Need some nap ideas - any suggestions welcome!

[squeaky's mum]

Hiya,

I can't really complain, dd was never a good sleeper as a baby and now she is fairly consistently sleeping through the night. However, she is pretty much refusing a daytime nap at the moment. She is 16 months old and has been on one nap a day for about 3 months, it was working like a dream!

Our routine goes something like this;

5-6am wake

Ideally I would like her to go to sleep from about 11-1 but recently I have been trying allsorts. Yesterday I put her down at 10.30, this morning 10! She goes to sleep really well following a bf, but then wakes 30 mins after putting her in her cot. Previously people have said that waking 1/2 h after going to sleep is often a sign of overtiredness, which is why I tried an earlier nap today.

6pm breastfeed followed by bed, usually around 6.30pm.

I am after a sensible time to try to put her down for her nap, I just can't figure it out! Generally Sophie show little sign of being overtired when she is awake, although she does generally get a little excited before bedtime and we have to work hard to keep her quiet. I am hoping this is just a phase coinciding with her molars coming through.

Look forward to hearing from you

Claire

[imsmum]

You may be trying to put her down too early especially if she has been on one nap for a few months--usually after a while transitioning to one nap they can go a bit longer before their nap.  For a long while my dd was on a 7:30-5:30 night with nap of 1.5 hours at 12:30.  In restrospect her nap was a bit late but I kept it there because if she had any longer than 5.5 hours from nap to night sleep she would wake in the night.

So I would suggest pushing the nap back a bit.  The 30 minute nap can be overtiredness but if she was on this schedule before and taking a longer nap it could also be a sign that the nap needs to be pushed back later.  When I say this I am thinking of the sticky that used to be (or still maybe) on the General Sleep Board about how Tracy was able to lengthen 45 minute naps in an infant by actually pushing the nap back a bit.  The concept is that if you put them down too early they are not tired enough to take a good long nap but that short nap is enough to prevent them from taking another nap during the day-they just crash super early at night. HTH

[squeaky's mum]

Thanks for your thoughts.

Stacy - I do bf her before most naps and bedtime but definately not all. She does go to sleep perfectly well without a bf and did so tonight. The bf fits into our day so well before naps and bed but I will be wary of it as a prop and perhaps try feeding her at slightly different times.

imsmum - I will try putting her to bed a bit later too and see how I get on.

I will trial over the next few days different bf schedule and later naps. I reckon if I give her lunch at 11am, followed by a nap at 11.30ish followed by a bf on waking, that may work for us.

Thanks

Claire

[Florencia]

Hi Claire!

Just 2 quick thoughts,

Firstly i wouldn't recommend trying many schedules within a week cause that might confuse you about ehr signals and as toddlers grow up, strict schedules seem to adjust their internal clocks better. So if a 1130 am nap would suit in your schedule, try that at least for a week in a row to see if it works.

Second, if after 3 days you don't see much results and she still wakes at 30-45 min mark, you might want to consider trying wake to sleep to extend the nap. It has worked wonders for short nappers around here. Post again if you're interested in additional info on this and also check in the Faq section of this board under the thread Teaching Independent Sleep to get started on the method.

HTH and good luck!

[squeaky's mum]

Thanks for your advice everyone. We have had 2 out of 3 good days so far and one bad. I am giving her lunch at 11am followed by bed straight away. We have had a some histrionics as I am not bf'ing her before her nap but she has slept better and for longer at her naps. I'll keep it up. She seems much happier with a bit more daytime sleep.

Fingers crossed for today!

Thanks again

Claire