Think we need to cap the nap?

[lolsyb1982]

DD is 21 months and I think we may need to cap the nap back some more.

Nights are only 10/10.5 hrs long. Our day is long and it's taking 30mins for her to fall asleep at night and she doesn't seem that tired most nights.

Currently she's doing this

Wu 5.30/6
Nap 12.30-2
BT 7/7.30

We had one 11hr night Xmas day and that day was a little different as she had a bad night the day before so by 10.30am was begging to have a nap. Slept for 2hrs and then had a7hr A time until bed.

Today she only had 1hr 15 nap and only took 20mins to fall asleep with a 13hr day. Stick to 1hr15 and see how she does? Oh how I hate waking her!! Is she a bit young for the shorter nap? She is on the lower end of sleep needs though so perhaps not.

[LovelyLilyandJack]

If she's lower end of normal sleep needs I wouldn't say it's too early to cap her nap.  Lily is lower end of average sleep needs and needed her nap capped to an hour max from 20 months. Jack is definitely lsn and skips his nap 2 days a week at nursery.  This week he's not been in and has self regulated pretty well on a 11 hr night and 35 - 50 minute nap each day.

I would try capping at 1hr 15, yes, and see where you are in a week.  It may be that you need to cap more, but you should have a better idea after a week of capped naps if it's helping or not.

[lolsyb1982]

Yep would say she's lower end of average so will stick with 1hr15 for a while and see what happens.
Sometimes at the cm she only has 45min-1hr anyway. Fingers crossed we start to see some longer nights.

[LovelyLilyandJack]

The other thing you could try is a gro clock.  We got one for jack about 6 weeks ago and that's helped us massively.  Before he started refusing naps and we got our gro clock he was waking between 5.30 & 6 too but things have improved a lot recently.

[lolsyb1982]

Last 2 nights it's taken her an hour to get to sleep rather than 30 mins. Do you think she might be a little OT? Should I try a longer nap or an earlier BT tomorrow?

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Has she started taking longer to settle at night since capping at 1hr 15? If so then possibly, yes. Does she tack on at all? If so, you could try a slightly earlier BT and see what that brings.

[AMJ]

Hi Lauren, it seems to me that our LOs are very alike and because they are close in age are doing similar things!

LovelyLilyandJack, we have a gro clock but I haven't used it yet. You said it helped Jack. Is he in the crib or toddler bed? Did it help him to return to sleep in the mornings? Do you find it too bright? Sorry for all those questions

[lolsyb1982]

LL&J - since Monday she's been having shorter naps. Mon-wed at cm she probably only had 45-1hr max. Thur and fri she had 1.15 at home and took longer to settle. Pretty sure she can't be UT though?! I have also thought I didn't give her medicine those 2 nights (one more canine to come through) so that could be it?
Those 2 nights we got 10.5hr nights. Earlier in the wk was closer to 11.

I'm not sure she'll take any notice of a gro clock?! Thought they had to be a little older to get it?

AMJ - we always have problems at the same time don't we!!!

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Hi both  We introduced a gro clock to lily at around 22 months and she got it straight away. We got one for jack when he was about 20 months and he took about 4 days to get it I think. He's now sleeping a bit later, yes.  He normally wakes between 6 and 6.30 now whereas it was 5.30 - 6. He did have a routine change in there somewhere as well though I think. The best thing for me is that he lies there chatting  to himself til the sun comes up at 6.30 which is a massive improvement on him up and crying straight away at 5.30am! If he wakes at 5 / 5.30 now he does go back to sleep by himself too. It doesn't happen very often, but if he does wake he has a little chat to himself and then goes back to sleep.   He's in a cot so we use it to set the time I'll come in rather than as a tool to stop him getting out. We don't have the light on it in the night. It doesn't wake him when it comes up either.

Lauren  - if you think it could be canines you could try going back to a 1.5hr  nap for a bit, or try 1hr 15 still with meds .  What's her mood like? She  *could* be UT still - lily needed her nap capped to 1hr max at 20 months and she's only slightly lsn. Anything more  - even 1hr 10 - gave us short nights. So  you could probably go by her mood to some extent....

[lolsyb1982]

Her moods fine and she doesn't seem bothered by teeth but might stick with the nap for a few more days with meds before bed and see what happens. May try an hour after that if not.

Will report back how we got on!

[AMJ]

Lol Lauren, oh yes we do! Btw, I'm sorry to hijack your thread.

Thanks for sharing LL&J, got the gro clock out today and will definitely use it tomorrow.