Charlotte - have you noticed that 2 of these 3 lovely ladies are dealing with the nine month issues we both dealt with. It makes me smile a little bit.
The other one is the 6 month struggle and that makes my heart ache a little bit. Only because I went through so so so much problem with at six months, and this month marks the one year mark of such struggles so I find myself thinking about it a lot for some reason.
Brodster'sMommy - after what amount of A time are you trying to get him down for his first nap in the morning? What is your wind down and are there any aping issues that you have been having to resort to to get your LO down?
sanrega - good to see you around. I'm so happy to hear that your LO just started sleeping through the night for you
Yey!!! I just saw another mom on a different thread mention that her LO spirited LO didn't sleep through the night until 14 months also. So I wonder if that is some what "common".
Lucy - I'm guessing that you put him down too early after that great nap. I went through the same thing when my LO started napping better. I was so used to rushing him to bed because I was so worried about the OT monster that had been plaguing me for so long. Spirited LO are often not like other LO in that they can sleep later in the afternoon and still go to bed at the same time. (that's not true of all LO, but certainly true for us) If you want write down your routine and we'll see if we can help out. My guess is that that nap doesn't have to be cut but you just have to make sure he's getting enough A time during the day. Also if he's been waking at night for awhile it might take a while for him to get used to the good routine and good naps and then stop waking up at night. It might be some what habitual, so make sure you aren't APing him during the night just to make sure he goes back to sleep.
Ok, Toni
I've been helping another mom on a different board and I think maybe you should have a look at that link. I'll go find it.
Her LO is younger than yours and we just upped her A time to 3h30m to get good naps. So that is another sign that just tells me you are trying to put her down too early. That late wake up is making it worse because you are feeling pressure to get her down early enough to have a second nap, so that she can be back in bed by 6:30 pm. 8am-6:30pm is just not enough A time in the day. If she's having poor naps, then yes you cut the day. BUT she's been on a routine like this for so long I think we sort of have to shock her out of it. I'm pretty sure she will get OT, but hopefully eventually she will make up for it and start sleeping through the night and taking better naps. So because of that I'm going to say, lets not start by cutting any naps, but lets see what she will do given a more realistic A time.
I think Charlotte will back me up in saying that after about 6 months LO start being used to being put down at a certain time. So they will start acting tired at that time, no matter when they wake during the day. This is still true. Lyle woke at 5 this morning
I thought he went back to sleep, but DH came to my bed this morning and said Lyle's awake (this was 5:30) so if he went back to sleep it was for like 10-30 min
However, he didn't show a single tired sign until 11:30 (which has been the time he's gone down for his one nap almost every day this week) I'm pretty sure he was OT. And he will probably take an OT nap (but I can't really put him down before then anyways because he'll only nap once a day so it has to be late enough in the morning to be able to make it all day)
The same goes for UT. There are days where I get an 8 am wake up also, and sure enough, by 11:30-12 he will start showing tired sings. But I know (from lots of putting him down too early) that if I put him down at 11:30 he will first, wake at the 50 min mark, and then he'll go back down on his own, or with help, and he will only sleep another 30 min. So that will be it for the whole day. Where as if I wait until his normal 5 hours A time he will sleep at least 1h40m. I've made this mistake sooooo many times. I can't even count. I'm sure Charlotte has also.
Now here's where Charlotte can help me, help you make a routine. I don't know if we should do it in 15 min increments or just go cold turkey to more A time. Has Isabelle ever made big leaps successfully before?
This is what I'm thinking.
Upon wake up time do not put he down before AT LEAST 2h40m A time. My gut says go for 3 hours. But I know you will be really scared to do that. EVEN IF YOU'VE had a bad night. It's like a circle that keeps perpetuating it's self and you have to get out of it.
If she's more tired for a nap you might be able to extend the nap.
8-10:20 IS way too short of an A time at this age. I'm thinking even after a bad night. She is wanting to make up for that night's bad sleep, so she wants to go down early.
That fact that she is doing so brilliantly on 50 min also tells me she's not as OT as you think she is
Hard to believe, I know.
Then.... even after a short nap. I'm going to say still keep her up for at least 2h30m. This is going to be really hard. It's really really hard to gauge A times after short naps. I've tried everything and I never get consistent results after this one. Sometimes 2h30m would be too much, sometimes it would be too little. But in the sake of trying to get through the day you need to stretch the A times.
I'm going to say after a 30 min nap = 2h30m A time after that.
After a 45 min nap do 3 hours A time.
If you get a broken nap but are able to get her back to sleep consisder that a success. If she takes two small naps then in to bed at 6:30 they way you've been doing. If she sleeps past 3:30 put her to bed later. If the second nap is short put her into bed about 3 hours after she woke from the nap.
Does that make sense. Charlotte, Charles is a lot closer to this age then Lyle, so I might be miss remembering appropriate A times. What do you think?
I'm going to try to go find that link now.
Lots of hugs to everybody.
Sherry
