How are you going froggymom?
I just want to thank you so much for checking in on me! It has been VERY rough here with DD lately, and I have not even had a chance to check in much. As I sit and type, she is fussing in her high chair refusing to eat her snack.
She is a very spirited/strong-willed baby, and I'm finding it harder and harder to cope. DS (who is almost 6) is a textbook/angel baby, and I am just not at all used to how to deal with this. How is your DD getting along? Better than we are I hope! I have myasthenia gravis (an autoimmune disease which causes my voluntary muscles to get tired and weaken with repeated use) so am just shattered by the end of the day most days.
I went through the same thing, thinking DD needed more sleep than she really did. It sounds like you know your LO well. Are you thinking she'd do better with 12/12.5h sleep?
Yes, I feel like she does better with an 11-12 hour night and at least 1 hr 30 minute nap....so 12.5-13.5 hours sleep total. However, she is currently napping about 30-45 minutes on average and about 10 hours at night.
I feel like she is now obviously so OT, but I have NO idea how to fix it as she will not accept sleep it seems. I did try my best to do a set nap at 11:30 for about a week; however, she never napped more than the usual 30-45 minutes it seemed. I then tried a set nap time of 12, and it seemed to go better for a few days at first. She still woke at 30-45 minutes most days; however, she could be resettled at times to do a total of 1 hr 15-30 minute naps. Just when I thought a set nap of 12 may work....the small bit of success I was seeing ended as quick as it began.
I still try to aim for a nap at noon; however, most days her sleep looks like this:
wake-up: anywhere between 4:30-5:30 am usually
out of bed for the day: between 6:30-7 am
nap: 12 (for about 30-45 minutes but I then spend a LOT of time trying to resettle)
bedtime: between 6:30-7 pm
I did try not bringing her to bed with me when she wakes between 4:30-5:30 am for about a week. DH and I took turns going in and trying to resettle her in her crib. The only way she did not scream and cry was if we laid on the floor in her room. We had to pat her and keep our hand in the crib; however, she would still only lay there awake until we let her up. Every once in awhile she went back to sleep, but this was not the usual. After about a week of this, we were so tired again that we have been letting her come back to our bed early in the morning. Most of the time she will go back to sleep; however, sometimes she will lay there awake even in our bed until we let her up for the day. I would like to keep her in her own crib; however, I'm not even sure how to go about it at this time.
When DD's napping went to pot at that age, BT was sometimes 6 or earlier. She still woke at 5/530 but at least she'd gotten a bit more sleep at night. Have you tried BT that early before?
Before DD was a year old, it seemed like early bedtimes were helpful and actually helped her sleep longer at night when she needed them. However, now it seems as if she does worse with early bed times. Her ideal bedtime seems to be 7 pm. It seems the times I have tried to do earlier than about 6:45 pm, she then has NWs as well as the usual EW.
I am at a total loss with her. We made the 2-1 nap transition about 4 months ago now....and her one nap has NEVER extended to two hours!!!! I am feeling totally defeated and like I may never sleep through the night or have a break during the day again. Any advice you guys have would be much appreciated!
