Author Topic: 29 mth old nap dropping but shorter nights  (Read 874 times)

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Offline patsy32

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29 mth old nap dropping but shorter nights
« on: May 27, 2015, 14:41:40 pm »
Hi Ladies,
Just looking for some advice please regarding dd's night sleep. Basically before she turned 21 mths she had a solid routine of
wu - 7.20
Nap- 1.50 - 3.20
BT - 7.40
Sttn every night

However, at 21 mths we started getting nap refusals for a while which meant later and shorter naps but we were still getting 11.5 hrs overnight sleep and no nw's, so I pushed the nap later and cut to 1hr 15 min.
about 3/4 mths ago we discovered that a 1 hr nap was giving us a long nw every 2nd night so with advice and encouragement from Jessmum on this site we decided to start dropping the nap.
Everything went fantastic for a week or so.  We were getting 12.5/13.5 night sleep with nnds and only offering a nap every 3rd day or if really necessary for about 20 min.
after the initial 1st week or so we have only been getting 11.5 hrs overnight sleep even on a nnd. We weren't offering the nap until 3 pm and only for 20 min Then bt would be 7pm no nap day and 7.30 Nap day. All naps have to be a apop'd in the car or we would never ever get one otherwise.
We have now started getting far longer stretches of nnds sometimes even 5/6 days in a row but that's because I haven't been offering them and she has coped extremely well during the day without them.  The only problem is that 7.00 pm Bt wasn't working great for us as we could never manage to be ready at that time so I set BT for 7.30 pm regardless.
My biggest concern is that since the initial 1st week or so of nap dropping we can only manage an 11.5/ 11hr 15 min night with or without a nap. This has meant a WU of 6.50/7.00 am now which means on several occassions she's falling asleep in car after I collect her from creche around 2/2.30 pm,  she has even napped as early as 1.30 pm on w'ends for DH
which makes nnds harder to achieve!
Basically since cutting /dropping the nap we are getting roughly 30 min less over night sleep than ever before!
Any ideas or suggestions how I can get her up to 12 hrs please and try to encourage consistant nnds? Before any 1-0 shananigans her WU time was always 7.20/7.30 am from she was a baby.
Thanks in advance.
« Last Edit: May 27, 2015, 14:59:47 pm by patsy32 »

Offline Martini~

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Re: 29 mth old nap dropping but shorter nights
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2015, 11:30:57 am »
She is probably slightly OT Hon. You went quite quickly if I get right from 1:20 nap to NNDs. I am not quite sure what else you can do if you want NNDs and cannot do BT earlier...? I would frankly speaking go for nap every 3-4 days still to keep OT at bay. And go for less NNDs if you see signs like NW, EWU.

Re length of night, some kiddos will never lengthen their nights even after dropping a nap - and if they do, it really takes weeks/months to settle. Those kids usually will drop nap slowly and usually by shortening a nap rather than cold turkey drop.
~Marta

Offline patsy32

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Re: 29 mth old nap dropping but shorter nights
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2015, 13:30:37 pm »
Thanks so much for your reply Martii,
Sorry I should have said that we've actually been nap dropping since 21 mths.  It was really only at 26/27 mths that we could confirm a 1 hr nap was giving us long chatty nw's for weeks on end and/or Bt shananigans.
Cutting the nap to 20 min and only offering it every few days has totally sorted that problem.
On the other hand we are starting to get the ew's since dropping the nap so it's a new thing for her! She always sleep At least 12hr over night and 11.5 hrs when on a 1.5 hr nap. she has had a 20 min each day this week and wu's are getting earlier.  Yer ter day was
wu - 6.45
Nap - 2.00 - 2.20 in car
bt- 7.25 cried and fussed until 7.40 pm
STTN

Today
Wu - 6.00 am
nap- was going to offer at 3 as will be in the car
bt - 7.30? ??
I'm wondering if having the nap each day and earlier than normal is causing the problem. nap usually isn't offered until 3 pm but due to the ew's she's falling asleep earlier on the way home from creche!
what does anyone think?
« Last Edit: May 28, 2015, 13:35:24 pm by patsy32 »

Offline Martini~

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Re: 29 mth old nap dropping but shorter nights
« Reply #3 on: May 30, 2015, 06:02:44 am »
It probably is another sign she doesn't need a nap if that's the story. Or maybe need a nap once a week. Can you help her survive the trip in a car without a nap?
~Marta