Author Topic: quick question about nap length  (Read 19877 times)

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Offline LovelyLilyandJack

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Re: quick question about nap length
« Reply #45 on: February 01, 2015, 13:19:10 pm »
(((Hugs))). We are going through something very similar right now. It's rubbish isn't it? What I'm thinking with Jack is that there's a point where you're capping the nap, but it's not enough to affect nights, so overall they're not getting enough refreshing sleep and OT builds. It's the classic UT/OT loop in fact.  We've been round it many many times.  ::)

If it helps, the next thing I'm trying with Jack is another 15 minutes off his nap, but probably starting it at the same time as normal so I'm increasing his A before bed. He's EWing, so his A before his nap is already higher. We're trying a 45 minute nap today.... I'll let you know how it goes... So I think that since you've  tried long naps, and capping a bit and it's sort of helped but not really overall that it's worth trying a 1hr nap next.  That's what my daughter needed at this age. Five minutes over and it'd affect her nights. Although it sounds scary, you've got to just keep trying different things, give them a week or so and then try something else... If a 1hr nap makes things worse, at least you'll know where you are, you can fix it and try something different after that. You'll probably have an idea after 3 or 4 days whether things are improving or not Tbh.  With Jack it's usually day / night 4 that changes kick in.

Anyway, I'm happy to trail blaze on this one and let you know how we're getting on? Jack is probably lower sleep needs than your LO, but I can tell you whether capping more is helping us. He'll have 2 nnds at nursery on Monday and Tuesday too, so it'll be interesting to see how they go too after an EW  Monday morning  (I'm assuming).



Offline LovelyLilyandJack

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Re: quick question about nap length
« Reply #46 on: February 01, 2015, 20:02:05 pm »
Well, we've blown it on day one cos we were at a friends for tea and things ran late, so as well as having had a short nap, Jack was also 45 minutes late for bed. Am expecting a messy night, or three.  No naps to catch up for the next 2 days cos jack's at nursery.  Ouch!



Offline AMJ

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Re: quick question about nap length
« Reply #47 on: February 01, 2015, 20:08:49 pm »
Thanks JJ&J, that's very encouraging. yes it is so frustrating. The UT/OT loop sounds very familiar :(

What does Jack's day look like right now with EWUs? What does his day look like usually?

I am thinking that Evie might need a later nap since the last two times she woke up later in the morning she took longer to fall asleep for the nap. Would you advise to move it later?

her day looks like this now

5:30 ish WU
12:35 crib for the nap, asleep 12:50-1:00
WU at 2:05-2:15
crib at 6:50 and BT at 7:30pm

Also, would you give a one day with a long nap to her to help her catch up before I cut her nap to 1hr?

BTW, thanks a lot for a quick reply and I hope a 45m nap works for Jack! :)
« Last Edit: February 01, 2015, 20:22:45 pm by AMJ »



Offline AMJ

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Re: quick question about nap length
« Reply #48 on: February 01, 2015, 20:10:26 pm »
just saw your post, oh my. ouch ouch! Fingers crossed that tonight will turn out not bad



Offline LovelyLilyandJack

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Re: quick question about nap length
« Reply #49 on: February 01, 2015, 21:43:54 pm »
Well jack has woken at 4/4.30 for the last couple of mornings, but then dozed til 5.45 one morning and I think 6.20 this morning.  He's been chatting every 20-40 minutes though so hard to know how much sleep he's been getting. Before that we had several days of 5.30am WUs.

Our routines look very similar.  The following was working for jack for a long time though :

WU: 6 - 6.30 (though this is earlier atm)
Nap: 12.45 / 1 for 45 mins to 1hr 20 (he doesn't nap Mondays and Tuesdays at nursery so we start on weds with an earlier, longer nap and end on Sunday usually with a later, shorter nap)
BT : 7

You could let your LO catch up before trying anything new, yes, so you know where you are, but she might then take a day or two longer to build the tiredness back up for  (hopefully) a longer night again. I think as long as you give it at least 4 days of a 1hr nap you should be ok though. It may be worth pulling BT forward by a bit  (15 minutes?) as well to stop her day getting too long. We found eventually that jack did better with a 7pm BT rather than 7.30 when he was regularly waking at 5.30 a while ago.

I'll let you know how tonight goes for us  - no OT call outs yet, but he's only been asleep a couple of hours so who knows what's coming!



Offline AMJ

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Re: quick question about nap length
« Reply #50 on: February 02, 2015, 05:27:35 am »
Thanks for answering all my questions.

Today DD woke up at 6am. That's an improvement! I think I will move her nap a bit later today and still keep it for 1hr15m for just few more days. As I remember it takes her quiet awhile to get used to new things.




Offline LovelyLilyandJack

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Re: quick question about nap length
« Reply #51 on: February 02, 2015, 06:23:25 am »
Yay! That's fab! Yes, worth sticking with 1hr 15 a bit longer then to see how things pan out. Just bear in mind that if things go wrong then UT could be the root cause as much as OT.

Our short nap and late night has answered a few questions here.  Apart from one murmur at 5.35, Jack has been silent since 7.45 last night! It's 6.20am here and he's still asleep  :) So definitely an UT problem here. The question now for me is what to cap at, and how much sleep to allow after nnds....

ETA: He's just woken now, at 6.35 - almost 11 hours! So back to a decent night again for us :) That was with a 40ish minute nap (and a 13.5hr day as it happens).
« Last Edit: February 02, 2015, 06:37:43 am by LovelyLilyandJack »



Offline AMJ

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Re: quick question about nap length
« Reply #52 on: February 02, 2015, 06:42:28 am »
Oh wow that's unbelievable how lsn Jack is! I'm glad he had a great night!

I'll let you know how it's going after a few days.



Offline AMJ

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Re: quick question about nap length
« Reply #53 on: February 07, 2015, 04:51:05 am »
Hi how are you? We're able to figure out the length of Jack's nap?

We've been doing 1hr nap for the past few days. At first it seemed that it was working. She had few night of 10hr20m sleep, the day before yesterday I got her in the crib at 6:40pm (it's been 6:50 before that) and she fell asleep at 7:20ish(7:30 is the usuall). She slept for 10.5hrs! Yesterday I also put her in the crib at 6:40 but this time she took 55m to fall asleep( asleep at 7:35) and this morning she is up at 5am!!!!! So back to 9.5hrs night.  :o do you think it's OT? I'm just not sure what else to do.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2015, 04:58:02 am by AMJ »



Offline LovelyLilyandJack

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Re: quick question about nap length
« Reply #54 on: February 07, 2015, 06:53:56 am »
I was just thinking of your thread last night and wondering how you were getting on. I *think* we've just figured out what's going on with Jack. We've had a better night since we capped to 45 minutes AND  moved his nap later. But last night was the first properly good night and I know things can change after a few days  (as you're now experiencing), so we'll see.

Jack always used to have a few good night's and then revert back to EWing again after a few days. I'm pretty sure for him it was that he'd crash, catch up on his sleep and then need a tiny further push for it to stick. Does your LO tend to prefer longer mornings or afternoons? Jack prefers longer mornings and one thing I've found this week that a nap at 12.30 will give us EW/NWs at 4am, but the same length nap at 1 gives us an 11hr night.  It took a couple of days to kick in though. So you could try an hour still, but pd for her nap a bit later? Lily used to wake at 6ish and sleep for an hour at 1.15pm  at this age, for example.

I wouldn't act on that EW either, btw - just do a later nap today and see how tonight goes.  You'll get a clearer message that way, one way or another....



Offline AMJ

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Re: quick question about nap length
« Reply #55 on: February 07, 2015, 11:03:38 am »
So glad you finally figured it out for Jack!!! Great job!

TBH for the longest time she's been having longer morning A and shorter evening A but awhile back it was the other way around and I'm not 100% sure anymore which one she likes.

I'll try to push her to a later nap today but she is a mess and is crying often. And for the past few days she's been taking a long time to fall asleep at nap time so it was around 12:50/1:00 anyways.

Thanks so much.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2015, 11:42:03 am by AMJ »



Offline AMJ

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Re: quick question about nap length
« Reply #56 on: February 09, 2015, 04:43:43 am »
Hi again,

Well it's been a week since we did a 1hr nap and this morning she WU at 4:45am!!! Last night she fell asleep at 7:15 so 9.5hrs of sleep at night. She is very OT and 1hr nap is too short for her. I'll let her catch up at nap time today and after that I have no clue what to do, lol



Offline LovelyLilyandJack

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Re: quick question about nap length
« Reply #57 on: February 09, 2015, 08:54:44 am »
Aah, well, it was worth a go.  At least you know now.  Yes, let her catch up and then....  I don't know either! 

So, looking back, uncapped naps give short nights and a grumpy girl.  Capping at 1hr 15 or less gave the same.  I remember you saying you only tried capping at 1.5hrs for a day or two.  Do you think that's worth another go, once she's definitely caught up?



Offline AMJ

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Re: quick question about nap length
« Reply #58 on: February 09, 2015, 08:58:56 am »
Lol I know huh no matter what she is grumpy and tired.

Yes we didn't give 1.5hr that long so I will give that another try! Thanks :)



Offline LovelyLilyandJack

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Re: quick question about nap length
« Reply #59 on: February 09, 2015, 10:04:46 am »
One thing to bear in mind - do you think the grumpiness is definitely OT related?  I agree that the 9.5hr night is likely to be OT, but when she's napping for longer,  is she showing tired signs as well as being grumpy?  Do you think her mood could be related to developmental stuff, or teeth or something else instead?  They do tend to start getting very frustrated at this age where they're understanding a lot but unable to communicate back properly.  It could just be typical toddler behaviour coming out.  Just something to think about....