wind down ritual for daytime naps

[Clare Austin]

We've got a pretty solid wind down ritual for my little 11 month old. But she is really resisting daytime naps, and I realized that we don't really have a consistent wind down ritual for naps. Any advice out there?

[lolsyb1982]

Hi not sure what your BT routine consists of but could you use a shortened down version for naps so something like take upstairs, close curtains, into sleep bag and say sleepy time for example.

She could be resisting naps as her routine needs a tweak. Do you want to post your day in an EAS format so we can take a look? LO often begin the transition from 2-1 naps at this age so it could be something like that.

[Clare Austin]

Hi there. On a typical day her schedule looks something like this:
6:30 nurse
7:30 solids
8:30 potty and play
9:30 nap
10/10:15 awake
11:30/12 solids
12:30 potty and play
1:30 nap
2/2:30 awake
5 nurse
6:30 solids
7:30 potty, bath, bed

Her naps were lasting only 30 min. But lately shes been sleeping for about 45min in the morning, and between 45 min to an hour and a half in the afternoon. This is of course compounded by the fact that she recently learned how to stand up in her crib and she's teething, which has greatly affected her ability to settle down for the night and sleep the whole night through. Lately shes been waking at least twice at night crying. Usually all it takes is for us to lay her back down in her crib and lay a hand on her chest and she settles easily, but she used to self soothe back to sleep by sucking her thumb and she stopped. I'm starting to get worried that she not self soothing anymore.

[lolsyb1982]

Her A times are very short for her age and I think she's UT and resisting going to sleep. Another sign of UT is usually a 45 min nap.

The average for 11 months is between 3.5 and 4.5 hours so I would push her to 3.5hrs and see if you start to see a longer nap. There are periods of time when LO do need a bit more help settling and teething and developmental leaps/milestones  are prime examples.
If she settles for naps by herself she can still self settle so I would wait for the teeth to cut and the novelty of standing up to wear off and see if she goes back to settling at night.

[Clare Austin]

Thank you. She was getting 4-4.5 hours of awake time, but was waking after 30min. So we tried putting her down sooner at 3-3.5 hours and now she naps longer. Currently our nanny takes her for a walk before nap time, and she gets really sleepy, which makes it easier for her to put her down. But I don't want her to create a situation where she is reliant on walks to settle. Just wondering if that's a good idea or if there is a better solution.

[lolsyb1982]

Maybe try for 3.45 hrs so half way between the 3.5 and 4 and see how she does.

I think if she won't settle without the walk beforehand then yes it could become a bit of a problem. I'm not sure where in the world you are but we get a lot of rainy days in England and I wouldn't fancy having to walk in the bad weather to get her sleepy.

Is the walking a recent thing or something the nanny has always done?

[Clare Austin]

We live in Texas, so we're fortunate enough to have pretty good weather for walking. It's hot! But other than that its lovely. She has always taken her for a walk in the carrier at least once day, because my lo loves being outside so much. The walking as a way to wind down is recent. She said she doesn't fall asleep on the walk, she just gets really sleepy.

It seems like my lo needs a pretty extended wind down ritual. It takes her an hour to wind down in the evenings before bed. Knowing that, I'm struggling with coming up with a shortened wind down ritual for the day time. Maybe after potty (which takes up to 20min) she can read a book in her room with low lighting or something?

[lolsyb1982]

Yes that sounds like a good idea x