14.5mo sleeps 11.5 per day total+EW@5am, time to 2-1 nap?

[Cation]

Hello all, my DD has been a short sleeper since she was born. She is now 14.5 mo and sleeps in total 11.5-12hr a day. That is, 1.5hr nap+9.5-10hr night, or 2hr nap+9-9.5hr night. She is usually a 1.5 hr napper (1hr20min seems to be her natural cycle). We tried different schedule, but never got over 12hr sleep a day total.

I have been trying to transit her from 2 naps to 1, but it's really difficult mainly due to 2 things. First, she sleeps only 11.5 hrs means she has more than 12 hrs awake...yet seems she cannot hold the extended A time yet. Though she could play fine and keep awake for 6 or even 7 hrs, she would have NW or nap wakings under those A time. I suspect it's OT. Second, she wakes too early -- 5 am average, sometimes 4:30, and 5:30 would be a surprise. With this WU time, I'll have to put her to nap no later than 11 am, then 1.5 hr nap, and bedtime before 7pm -- which means another 5am or 4:30am WU (she only sleeps 10hr at most at night). Seems an unbreakable cycle.

So I'd really love to have some suggestions on how to tackle the EW, and whether (and how) to transit her to 1 nap.

She just recovered from roseola so the schedule in last few days are irregular. Before roseola, a typical day could be:

4:50 WU
5:30 milk
6:30 breakfast
9:00 snack
around 10:45 nap 1.5 hr till around 12.20
12:50 lunch
3:00 snack
5:00 dinner
6:15 bath, milk, bedtime routine
6:45 asleep

Before consulting here, I was offered two suggestions. First, stick to a fixed schedule, say, 11am nap, 7 am bedtime, no matter when she wakes up in the morning and no matter how tired she might be, just stick to the clock and see if she can adjust it naturally. Second suggestion is that I should offer 2 naps, 1 catnap in the morning (30 or 40 min cap), and 1 nap around 1:30pm so I can push bedtime to 8pm, then gradually cut the length of morning catnap to see if she can sleep later in the morning naturally. I tried the 1st suggestion several days before her roseola, nothing really changed yet, and sometimes NW, not sure how long should I continue.

Last night she stirred at 2:40am and not fully settled untill 4:20am. Yet she woke up at 5:10am and cried for play! It has become a habitual EW. She can cry for hours if let her in her crib. We share room (no extra room sorry) so I have to take her out so my DH could get more sleep before going to work.

Thanks for any advice!!!

[ginger428]

I'll be back to read properly and respond more thoroughly as my DS is also LSN and we had similar issues. My instinct says the extra catnap is probably needed at this point because it sounds like accumulated OT.

[ginger428]

As I mentioned, my DS has the same average total sleep. And I know what you mean about the cycle.

I know the early wakings are such a pain... they did get better for us once we tweaked the routine and DS adjusted to the longer A time. 

I used two strategies, sometimes concurrently for the 2-1...When DS woke super early, I did a 15-20 CN around 9:00, APOP'd in the car.  You can try 20 min, since she's awake so early, and simultaneously push the nap to 11:30 or later, eventually getting to 12. If you have a normal WU time, nap was a little earlier, around 11:30/11:45, had the 15 min CN in the evening, and put down to bed only 1.5-2 hrs later. This helped curb the built up OT. 

Btw, we did a super early half lunch around 11, then finished after nap.

What do you think about the CN? Hoping that might break the cycle.

Have you read this article about the 2-1?
From 2 to 1 nap transition (10-12m and older)

[Cation]

Hi ginger, thanks for your advice! It's very helpful. I also read the 2-1 transition guide. So seems my DD needs a shortened morning nap. Yesterday I added a 40min catnap between 9 and 9:30am, then put her down for afternoon nap at 1:30pm. She can sleep comfortably 1.5 hrs, then asleep by 8pm. At night she woke up at 2:50, back to sleep in 15min with my comfort. This morning she woke up at 5:10 am. Not an improvement but not bad either. I have pretty much accepted this WU time lol. I did the same today--35min catnap at 9:10am, 1hr40min nap at 1:30pm, bedtime 8pm. I'll see what happened tomorrow morning.
This added catnap is indeed helpful. It makes the feeding schedule and bedtime routine much easier. Thank you

[Martini~]

Just second what Trimbler said. With LSN I would aim for even shorter morning nap - cut to 30/20min and see what happens as I know cases where 40mon morning nap at that age could perpetuate in EWU.

[ginger428]

Cation, another thought.... 8pm bedtime seems a little late and might be adding to OT at the moment. Would you consider bringing earlier to 7:30, and nap to 12:30 or 1, with a shorter nap in the morning of 20 mins until DD adjusts? Just a thought! Maybe last night was good!

[Cation]

Last night...oh I guess I do need to consider earlier bedtime. She cried at 3:50am, not settled since then even I picked hr up and hold her entire time... Cried to get up at 5:05am. Yeah it could be OT. So today I plan to try 20 min nap at 9, then afternoon nap at maybe 12:45pm, move bedtime to 7:30 or earlier. See what will happen.

[Cation]

Yesterday
WU 5:05am
Catnap 9am-9:20am 20min
Nap 12:45pm-3:09pm 2hr25min (restless, woke up twice until settled at 2:20pm. So I let her sleep longer then planned)
Bedtime 7:50pm (she seemed happy after the afternoon nap so I didn't move bedtime too earlier) night is fine, stirred at 2:50am yet back to sleep herself in 10min.
Today
WU 4:55am

I feel that the restless nap yesterday might be UT as she can sleep continuously for 1hr30min if put down at 1:30pm. So today I'd try to put her down at 1pm.
What makes me happy is that unlike yesterday morning, this morning she woke up happy and active.

[Martini~]

Can you also push the morning catnap a tad later? Like 9:30 or 10:00? and than 1pm?

[ginger428]

Marti has a point..the longer you keep 9am, the longer it'll reinforce the early wakes. It's a catch 22 because if too late, OT sets in. Maybe push when you feel she has a really rested night and she's doing well in the morning. 9:30 sounds good.

[Cation]

5/5
WU 4:55am
Catnap 9:20-9:40am
Nap 1:20-2:50pm
Bedtime 7:25pm
Night was ok, but next morning woke up at 4:30 instead of regular 5am...

5/6
WU 4:30am seems happy n active
Catnap 9:10-9:40am she slept so well that I didn't wake her even with songs volume up beside her crib... Feel guilty Get her up
Nap 1:15-2:45pm woke up after 45min then back to sleep after comfort. Not happy, still sleepy after the nap
Bedtime 7:50pm I know its kinda late, but since yesterday's early bedtime made her get up half n hour earlier, I moved the bedtime back. Night was fine. Yet earlier WU next morning...

5/7 today
Stirred at 4, not settled n cried for getting up at 4:30 am. cranky.

My feeling is that the quality of the afternoon nap is very important. If she wakes up unhappy, then chances are she'll get EWU even with earlier bedtime. The nap length seems not as important as the quality. I plan to have a 30 min catnap today at 9am (4hr30min A time), then 1:30 pm nap as long as she can get up happy (4 hr A time.  Can't get a continuous nap with less than 4 hr A time past several days, so I'll try 4 hr again this time)