Catch up for OT 2.5 year old?

[JennVanessa1083]

So we are dealing with a cranky toddler who is desperately fighting sleep despite being tired. We have dealt with 2 year molars for months(since July) and it looks as though one tiny peak is left to break through and we are DONE! Nights and naps have been all over the place. I think I’m dealing with an OT loop bc he’s getting harder to put down, he gets tired super early sometimes drifting off an hour early with the nanny, and cranky and wired by the evening. Tonight he was throwing everything around and tantruming so much which is unlike him.

I honestly don’t know how to get him back on track. He’s 2.5 now so what’s a good EASY to start with in this situation?

Thank you!

[Haribo2012]

How long a day does he have? Any naps still?

[ENMS]

Have you ever tried a set nap? I find at this age this worked better than an EASY routine with my kids? I may bring BT a little early if she woke up really early in the morning or if her nap was short but otherwise it is always the same routine.

[JennVanessa1083]

I try to keep it at 13 hour days when his naps are an hour or longer and 12-12.5 days when he short naps. I’ll admit those days are harder when we are both working bc then we rush to get him to bed on time. It’s rare when he skips a nap.

He tends to stall bedtime claiming he’s hungry, needs water, wants milk, asks to read more books even though we read a couple etc.

We haven’t done set naps before successfully. Last time I tried was before he was 2 and that didn’t last bc I was bad at setting wake up lol

I could try it. Today he fought his nap for 45 minutes despite being notably tired from a short night with NW.

What was your typical EASY?

I have been attempting a 6 hour A before nap with naps around 1.25-1.5. Then I try to keep it to a 13 hour day so bedtime would be about 5.5A after nap.

[ENMS]

Hi! Sorry for the delay in responding to you! It’s been hectic!

All 3 kids went to daycare with a nap at 1PM so we always kept that schedule at home too. It was very predictable and the kids always did well with that. A short play time after lunch and then a nap. DS is 6 and still on that nap routine on weekends (he is so tired from kindergarten) and DD1 is 8.5 and although she does not sleep she does a ‘rest’ or quiet play in her room at 1 too.

DD2 is about the same age as your DS, we keep the nap at 1 regardless of WU times. Her normal routine is WU at 6:30, nap 1-3 (sometimes 1-2:30) and BT will be around 7:30 although we adjust that based on how tired she is, it can be as early as 7 or as late as 8.  She had a bout of EW recently which was hard but we still kept the same routine and she ended up readjusting.

Good luck and enjoy the holidays!!

[JennVanessa1083]

But how do I start?

I’m getting huge nap resistance and he’s wired by night bc he takes his nap so late!

His wakeup time is much later due to a late night on Christmas Eve. He keeps fighting his nap for about 45 minutes. He gives me all the signs he’s tired but still resists. We both end in tears bc of the ordeal.

I can’t tell if he needs a push in A or that he’s so overtired that he’s fighting all sleep.

[Haribo2012]

Have you tried the nap earlier in case your missing the window!?

My DS2 is 2 next month and I have nap around 12.45/1pm regardless of WU if he’s had an awful night I might go 10 mins earlier. I find if it gets past 1 he’s hyper and can’t calm down as gone past it.

[ENMS]

So what is his routine like at the moment? How long has the nap résistance been going on?

We did have a sleep regression with DD2 recently, she difn’t Fight naps but she was EW for a while. Maybe this is why he is fighting naps? Does he fight them every single day?

[JennVanessa1083]

HI ladies!

I definitely think it’s when I miss hiswindow. He seems much harder to put down if he’s had a short night and I put him down at the regular time or when I surpass his A.

Because of his molars we had inconsistencies in his EASY but roughly we had:

WU 7:30
S 1:30-3:30 (sometimes would go down at 1:45; sometimes took shorter naps )
BT 8:30

Then we started getting bedtime resistance when he did long naps. He goes down much easier when he’s had a1.5 nap rather than2 hours. Again it was hard to tease out what was molars and what was tweaking. I think I need to basically start over in doing an EASY for a few days to a week to see if tweaking is necessary. I’m just so far off I didn’t know what should be my baseline.

[JennVanessa1083]

Ahhhhhhhhhh

I need some insight. For two days we seemed to get ack on track then BOOM today he fights his nap for almost an hour. Could 10 minutes make a difference in being OT. He would look like he was drifting then nope rolling around kicking his legs. Repeat. He finally drifted at 7A 😬

We are slowly getting him back to his normal wakeup time (holiday late nights, hosting family for 2 weeks etc) which finally happened today accidentally. I’m pretty sure he got OT again or is it he starts out UT thengets OT. Sigh I’m doubting myself in all of this. Molars as I said made his sleep a over the place despite having a consistent wakeup everyday.

Last two days:

WU 8:20 am
S 2:40- 4:20 pm
BT 9:50 pm (maybe I should have done earlier?)

WU 8 am
S 2:05-3:35 pm
BT 9:25 pm (took a bit to fall asleep)

WU 7:30 am (finally)
S 2:30-

[Haribo2012]

Hi I didn’t do A timed at this age so not sure on the 10 mins but really! Have you just tried letting him have a nap later on if he’s fighting it maybe ease off for a bit?

[JennVanessa1083]

When he goes down later he fights so much which is why I hesitate to do a set nap. Has that happened to anyone?

I honestly don’t want to run on A times anymore. I am seeing that we have to cap it at 1.5 bc we had UT stuff when I let it go longer.

Today he took an earlier nap again. I guess I’ll try to stick to the following?

WU 7:30
S 1:30ish-3 pm
BT 8:30 pm

Tonight he fought bedtime sigh but I know it’s from a longer nap and long day.

[Haribo2012]

Onbthe day you had I’d say that looked pretty good but nap might need capping a bit x

[JennVanessa1083]

Yea for sure but how much should I do? Shorter than 1.5? Would I keep bedtime the exact same? So basically shave off the end of the nap?

Today he woke up at 7 after going to sleep at 10 and had 2 NW 😲. Totaling barely 9 hours. His nap accidentally went over; it was almost 2.25 hours long.

[Haribo2012]

Id prob try 45 min nap and bring BT 15/30 mins earlier x