N/W support for spirited babies.

[A pair of Charlies]

Me too! Very interested on how to navigate 2-1.....we're a bit off from it now but I want to make sure I'm shifting his routine the right way for the 2-1.

STTN last night (til 6.20). He's full of cold so may-be that's how he slept with grumbles only. I've put a heater in his room too to make sure it's a consistent temp all night.

[sherry lynn]

cold, or no cold a STTN is a reason to celebrate   differen't people do the 2-1 switch differently. Some do the short am nap, some do the short pm nap, some have to switch back and forth (that's been us

[anitad67]

well done charlotte!  you give me hope 

[A pair of Charlies]

...and I can leave him in his room to go to sleep. Never thought that was going to happen. Regresses every 3 days. 

Sherry, if you don't mind me asking, what's your EASY like now?

[anitad67]

wow way to go Charlotte!  it is big progress even with the regress!

[sherry lynn]

Charlotte, I had to laugh.....   Our EASY is all over the place, that's why I was asking Kerrie about the 2-1 switch.

We have about 3 different things that we do. It depends on how tired he seems in the morning.

Our average wake up time right now is 5:30 AM   So I think it's time to push things to one nap. I pushed for 1 nap yesterday and today. Yesterday went great.

Wake 6:15
Refused first nap
So ended up doing 4h25m of A time before I had him in the crib. Took him about 10 minutes to go to sleep.
Woke at 1h30m.... and I actually got him to go back to sleep. He was standing up and crying. The whole nine yards and I still got him back to sleep by just lightly holding him down and SHHHHH really loudly    He slept another hour.

So nap was about 11:10-1:40
We had kindermusick so I couldn't put him down until 7:15 but he went down without a fuss.
However, he was up between 4:30-6, but I didn't have to go to him at all, it was sort of weird. But then he slept until 7:45am this morning, so go figure.

Today was a bust, of sorts.
He only napped 1h15m between 11:20-12:35
He was in a pretty good mood though for most of the day. He was doing bedtime avoidance of book after book after book, it's hard for me to say no to reading more to him, it's my only cuddle time I get all day. It blows me away that he is smart enough already to manipulate this.

But otherwise sometimes we do 2 naps of about 1h15m with about 3h15m A time in between everything

And I've been really trying to do the 20 min morning nap. I know some moms on here who have had a ton of success with this, but it is just not working for me at all.
When I do this I do about
3h15-3h30m A time
20 min nap
2 hours A time
nap anywhere from 1h10m-2h20m
3-4 hours A time.

Something that worked well when Lyle was about Charlie's age was
3h30m A time-4 hours A time
45min nap
3h10m A time
Nap of 1h30m-2 hours
4 hours A time

That worked really really well for us. for awhile
Every few days in there I had one nap days. A time about 4h-4h15m and I had some really good naps.

I hope that makes sense and helps a little. Feel free to ask me any more questions. I've read a lot about the 2-1 switch and I'm currently on the 2-1 nap thread. So I hear what others are doing, it's a big topic on the BC for this age too.

[Pili2]

HI
I hope ou don't mind me jumping in. I just found this forum and have a very spirited 13 month old that has never slept through the night. I work part time and get no help from DH so most of the time I'm at the zombie stage. Can't wait to chat some more to you all, hopefully someone, some day will have an idea about what to do about DDs sleep.

[campbellchick]

Pili2 - big hugs to you.  My ds was an angel/textbook baby, but never slept at night well (now he is a spirited toddler so I always suspected there was some spirt in him).  I went back to work full-time when he was 7 months old and he never sttn until he was about 21-22 months old (and up until 18 months he woke about 6-7 times a night usually).  Just wanted to let you know I understand how rough and exhausting it is and offer you a big hug.

[shellc]

Hi Everyone,
Kerrie, thanks for the link to the WI/WO... I will have a good read.
Welcome Pili2.

I only logged in today to find out how to start making a move from 2-1 naps, and lo and behold, you are all chatting about it too. Excellent timing, thanks girls!

We've had a bit of progress with my daughter. I think I told you that we had moved her cot into our room so that the boys could sleep undisturbed. Well, since she wasn't getting any better and my DH and I were beyond exhausted, we took the drastic measure of putting our mattress in the lounge and sleeping there at night. It seems to make a difference. I think my coughing (I'm asthmatic) at night was waking her and as she's such a light sleeper, even us turning over in our bed was affecting her. She has only woken once a night in the last few and it's been the boys who have been keeping us up. They are full of cold at the moment.

Thankfully, we are moving to a three bed house soon so sleeping in the lounge is only a temporary measure, and as inconvenient as it is, if we all get a bit more sleep, it's worth it.
Hope you all have a good week.
Shellc

[sherry lynn]

Charlotte - we have apparently started joining you in the NWs   anywhere from 1.5-2.5 every night.
I'm trying this today.

he was really tired acting this morning
so I put him down at 3h10m
took 15 min to go to sleep, but no fuss or fight
25m nap
2.5 hours A time
nap length ? hoping for 1.5 (am starting to wonder if I should actually limit it to this)
bed 7:00

[A pair of Charlies]

Hi all & welcome Pilli

Sherry: may-be the spirited NW sprite has lept from our house to yours? We've had good nights!!!!         

Really struggling with finding the right set-up for the day. Whether the am nap is short or long, he wakes from his pm nap at 45. Wakes really tired and needs more sleep but wakes and needs helping back to sleep. I think he just doesn't nap well on a short A time even if the previous nap was short.... I'm going to keep trying for another few days though, just to see if he 'gets it'.

Shell: great news on the sleeping!! DS is a really light sleeper. I had wondered whether this was a spirited trait... 

[sherry lynn]

Charlotte - that is probably just how he is. Does he wake happy from that 45min nap if he's had a long morning nap? If that is the case than I'd just keep it that way. Many people do if they don't get there LO refusing the afternoon nap. That is the issue we keep having.

[campbellchick]

Charlotte - just wanted to say congratulations on being back in your own bed.  Made me laugh about sending him to his girlfriends place so you can get some sleep  .  You have done such a great job on the GW, you should be so proud of yourself.  I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that there is no regression though...

Sherry - sorry to hear about your NW's...  I hope you can find the right EASY for him that will get him back to sttn again.  Do you think it is because he is on the 2-1 switch?  25mins isn't a long nap at all  .  The NW's are probably making him tired through the day as well so he is probably back in OT phase again.  It is just never ending isn't it!!!  xoxo

[sherry lynn]

Kerrie - it's either OT, or teething. Not sure which. 25 min is the only amount of time for the first nap that I can get him to take a second nap. I've had really horrible luck with 30 min. And I was doing a 20 min nap, but then he kept only doing 1h10m for the second nap. Not sure if OT, or not enough A time.  I was doing 2 hours A time, then bumped it up to 2.5 and I ended up doing wi/wo   Have had to do that quite a bit for the second nap lately.

I got 1.5 for the second nap. I did the same routine today and it turned out the same. Although everything was shifted forward today. So he was up at 3:15 until 7. Took him 45 min to go to bed tonight though   So we will see how the night and morning go.

[campbellchick]

Oh, good luck with tonight and the morning.  Let us know how you go.  I'm guessing you know enough about the 2-1 nap switch to know if that is happening or not...  I did read that sometimes the morning nap is the first one to go - although I had the opposite with Hunter where it was the afternoon one he just wouldn't go down for anymore.  Have you been loading him up with teething relief to see if that helps?  I also guess 14 months is a prime age for the nap switch too.  Big hugs to you, it must be rough right now!