Dropping the last nap issue

[sszskristy]

My DD is 2.5 yrs old and has been in dropping last nap transition period for about 3 months. She would take nap occtionally and on the no nap days, she would sleep from 6pm to 7 or 7:30am. But  NW happened off and on.

For the last 2 weeks, she only took nap once. So it seems like she has finished the transition. Bedtime is still at 6pm for the whole last 2 weeks, and can sleep to at least 7am. But the problem is that she goes to daycare 2 days a week, she is extremely tried on these two days. And she won't even make up the sleep after or between these two school days(Tuesday and Thursday). So NW is still happening especially on these two nights.

So how can I fix this? Even earlier bedtime than 6pm? It is kind of tricky to me, how early will the dinner time be? Not to mention we have half an hour family time before bedtime and at least half an hour washing, changing PJ, having a bottle and brushing teeth time.

And how long will this period take? I mean no NW, no OT on daycare days? But I am pretty sure that she won't nap now. I've tried lie down with her till 4pm and put her in car seat. She is pretty happy in the whole afternoon.

[Haribo2012]

Hi on the nursery days are they full days?

We did have a few 5.45pm BT when the nap was gone especially on nursery day, it doesn't last long prob couple of weeks until DS1 got more used to it and often he'd take a 20 min CN on non nursery days if i was driving at the right time.

[sszskristy]

Hi on the nursery days are they full days?

We did have a few 5.45pm BT when the nap was gone especially on nursery day, it doesn't last long prob couple of weeks until DS1 got more used to it and often he'd take a 20 min CN on non nursery days if i was driving at the right time.

Hi thanks for replying. The nursery day normally is from 9:30 to 4:00. So maybe earlier than 6 bedtime on those days?

[Haribo2012]

Sometimes just getting them in bed 15 mins early helps with OT a bit x

[sszskristy]

Sometimes just getting them in bed 15 mins early helps with OT a bit x

Yes, I plan to  pick her up from daycare earlier from next week, thank you hun!

[Haribo2012]

 

[sszskristy]

Hi hope u r still here, just one more question: when can I know I can adjust the bedtime back to 6 or even 6:30? No more NW or starts to struggle to fall asleep at bedtime? To be honest, I am really not enjoying this early bedtime thing. My husband arrives home at 6pm, so no father time at all, and I have to do all the bedtime routine by myself. Bathing  and putting PJ on her can be a nightmare now and sometimes it takes forever! And this is my only child...still struggle to have one more baby!

[Haribo2012]

It depends on the child, with my DS1 he struggled with OT and NW but DS2 at 17 months is much easier I just stick to set BT and he copes.

I'd say give it a couple of weeks and add 15 mins back on hols for 3-4 days and see how you get on. Feels like it will be forever but it won't.

[sszskristy]

It depends on the child, with my DS1 he struggled with OT and NW but DS2 at 17 months is much easier I just stick to set BT and he copes.

I'd say give it a couple of weeks and add 15 mins back on hols for 3-4 days and see how you get on. Feels like it will be forever but it won't.

Thank you hun, I've been trying earlier bedtime for one week and 2 days now and we have 5 nights NW. But things is a little bit challenge now because she has been sicking for 3 days, she has got stuffy nose and fever for the last two days. So when she woke up I had to do the co-sleeping because she cried hard and asked to come to our bed. It is feels like a SR now. The fever has gone now. But still stuffy nose. I'll stick to the early BT and see how things going. 

[Haribo2012]

Oh bless you, if she's been unwell a catch up nap might help x

[creations]

Hi there - sorry to hear your LO is poorly. Hope she is better soon.

I just wanted to throw another idea out there.  I wouldn't do anything with routine whilst she is so poorly but once she is better you might consider it.
I see your DH doesn't get home until 6pm and he is missing the family time together because of LOs early bed time. I also see your LO is sleeping around 13 to 13.5hrs per night since dropping the nap.  Do you really need her to be up at 7am/7.30am?  Might it be an option to shift the entire routine on so that she still gets the 13-13.5hrs sleep at night but with a 7pm BT and 8/8.30am WU?  I see nursery starts at 9.30am so this would give 1hr from WU to getting to nursery.
If you think this might be suitable you can shift the routine by 15 mins each day the way many of us do when the clocks change.

[sszskristy]

Hi there - sorry to hear your LO is poorly. Hope she is better soon.

I just wanted to throw another idea out there.  I wouldn't do anything with routine whilst she is so poorly but once she is better you might consider it.
I see your DH doesn't get home until 6pm and he is missing the family time together because of LOs early bed time. I also see your LO is sleeping around 13 to 13.5hrs per night since dropping the nap.  Do you really need her to be up at 7am/7.30am?  Might it be an option to shift the entire routine on so that she still gets the 13-13.5hrs sleep at night but with a 7pm BT and 8/8.30am WU?  I see nursery starts at 9.30am so this would give 1hr from WU to getting to nursery.
If you think this might be suitable you can shift the routine by 15 mins each day the way many of us do when the clocks change.

Hi thank you hun, she is getting better now. We r in Australia so it is winter now, since this this our first year of daycare, she is catching cold like once a month since winter started, and so do I!

The problem is that she still have NW problem even I've been trying 5:45 BT for 10 days till now. And every night when she wake up, she is crying to ask to come to our bed. I have no idea what it is, OT or nightmare or SR.

The routine you mentioned is exactly what I want for a no napping kid. The only reason I'm doing early BT is for NW. Because when I put her down at 5:45, she will fall sleep straight away, so she is tired even though she drop the nap officially.

So how do you think? PS: we had NW for the last 3 days:(

[creations]

Sometimes they are extra tired when they are poorly and it can even make it easier to change the routine, my DS often had a changed routine during illness although that doesn't mean I'd necessarily advise it. It depends, if she sleep late one morning due to being poorly that could be the right day to shift BT 15 mins later and then keep going for a few days to achieve  1hr time change in routine. This way she gets to spend time with Daddy in the evening.

Otherwise, you can wait until she is a bit better, and you have a few no nursery days in a row to shift her routine.  Again 15 min per day will move the hour in 4 days.  It often helps to move the meal times so start with breakfast coming 15 mins later, LOs know where they are up to by their meals so when you move those it is easier by the end of the day to move BT by 15 mins too.

[sszskristy]

Sometimes they are extra tired when they are poorly and it can even make it easier to change the routine, my DS often had a changed routine during illness although that doesn't mean I'd necessarily advise it. It depends, if she sleep late one morning due to being poorly that could be the right day to shift BT 15 mins later and then keep going for a few days to achieve  1hr time change in routine. This way she gets to spend time with Daddy in the evening.

Otherwise, you can wait until she is a bit better, and you have a few no nursery days in a row to shift her routine.  Again 15 min per day will move the hour in 4 days.  It often helps to move the meal times so start with breakfast coming 15 mins later, LOs know where they are up to by their meals so when you move those it is easier by the end of the day to move BT by 15 mins too.

Hi, I am still very confused about her sleep now. She had a 2 hr nap yesterday, maybe because she woke up earlier yesterday morning, 5:30 and we had lots of activity with other mums and kids till 1pm. And bedtime was 8:00. Still woke up and crying around 3:30am.

So basically I've been trying bedtime at 6,5:45 for a while and still can't help with Nw. So I am wondering if this could be 2.5 yr SR rather than OT? She turned to 2.5 yr last month.

[creations]

The 3.30am NW can easily be down to a sudden change in routine. If I suddenly changed my DS's BT by 2hrs I'd be expecting a rough night to be honest and he is 6 years old.  I realise that she had a nap but even so, I wouldn't judge anything based on NWs which come after a sudden change in routine.  Some times things like this can help to kick start a different routine though, so maybe if she went back to sleep and woke up later you could begin to move BT (and WU) to a more appropriate time to fit with your family needs.