Author Topic: How long did NW last when yours dropped the nap?  (Read 1371 times)

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Offline BstnMelody

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How long did NW last when yours dropped the nap?
« on: January 20, 2016, 06:00:02 am »
DD 2y9m recently started afternoon nursery, and it's right at nap time, so we had to drop it. It was probably time anyway, as bedtime with only a 1 hour capped nap was 9pm, sometimes later. I still try to give her 30-60 minutes of rest time in her room beforehand, but some days logistically that can't happen.

So now she goes to sleep at 7pm, and WU is around 7am. She always has an OT waking 30 minutes after going to sleep, but that's no problem. What's tough is that we're often getting multiple NW as well (11, 2, and 4) seem to be most common. Sometimes, but not always. Occasionally we'll get a night when she sleeps all the way through, but it's rare.

Compound the tiredness with the fact that she seems to be going through fear of the dark or separation anxiety (I'm using the checking on her in x minutes to get her to fall asleep independently), and it's making sleep very tricky round these parts. 

So my question is... How long will this last? I'm exhausted and I don't know how much more I can take! I have mild insomnia, and NW wreck me. If she wakes at 2 or 4, I'm often awake for the rest of the night from anxiety waiting for the next waking, or just generally ed off at being woken. When do I get my great sleeper back? Are there any tips for shortening this phase (gro clock doesn't help anymore)? 

Thanks!

Offline Emami

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Re: How long did NW last when yours dropped the nap?
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2016, 06:17:44 am »
Mine dropped the nap around the same age, and I found the best way to avoid OT was to do EBT. Most people IRL thought I was crazy (not the ladies here though!), as for a good couple of months afterwards she went to bed at 5:30. It did make evenings a bit rushed and antisocial, but going to bed that early would give us nights of 13+ hrs, whereas BT at a more normal 7pm would get an earlier WU and sometimes NWs too. I know 5:30 isn't feasible for everyone, and not all babies respond so well to EBT but if you haven't tried it I think it would be worth a go
Emma






Offline BstnMelody

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Re: How long did NW last when yours dropped the nap?
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2016, 06:27:26 am »
Thanks Emami! How did you end up figuring out 5:30 was the right time? And how did you know when to push it back later? I'm so afraid to try that early, as DD is LSN. She was only getting 11 hours before we dropped the nap. Do you really think I should try it? Argh, indecision.

Offline BstnMelody

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Re: How long did NW last when yours dropped the nap?
« Reply #3 on: January 20, 2016, 07:42:46 am »
One more question. After how many nights is SEBT did you notice an improvement in NW?

I just realized you are in the UK (I am too). Thanks for replying so early in the morning. Bleary eyed and you're helping others already, you're amazing!

Offline Emami

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Re: How long did NW last when yours dropped the nap?
« Reply #4 on: January 20, 2016, 11:34:41 am »
Lol, my little one has chicken pox and is keeping me up all hours!

With the early BT, I went with 5:30 because she was ready! She has always tended to do longer nights, so if your LO is LSN I would maybe do more like 6.  If you get 12hr nights at the moment anyway (albeit with NWs), I don't think it's u reasonable to expect an extra hour without the nap.  As far as moving BT later, I did it when she started messing around and took longer to go to sleep than if I'd just kept her up a bit longer. Around her third birthday I think she was going to bed at 6, and it moved quickly to 6:30 and stayed there for quite a long time. Now she's 4 and at school and does fine with a 7pm BT.

Tbh I can't remember the NWs that were specifically related to nao dropping, as around that time she was also potty training and we were getting wake ups for the toiket, so it's all a bit hazy! For us the 1-0 wasn't too bad though, it happened quite gradually. She either slept or she didn't, so I didn't end up capping naps or messing around with timings. If she skipped her nap she went to be early, and it gradually became more frequent until she wasn't napping any more. Hope that helps!
Emma






Offline BstnMelody

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Re: How long did NW last when yours dropped the nap?
« Reply #5 on: January 20, 2016, 18:56:12 pm »
Thanks Emma, that's helpful.

I will give SEBT a go. Today she ended up falling asleep for 15 minutes during rest time before nursery....probably because she had such a poor night of sleep last night. So I put her in bed about 20 minutes ago and she's still rolling around...where as without a nap, she's passed out in less than 5 minutes. It's so interesting that 15 minutes can refresh her so much!

I'll post again in a few days to let you know how its going. Good luck with the chicken pox!

Cheers,
Robin

Offline BstnMelody

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Re: How long did NW last when yours dropped the nap?
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2016, 20:54:34 pm »
So we're a couple of days into trying SEBT, but I can't manage to make it happen.

First off, DD has been ravenous for the last 2 weeks. She's often still hungry at 6:30pm. Plus, she often has to poop right at bedtime too, which tacks on extra time. So while I've shut the lights off at 6:30, I've had to give her more food, and put her on the potty after lights off, so we don't manage having her get to sleep until 7:30pm. In case you want to know if the hunger thing really is hunger....she has occasionally twice in the middle of the night to complain she's hungry. I tried to ignore it for 45 minutes, but she was still awake. Then I gave her some milk and peanut butter, and voila, she was back asleep in 5 minutes. So she really is hungry!

Another interesting thing is that she ended up adding a nap back. I have been putting her in her room from 12-1pm for quiet time before nursery. The first week, she didn't sleep, she just rolled around in bed. But all of the 2nd week, she ended up getting between 15-40 minutes. So probably with even that short nap, 6:30pm is too early.

Another point worth mentioning, is that both last weekend and this weekend, I let her have 1 hour naps, and both weekends, while the lights were off around 8:15pm, she didn't fall asleep until 9pm.

Plus, there has not been one night in the last week that she passed out immediately. It is usually taking her 20 minutes to fall asleep.

So.....my thoughts are that her NW are maybe not OT related, but maybe UT related? Maybe I should stick with an 8pm bedtime, especially that she added back her nap? Last night was actually the first night she slept through the night in 2 week (with the exception of a waking 30 minutes after falling asleep), and that was a 9pm bedtime with 1 hour nap.

At this point, I think I know what I'm going to try (8pm bedtime instead of SEBT), and I'm just typing my thoughts out loud. ;-) But any feedback is welcome.

Offline Emami

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Re: How long did NW last when yours dropped the nap?
« Reply #7 on: January 30, 2016, 20:10:46 pm »
Hi, how have the last few days been? Wow, the extra food and adding the nap back in sounds like a growth spurt. Has she kept that up or was it a temporary thing?  Definitely go with the nap and later BT if that's working for everyone.  The 20mins to fall asleep sounds totally normal to me so I wouldn't read too much into it unless it's particularly unusual, but yay for sleeping through!
Emma






Offline HPM1

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Re: How long did NW last when yours dropped the nap?
« Reply #8 on: February 05, 2016, 19:11:57 pm »
This is exactly what we're going through at the moment. We had a 1.5hr night waking this morning at 4am. He's been napping some days and not others. On days he naps same thing as you with a 9pm bedtime. Such a tiring time. I'm like you once I get woken up I'm awake!!  Hope things have gotten better for you.