anyone want to chat about the 2-1 nap switch?

[swiper]

bb mommy.... TBH I have been letting her wake up on the own and that day she wont have an afternoon nap.
And I start the bedtime routine around 6.00pm and she will be in bed around 6.40pm

[UNCMomma]

Swiper, your days sound like our's... and I REALLY wish my DD would make up her mind about the # of naps soon too, I hate not knowing what to expect out of our day! 

I would either cut that first nap short and go for a longer nap (after a short A time) in the PM, or let her nap as long as she wants in the AM and lengthen your A time before the PM nap.  That worked for us for a while... we did about a 1 1/2-2 hour nap in the AM and then 4 hours A time, then another PM nap and I didn't let it go past 4:30 (to get a 7 PM bedtime). 

Unfortunately, it has taken LOTS of experimentation to get where we are, to see what works best.  And I'll tell you, it's different every day (what works best)!   

Good luck...

Hope your night goes well BabyB'smommy!!   

And hope you got more of a nap this PM than 25 min, Deb!  Yikes!! 

[BabyBsMommy]

Swiper - I would have told you the same thing as UNCMomma.  When it got to the point where DS would take a long AM nap and then refuse the PM one, we started to shorten the AM and played around with the A time before the PM. 

UNCMomma - tonight went better - DS was in bed at 7:45 and asleep at 8:00.  Took a 1:45 nap this afternoon.

[UNCMomma]

Wooo HOoo, Baby B!   

[debo620]

AAAARGH, early wake here AGAIN,

Noah did end up napping in the afternoon 1:30-3pm, and thus I put him to bed about 7:25, but he woke at 6:10am and stayed in his crib til 7am. I wasn't really expecting him to sleep til 7---as we never get more then 11hrs but really another 1/2hr would have been ideal.

I just hate this as now I have to delay his am nap again---he seems sort of cranky now at 9am but he's watching BE and I will put him to bed at 9:45 and do a 30min nap again.

so much for shortening up the am nap to 20min, maybe I'll do that when he starts sleeping til closer to 7 again.

[*Kimberly*]

Deb, I am with you today.  ARG!!!

Brendan woke up at 4am but when back to sleep only to wake up at 5:30am (2.5 hours early) and then start crying by 6am!  I tried to get him to go back to sleep but it did not work.  I have no idea why he woke up so early, he had a great day yesterday and before: 2 hours of naps during the day and to bed by 7:30/8pm.     It is almost 9:30am now and he is doing okay, I am trying to hold off his morning nap as long as I can so his day is not messed up too much.  ::sigh::

[UNCMomma]

I forget Tink and Deb... have yall tried the 7 PM bedtime to avoid early wakes?  Always works for us to go a little early, but I know doesn't work for everyone.  Just wondering! 

[debo620]

UNCmomma,
before DST we were 7-6, but since then I have been aiming for asleep by 7:45/8 and wake at 7, we only get 11hrs around here, so I try to only put him down 15/20min early to bed at the most.

the only thing that seems to extend his nights is to put him down for his naps when I am want them to bee and to not let him go more then 30min. also leaving him in crib til the desired wake time and delaying breakfast as much as possible.

[*Kimberly*]

Hagan- I have tried putting him down by 7pm but he won't fall asleep until he is ready and that is sometime between 7:30 and 8pm.  Before things started getting all crazy he was sleeping 8-8.  I have noticed that the couple times I have gotten him to sleep earlier he just wakes up after about 12 hours.  The problem now is the 8-5:30 just doesn't cut it.  I would be happy with 7am.   

[M and N's Mom]

Ok ladies, what do I do from here?

We were doing SO well for about a week (not long but it felt nice to have a consistent routine for a week) with:

7:30 Wake
10:15 in crib, sleep from 10:30-11:00
1:30 in crib, sleep from ~1:45-3:15
Bed 6:45ish

But, yesterday he played until 2:00 at his afternoon nap and then I woke him at 3:30.

Today, he has been fussing on and off since he went down at 1:30 and it is 2:10 now.  He has just been complaining but is crying enough now I'm going to have to do wi/wo    The thing is, he really seemed ready as he was fussy by 1:30 and my mom said he wasn't in a good mood when she woke him at 11:00.  Is it time to lengthen time between naps (but then we run into bedtime) or shorten the am nap?  Help!

He finally went to sleep at 2:30 and now I have to wake him (3:45) 

[*Kimberly*]

Brendan managed to hold out until 10:30am and then I woke him up at 11am.  However, he was absolutly cranky until I put him down for his afternoon nap at 1:30pm (30 minutes early).  This means I will wake him at 3pm and he will probably have to go to bed early tonight.  ::sigh::

[UNCMomma]

M & N's mom, try the 20 min nap, it's working right now for us.  Then really watch him to see if you'll do 2 hours or 2 1/2 A time before nap #2.  Good luck!  30 min naps in the AM seem to be too much for my LO but 20 min is perfecto!  So weird...

Tink, why wake him at 3 if he's still sleeping?  Or is that the time you have to get him up for a good bedtime??  I don't get it....sorry!

[M and N's Mom]

I would shorten the nap to 20 mins and that will bring up the pm n ap

Do I still put him down at the same time for the am nap, just wake him 10 mins earlier, or do I put him down 10 mins later?

UNCMomma, I work in the mornings (home by 1:00) and my mom watches the kids.  She is really good about following the times I recommend for her so I'll tell her to wake him at 20 mins.  The hard part is watching for 2 vs 2.5h in between as I'm not home yet.  If he is fighting going to sleep at 2.5h now with a 30 min nap, hopefully if I leave it at 2.5h on a 20 min nap he'll go right to sleep.

[*Kimberly*]

Hagan- I wake him after 1.5 hours of sleep in the afternoon so that his total nap time is about 2 hours.  The idea was that maybe he was waking up early because he was getting too much sleep during the day.   

[UNCMomma]

I gotcha Tink... just be careful on days like that when he wakes early or had a rough night that you help him catch up a little since he could be a bit overtired... which maybe you did with the early bedtime.  When I get too caught up with times and amounts of sleep on overtired days all goes to hec in a handbasket.   

M&N, I'm thinking put him down at the same time, just cut the nap shorter??? (to 20 min) and then do the same A time and maybe he'll go down easier/faster.  Least that's what I would do!!  Let us know how it works!!