quick question about nap length

[AMJ]

Oh gosh, I don't know anymore, I'm just so confused. If I remember correctly she seemed tired at bedtime and was throwing a fit, but maybe the BT wasn't at an appropriate time for her. I tried watching for tired signed and give her a BT at 8/8:30 because her nap was over 2/2.5hrs but again maybe that was too late, but then her wake up was very early too(9.5hrs long night).
For example today ,If she naps for 2.5-3hrs what BT would you offer? She was awake at 4:45am.

She is not teething but maybe it is a developmental thing. How would I even know? Agggrrr

[LovelyLilyandJack]

((Hugs)), sorry, I didn't mean to confuse you even more.  It's hard to see the wood for the trees when your LO isn't sleeping well.  I end up questioning EVERYTHING, and never really knowing what's going on.  Normally it's a drastic change or really bad day that changes things around.  Like Jack will have a terrible nap, or an accidental late night and he'll end up sleeping better as a result and that's the only way I gain any confidence to make changes.  That's possibly a LSN thing, but I'm just trying to say that often things that work for us come by accident, and no matter how hard I try and figure J out, sometimes it's just impossible!

Anyway, just focus on getting her some longer naps and over any OT for now, then try 1.5hr naps.  At least they're closer to what she was doing so you know you won't be pushing her too much, which will probably be easier on you too! 

[AMJ]

No worries, I'm thankful you are sticking with us and trying to help!

She woke up at 2:40pm so napped for 2hrs10m. Would you have her asleep at 7:30pm do you think?

[LovelyLilyandJack]

I think I'd be tempted to try a slightly EBT if it were Jack and he was OT.  We'd probably do 15 minutes earlier than normal.

[AMJ]

Sounds good thanks!!!!

[AMJ]

so for the past 2 days I let Evie sleep as long as she wanted for her nap, Yesterday she napped for 2hrs10m and BT at 7:30(took a while to fall asleep) awake at 5:00am, and today for 2hrs20m but woke up few times through it. I had no clue what to do with a BT so DH and I were just watching her closely for signs but there were none, she was playing and was very concentrated but I put her in the crib at 7:10 and she was asleep at 8:00 pm.
But she is very different when she has a long nap day and short night from when she is OT. When OT she is hyper and gets frustrated easily and arches her back and screams cries, but for the last two days she is just very sensitive to everything, and cries very passionately for every little thing. It's difficult to describe it but i can see it. Trying 1.5hr nap tomorrow.

P. S. She woke up at 4:45am this morning! That's 8hrs45m of night sleep, that's just unheard of! Darn 4:45/5:00 it's like she is stuck on this WU time!

[jessmum46]

Yucky WU time

Personally I've found trying a catch up nap more than as a one-off can backfire spectacularly in super-short nights.  Probably going back to capping at 1.5h is the way forward, hold steady for a week if you can and then re-evaluate x

[AMJ]

Totally backfired! Yes 1.5hr nap today. We are going on a vacation on Sunday for a week so hopefully she catches up before that!
Thanks

[jessmum46]

Good luck and have a good trip

[AMJ]

Thank you

[AMJ]

Well, I had a revelation today, Evie has one of her second molars erupting! I don't know how I missed it? It all makes sense now and it makes me feel so much better knowing that. Now only how can I give her meds so she sleeps longer in the morning, no dose will last through the whole night and previously giving it during the night when she is not awake by her own fault, leads to a long NWU. Plus we have a mosquito net on her crib so it would take me some time to remove it and it will cause too much commotion.

Would you change anything in her routine knowing that the cause of all of this is teething?

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Aah, that makes perfect sense! That explains her mood too. I wouldn't change anything right now tbh if she's not getting great overnight sleep.  It's probably something you just need to ride out. I guess you could still try capping her nap to 1.5hrs to see if it makes it easier for her to go back to sleep in the early hours, but it's up to you. If she was doing around 1hr 45 before that's not too much of a change for her, and when she had 2hr plus naps things went very wrong didn't they?!

What do you think?

[AMJ]

yes 2hrs+ naps caused 9.5hrs nights but that's been almost 2 months ago, and that's about when 1hr45m naps stopped working too. Not sure if it's all because of teething though.

She took 1hr to fall asleep at BT tonight( i had her in the crib at 6:30pm), she is just sooo OT. I think I will let her sleep in at nap time again tomorrow, and also on Saturday because our flight is very early on Sunday morning so her night will be cut very short.
 Oh Gosh, I'm just not looking forward to how screwed up her sleep is gonna get after this trip, it's just bed timing 

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Sometimes a change in routine or scene shakes things up and makes things right again. You never know.... It's happened for us a few times  Either way I hope you enjoy your trip. Try and switch off from all the sleep stuff if you can. If you accept you're going to get some early starts and try not to notice anything else then hopefully you'll enjoy it instead of anticipating the after effects. I know that's really hard  - I struggle to switch off myself - but I hope you manage it somehow  x

[AMJ]

Thank you, I will try my best, I know DH needs me to, we all need this break. Plus I'm thinking once we are back I'll try to change her timing a bit by shifting her nap and BT by 1hr ahead so even if she would wake early it wouldn't feel as bad.

Thanks to both of you ladies for great help!