Do I have a napping problem?? What can I do??

[LŠuren]

Hi

This is our current routine;

W0630/7am
E 0730
A 0815
S1030 - 1100  - regardless if he wakes at 0630 or 0700 he WILL NOT nap until 1030 and he gets put in his cot awake goes out like a light, I have tried to put him in earlier, but he plays until 1030.  Here is the first problem, if he goes down later then 1030 he gets less than 30mins AM sleep because I then need to wake him at 11am to make sure he goes down NO LATER than 1430 for his PM nap. If I leave him even until 1110 he will not go for his PM nap until nearer 3PM.

E lunch
A
S 1430 - 1600 - Here is the second problem, if I have been successful with his first morning nap i.e 1030 - 11am then he goes to sleep at 1430 no problem, to make sure he was getting a decent sleep at one of his naps I have allowed him to sleep from 1430 - 1600, but now I am finding he won't sleep until 2015/2030 for his bedtime.  I always found 1530 was a better time to wake him, so he went to bed at 1930/1945.  I extended it to a 1600 wake up because DH & I felt he was then getting 2 rubbish day time sleeps, and felt 90mins was better than 60mins, considering he only gets 30mins AM nap.

E 1615
A
E 1900
S anytime between 1930 & 2030 nap dependant.  This causes the 3rd problem, because no matter what time I put him to bed (even 2130 for a one off when we where out) he still wakes at between 0630 and 7am in the morning, this means he is overtired for the next day. But still won't nap until 1030......and so my problems begin again.......



A few other things;

He will not nap earlier than 1030am even in the buggy, car, etc
He will not nap any later than 1030, without becoming over tired and whining.
When I wake him from the AM nap he is still tired and cries.
Some days he gets 30mins AM and 45mins PM snaps.
I don't feel he is ready to go to 1 nap yet, he can't make it past 1030am.


Is this enough, is there something I am missing here? Has anyone else had the same problem?


TIA
Lauren

[*Natasha*]

Lauren,

I know how you feel we went through the same thing before Catherine went to 1 nap. Ok how about putting him down at 10.30am letting him sleep until 11am then will he go down at 2pm instead then letting him sleep until 3.30pm 

[LŠuren]

Easier said then done, I should have said...sorry,  he won't sleep before 1430 if he gets up at 11am that is why I need to wake him at 11am 

I just feel I am on tightrope with timings all day with his routine, I never wanted it to be about clock watching, but if I allowed him to sleep as he wanted through the day his bedtime would be 9 or 10pm at night!! 

L x

[LŠuren]

Is it better to have a longer nap in the AM or PM???

[*Natasha*]

They say it is better to have a longer PM nap as this is the one they keep when they drop to 1 nap. HOWEVER in saying that Catherine use to have a longer AM nap and a short cat nap in the afternoon before we made the transition. I tried limiting her AM nap but it didn't work she still only had 45mins in the PM with the OCCASIONAL 1.15hrs (never longer). Does Calum prefer a longer AM or PM nap? Perhaps you could go for a 1.5hr in the morning and a catnap in the afternoon 

[LŠuren]

The only thing that worries me about a longer AM nap is that it may/may not bring about his early wakings again    He may start waking at 0500ish again thinking this is OK, because he will get a longer nap sooner rather than later.

[*Natasha*]

Hmmm i can understand that the only thing i can suggest is to give it a go and see what happens  I know what you are going through i was pulling out my hair as well with Catherine's naps. In the end she was waking at 7.30am then nap at 10.30am for 1.5hrs on average (would wake her if not awake) then 3pm nap ans she was taking 20-30mins to fall asleep then onlt sleeping 45mins. In the end before the transition her AM nap was only 1hr and her PM nap started affecting her bedtime.

[LŠuren]

Did she transistion herself, or did you give her a little push in the righ direction? if so, what did you do?

[*Natasha*]

I gave her a push as she has a hard time staying up 3hrs in the morning before her nap. I was going to do it gradually but i decided in the end to just try and keep her up and see how it would go and it worked. I found in the first week she was grumpy between 10.30-11.30am so i had to spend that time with her to occupy her. Plus i then introduced a morning snack to give her some energy. So i give lunch at 11.15/11.30am then nap at 12pm. The first day i had to put her down at 11.45am as she was soooo grumpy but the next day it was 12pm no worries. Some days she can handle 12.15pm nap but i haven't tried putting her down later than that yet as i worry she will get to over tired. I am hoping to get her to 12.30pm nap over the next few months. The last week she has been very grumpy though due to teething and i though i might have to go back to 2 naps but will play it by ear.

[LŠuren]

Thanks Stacy
I think I will try option 2, Natasha did this as well.
I suppose it makes sense because that is the one that will be kept (just pushed out a bit later) when he goes to one nap.

I didn't want to be in the situation where I was also having to extend naps(when he goes to one nap) because he was used to getting up after 30mins for his first nap.

I will swap them around as of tomorrow (it 1530 here).


I will let you know how it goes. 

[*Natasha*]

Good luch guys.
This started to happen to us around 9/10 months and i wanted to wait it out to do the transition for as long as i could. I was going to suggest what Stacy said and give the short cat nap in the stroller or car then be home for the longer nap. I am hearing more and more now that babies are having a short AM nap and longer PM nap.

[LŠuren]

  Now today after I decided to keep the 30min AM nap (1030-1100) and return to limiting the PM nap to 1530 (1430 – 1530), so in total he gets 90mins sleep during the day, not my choice but – what can I do???

He woke at 0645 this morning
E 0730 / A 0800
S 1115 – I tried to put him down for a nap just before 1025 (as usual) and he just bounced in his cot for 20mins, I got him back out to assess what state of energizer bunny mode he was in and decided to offer him his lunch at 11am instead of 12.   He starts to get really grumpy at 1110, so I put him in his cot awake – he went out like a light at 1115 he eventually woke at 1335. 

So here was our routine today:
Today we did;
W0645
S 1115 - 1335
S 1915



Lauren x

[*Natasha*]

Now today after I decided to keep the 30min AM nap (1030-1100) and return to limiting the PM nap to 1530 (1430 – 1530), so in total he gets 90mins sleep during the day, not my choice but – what can I do???

He woke at 0645 this morning
E 0730 / A 0800
S 1115 – I tried to put him down for a nap just before 1025 (as usual) and he just bounced in his cot for 20mins, I got him back out to assess what state of energizer bunny mode he was in and decided to offer him his lunch at 11am instead of 12.   He starts to get really grumpy at 1110, so I put him in his cot awake – he went out like a light at 1115 he eventually woke at 1335. 

So here was our routine today:
Today we did;
W0645
S 1115 - 1335
S 1915



Lauren x

WOW Lauren only 1 nap  Are you going to keep this routine?

[LŠuren]

Hi

Just to report he woke as normal this morning at 0645.

I am not sure how today will go, because we are going out for the day (shopping  ) but there a lengthy car drive involved - may be enough to lull him to sleep at srange times.


Lauren x