being in a bed and tucking himself in! Does get out a bit but that's mainly if he's had a nap otherwise he is straight to sleep really.

We still get EW but I'm rolling with it as we go to Florida in 3 weeks so that will mess it up or mend it lol! He seems to average 10.5/11 hours sleep. Think we have some developmental stuff going on too xx

[rachsk8]

How's everyone doing? The clocks have changed back here (on Easter weekend of all times!) so that's been a barrel of fun. Trying to move bedtime gradually back to where it was at 7.30 as I don't fancy lots of ongoing 5.30am WU's!

Still working thru lots of awfully big meltdowns and grumpiness and most nights we are getting one Nw again (early hours of morning often) but nothing else has changed so I'm just going to chalk it up to being a 3.5yr old and hold on til the storm passes, haha... Cause it has to settle down again one day, right???

[LovelyLilyandJack]

I'm still waiting for the storm to pass with lily, but at least I know it's not due to the 1-0 now! 

We're doing ok, gone back to more naps again  - I think we had a lot of birthday developmental shenanigans which always makes his sleep needs drop for a while. He's past it now, so I'm trying to figure out our new normal.  He's doing well on 30 minute naps most days, but has had a couple of viruses which have made him more tired,  so he's had a couple of catch up naps in the last few weeks as well. So we're doing ok - just moving through the transition slower than I'd thought  / hoped....

[Haribo2012]

We are mainly done with naps and on those days get 11/11.5 hour nights but at nursery they still let him have a sneaky nap (grrr given up telling them) and those days we get EW.

General mood swings here but im hoping down to being 3yrs old in 6 weeks....and that it will pass too!

We dont tend to get tired meltdowns really just a lot of being bossy (not like his mum at all haha) xx

[rachsk8]

We dont tend to get tired meltdowns really just a lot of being bossy (not like his mum at all haha) xx

Hahaha.... omg, yep, I have the biggest bossy boots in the city I'm sure of it!

I'm chalking it up to mostly 3.5yr old stuff..... he's getting on average 11-11.5hrs ONS also - with the odd 12hr or 10.5hr in there occasionally. But the whining, bossiness, demanding is pretty relentless! We get strange random meltdowns but I'm not totally putting them down to tiredness, as sometimes the can happen early in the morning, and then he's great for the rest of the day, whereas I would expect his moods to get worse as the day wears on if it was an OT thing?  Who knows. I know I get grouchier as the day goes on!  ;-)

[TB9]

Hi again ladies!  I'm joining the thread again as dd2 is well into dropping this nap...there is no going back!  On nap days she does this:
645am wakeup
1:40-2:10 nap
8pm bed (asleep around 8:20 or 8:30)
And will sleep throught the night without a peep (unless she is sick or something)

I have started letting her sleep in on the weekends, and go without a nap if she sleeps long enough.  I try to give her a 10.5-11hr day, but she still has an ot wakeup at some point in the night...not sure there is any way around it though!  I think the ot wakeups are just part of the process so I will just keep offering no nap days, hopefully she will get used to them 

[lolsyb1982]

Hi everyone

Didn't think I'd be joining this thread quite so soon. DD is 24 months. For weeks we were doing 45 min nap and getting 10-10.5hr nights.

For the past 3 days we've cut to 30 mins and the last 2 nights have been 11+ hrs. Will see how tonight goes. She's having a NW every night but I think that's molars as they've been going on for a while now.

[LovelyLilyandJack]

We've been doing 30 minute naps for a while now and it's been working really well, with a couple of NNDs a week as well.  These last few days of Jack needing more sleep has thrown me  - it's made me realise how much I was looking forward to the nap going! It's nice to get a proper break in the day too, though.  I had to wake him after 1hr 15 nap today to get 5hrs A in before bed.  We've not had a nap that long for months!

[lolsyb1982]

Not such a great night last night. Awake at 5.35 so only 10.20 night. She was extremely grumpy and upset when she first woke but wouldn't go back to sleep.

Not sure whether I should give a longer nap today to combat any OT or to stick with the 30mins for a full week?

[Haribo2012]

It's just a game of try it and see really! We get better nights with NND but we are about 4 months into this. If DS has any nap it's 15 mins and I wake him.
You could see how LO goes, if you want to keep nap short still go with EBT or let her nap and go for later BT....sorry to say at start of 1-0 for us some days nothing made any difference to night length...9.5-10 hour was it some night!

LLJ hope you get a good night after that nap  x
x