Routine for nursery:)

[Martini~]

Hello Ladies, hoping for some encouragement here.

F is in the nursery for 4-5mo now and we finally found that he naps nicely there if really tired. Last three weeks he had 1,5h nap almost everyday if put after 4,5h. But last three days we are having 50min naps which usually are UT here (30-37min are OT). His routine is:
7am WU (he wakes slightly earlier but is quite, I just see his eyes are open at 7am when I woke in)
11:20-11:30 nap (last three days 50min-1h, before 1.5h)
4pm nap for 30min (could go to sleep earlier if the first nap is shorter but easily cope till 4pm), not fighting this nap...
7pm BT not OT even with this short naps

Should I push his morning nap to 11:45-12:00? It would almost mean 1 nap days, there will be only a window for a short 15min nap at 4:00/4:30 pm in a car when I do the pick up. Or maybe should I alternate...? What would you suggest?

He is 10mo and was always on high-A times for its age and average sleep needs (13,5-14h sleep per day right now: day 1:30-2:00 and 12:00 at night).

[jessmum46]

Hi hun, he is LSN isn't he?  We had our first one nap days with DD at 10 months so it looks like that's where you're headed....

I would do as you've suggested, push morning nap to 11.45/12 but I would probably consider keeping the 30 min nap at 4.30ish and push BT a bit later to 7.15/30pm.  It's pretty normal for the day to get longer until the drop to one longer nap.  If he starts to refuse the CN though (the issue we ran into....) I would pull BT early for a while to 6/6.30pm on days he just has the one nap to allow him to make up the lost sleep.  It can take a while for the nap to lengthen out but even J who almost never (like twice in her life) had 2h naps before the 2-1 started pulling some monster 3h naps on occasion.

It can be a bit messy for a while but if you like the long morning nap I would stick with that and keep offering the CN for as long as you can.  Even 15 mins would do just to get to bedtime xx

[Martini~]

Thanks Katherine! So my thoughts below, any comments appreciated:).

Nursery put him down yesterday around 11:45 and he did 1:40 nap. I decided to ditch th CN to see how he copes as it was Monday after nice weekend naps. He did really great, but was very tired at 6:30/7:00 feed/bath/BT. He did a nice 11:45 night but had some cryouts at 1:30 (short but seems slightly OT for me, he SS).

I am now thinking what to do... Next weeks we will be rotating nursery and home as it is Xmas time and there are a lot of days he will be at home where he easily go for 1,5h at 11:30 and CN around 4. So I thought about keeping normal 2 naps routine here. From around 12/01 he will be back to his 5days a week routine in nursery and he will be almost 11mo so I think for a LSN a good moment to switch to one nap consistently. The question I ask myself is how to make him ready...

Your idea with late CN probably won't work as he is reluctant to sleep after 4pm but I can APOP a 10min catnap in a car seat around 4:20/4:30 when taking him from nursery. I think we both like 7pm BT. With his extensive day in the nursery he is just tired around 7pm so I am not sure if pushing later will help. The biggest concern I have is that he is not yet sleeping 2h at his nap. I know he might do it now but I am afraid he will catchup on CN if I go for it... That's why I thought about ditching it altogether at some moment and ride out OT. EBT wont work for us if you ask me as he is like a clock: sleeping 11:45-12:00 at night. No matter if UT or OT, he doesn't catch up. When OT he will have some cryouts at night but generally sleeps well. Sometimes is a bit unsettled after 10,5h but still usually he was able to resettle himself. What I am afraid is teething as with UT/OT behavior it won't be easy:) but we just had a month of worse night sleep (on and off) because of top 4 going through.

Any thoughts..?

[jessmum46]

I would hang onto the two naps over Christmas if you can, that sounds like a plan.  In terms of how to make him ready for one nap.....I don't think you can to be honest  if he's ready, he's ready The consistent longer naps may not happen until he is fully on one nap so yes at some point ditching the CN and riding out the OT may be useful.  It doesn't have to be all or nothing though as it is common for OT to creep in during transitions and you may just need to throw in a CN every few days to ward off major meltdowns. 

EBT certainly doesn't work for everyone but at times of transition it can sometimes work in a way it hasn't before xx

[Martini~]

2 naps over Xmas and I think we would never manager to go with one. He started crawling so bit more tired. But today he slept almost 2h in the nursery with nap 11:40-1:30 (less kids in the nursery, so probably he sleeps better:), so I am afraid there is no place for another nap in the afternoon. I am a bit afraid of this day as he was so so tired last days that I don't know how we survive.
Wish me luck. Maybe I will take him for a walk in the afternoon, some rest time in a pram should help.
Ha! DH is doing BT today... Maybe he will manage:).

[jessmum46]

How did it go?  On that kind of day I would have probably done an early bt if you couldn't get another nap x

[Martini~]

He did great, however we had some cryouts at 8pm, 9pm and 1am. But he self-settle and has normal WU.
We are doing two naps for yesterday and today as yesterday he did only 50min in the nursery and at home I always do 2 naps as he is sleeping well on first and not refusing 2nd one.

Generally I see no difference for him if he sleeps 1,5h or 50min or first nap. He still needs second one then so I guess my learning would be if first nap ends before 1pm, there should be second one.

My observation for now would be: he needs a very long first A in the nursery to get a decent nap there. So he is compensating this long A with short A in the afternoon that's why he goes easily for second nap. I am bit afraid of pushing him to one nap now as he is slightly OT after a day like that but isn't that inevitable? OT did you manage to go thru this transition with J without problems?

[jessmum46]

Hey hun, sounds like you are doing well

OT is inevitable yes with transitions.  I got a bit sick of the to and fro of the 2-1 and second-guessing whether J was UT or OT.  She also refused a second nap from about 10/11 months if first nap was over 30 mins so we just set nap and bt at that point and rode it out.  Probably took just over a month to properly settle x