1-0 transition: 30 min nap and day length questions

[K-JDA]

Hi All

So we are bumbling along through the 1-0 - ugh what a pain this transition is!

DS is now 34 months old.

Have been doing a 45 min nap for a while now, since Easter I think, and have stuck to it whilst final molars are through. Teeth are now done - yeah!!

Nights have now got a bit short - down to 10 hours or a bit less than this so over the last 2 days I have cut the nap down to 30 mins.

He is definitely more tired with less day sleep but have missed the window of bed before OT sets in and have ended up with messy bedtime, days too long and NWs the last 2 nights so have a tired boy on my hands.

So am wondering 2 things if you don't mind:

- when is best to do the 30 min nap - should I aim for a set time or more go with when he is tired?
- how long a day should we aim for on a 30 min nap?

Wake up today was 6.15 which is ok, bedtime normally 7.30 since started the 1-0 transition as he is a chronic EW'er but not been falling asleep til nearer 8 and up before 6 on the 45 min nap. Am concerned about an earlier bedtime as getting fed up of 5am wake ups!

TIA

[newkidontheblock]

Hi hun. No BTDT experience but just giving you a little bump. Hang in there. Will get some eyes here for you

[jessmum46]

My feeling with this would be if you've just cut to 30 mins then ride it out for a week before changing things again, but you may need to either cut more or offer some NNDs.  I would do the 30 mins whenever in the day, earlier may be better as LO will be less tired and therefore perhaps not so grumpy after being woken.  But really when it's just a CN I don't think timing matters all that much, as long as it's not 10 mins before BT!  Fwiw DD was hideous after being woken at 30 mins but 20 mins was much better, may be worth bearing in mind.  Overall though I would say if you can't get him down at the 13h mark with a 30 minute nap ie night is dropping below 11h then I'd be looking to get rid of the nap on at least a few days a week or cutting to a teeny 15-20 minute CN if he is struggling to get though the day.  Will he always nap if it's offered?  Or could you go for an hour's quiet time at the same time each day and let him self-regulate whether he sleeps or not?

[K-JDA]

Thanks for the bump and reply!

He will take the nap at nursery 3 days per week - not sure what they do to get him to sleep but never known him not have one! 2 days he is picked up at lunchtime and so always falls asleep in the car within seconds. I struggle to get him to sleep at weekends so have been APOPing via the car so quiet time might be an option then.

Wake up times are better now after 4 days of 30 min nap but having a few problems with bedtime as think I did the nap too late on Saturday and day not long enough on Sunday. Plus he is recently PT which is causing call backs for use the the potty!

He is back at nursery today so will see if he settles better at bedtime. Had NWs all weekend though....just 20 mins or so at random times (post midnight).

Good tip to stick with it for the week and see if we can get days back within 13 hours. Will see how we go.

Got loads of speech development going on too which always affects sleep so my guess is the next few months are going to be very messy and exhausting for us all. They don't tell you this bit in advance do they!!

[jessmum46]

No they don't!!  Not sure we'd do it if they did    hopefully things will settle soon x

[Johnnyha65]

My DS just turned 3 a few weeks ago and we had awful sleep from 34-36 months ,no amount of routine tweaking worked we had terribly long repeated night wakings and we were all exhausted as I'm now 28 weeks pregnant! He would tell me he wasn't tired and didn't want to sleep but then dark circles under his eyes said different!

My point is it looks like it was developmental, his language, conversation and imagination have all come on immensely, I don't know where he gets it all from, but he has us laughing at his grown up ness.

We had dropped his nap, completely back in feb but have had to re-instate a 45 minute nap as he seems to need it and is easier we had to give at least 6hr A to bed, so earlier nap is working for now with BT 7.30 we're getting 12 hrs in total over 24hrs

So hang in there, hopefully it passes a little quicker for you!

[lolsyb1982]

My DD is a little younger -  27 months but we are now down to a 20min nap with a 13hr day. 30mins like pp said caused major grumpiness when waking and still some messing around at BT but 20mins is far easier and goes to sleep without a fuss.
Amazing that 10mins can make such a difference to them!

[K-JDA]

Thanks all! Nice to know we all have to go through this although wouldn't wish it on anyone!!

30 min nap seems to be starting to take effect but I can see the next few months is going to be tricky and tiring for us all. Settling at bedtime is better and wake up time improving but still getting NWs - albeit v brief. Think they may be more to do with him losing his covers as he insisted on not wearing his sleep bag the last few days so think he might be waking up as slightly cold. Am going to reinstate his bag to see if this helps although don't think he will be happy about this! His language explosion is making for a very opinionated toddler - a threenager already!!!

He surprisingly doesn't seem too bad at wake up after 30 mins as was a bear after 45 mins so will stick to 30 mins for now and cut to 20 mins next week sometime if no improvement in NWs etc.

Thanks again for the support.

[K-JDA]

So have had a small improvement on a 30 min nap but still taking 15/20 mins to settle at bedtime and nights no longer than 10.5hrs. 11hrs in total doesn't seem enough!?

Things have been complicated by DS starting to have some dry nights this week - great but 2 days have caused him to wake up bursting for a wee first thing after having STTN then not wanting to go back to sleep or waking in the night asking for the potty. Wasn't expecting this development so soon as he has only been PT for a couple of months!

Should I continue on and drop the CN to 20 mins do you think or ride out a bit longer and see if the dry nights issue is contributing to the shorter nights?

[lolsyb1982]

I would give 20 mins a go. We saw a big difference between 20 & 30 mins.