Is it time for the Big Bed?

[mari]

Alex has been sleeping much better lately and I am pleased with how well we are doing.  She has a nap 12.30-2.30 and goes to bed at 7 and is usually asleep by 7.30pm.  Lately though she is not resisting bedtime, it's just that she takes ages to drop off.  She plays and sings in her cot until 9-9.30pm some nights.  I thought that it was due to her needing the toilet at 9.15 every night, which lasted about a week, but she's stopped doing that now, but still won't drop off straight away as she used to.  It's not a problem, I rarely have to go to her and she rarely wakes in the night, but just wondering if she could be ready now.  What does everyone think?

[LŠuren]

Mari
How old is Alex?

L x

[mari]

2 last week.

[mari]

Do you think 2 is too young?   She settled at 9pm tonight, and 9.30pm last night.  No calling me, just singing, playing, having a party in the cot.

[*Natasha*]

Perhaps you need to cut back on the nap to 1.5hrs?

[Lana]

Yeah we used to have to limit Ewan's nap or he would take forever to go to sleep at night.  The big boy bed didnt affect his amount or quickness to sleep.

[mari]

I can't get her to fall asleep earlier than 1pm anymore and I wake her at 2.30pm as I have always found that any later will disrupt her bedtime.  Do you think that waking her at 2pm might help, or will that make her overtired at night?  I don't want to put her in a big bed yet as I have only recently got her sleeping all night with sleep training, things have been going so well so I don't want to make too many changes.  She still sleeps through, it's just this late going to sleep.

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

Mari I think an hour wont be enough, have played around a bit with naps over the last few months and have found an hour and 15 minutes to be just right at the moment. DD is now in bed at around 1, bit before on non school days and I have her up by 2.20 ish so approx an hour and 15 mins sleep. It does mean bed time has gone about 15 minutes later too but I have to wake her a lot of mornings this week at 7.45, she seems to have moved her schedule 15 minutes foward. On the odd day that she doesn't sleep until nearer to 1.30 I still get her up at 2.30 max and she is a bit more cranky on those days. It's hard to find the right balance some days.

[imsmum]

Margot (27 mo) has had a ton of variability in her sleep too over the last several months.  Some days she will nap for just over an hour others for 2.25 and she will fall asleep any where between 8 and 9 at night.    She will actually fall asleep earlier on some of the nights where she has napped longer--but not always, some nights the long naps  keep her awake until late.  I haven't found a solution yet to that one, but I do find even a slightly earlier nap (even 15 minutes)on the days that she has had a short night's sleep helps because she will wake that much earlier from her nap which helps her get off to sleep a bit earlier at night.  Margot is still in her crib too; I don't think that is the issue though, I think she is just entering that "one nap too many, none not enough" phase. 
Is Alex a restless sleeper?  Tall?  I think I read somewhere that 90 cm  (36 inches) is usually the height where the switch to the big bed is recommended.   

[mari]

Thanks for your comments, and Pheww, glad you don't think that she is ready for the big bed.  I did wonder a few weeks ago if her naps were a little too long, she was having 2.5-3 hours but then she started to go later and later but I still used to wake her at 2.30pm as it messes her nighttime if it's any later.  But I think that I would rather her go down earlier and for me to wake her around 2pm, but as she won't go for a nap until 1pm (again, she doesn't cry, she just lays there playing, but she does start to cry after about half an hour, bedtime, she will lay there singing until she drops off)  But as she doesn't nap until 1pm+ she is not being woken until 2.30pm so maybe that's why she isn't ready for sleep until 9pm.

She is up there now, singing her head off, and I wouldn't mind but, well, she isn't exactly Charlotte Church, voice of an angel passed her by I'm afraid, and she is so loud!!  Nathan is even starting to complain.

[imsmum]

We get the theme song from Scooby Doo

[mari]

Hey, don't knock it, I'd love a tune of any kind!!!

Well, I gave her 1.15 nap yesterday and she went off within 15 minutes, and today, the nap was very bitty, the bulk of our flooring was laid so she didn't have a proper nap, so she was whacked and went off almost immediately.  I hope that she isn't too tired though.  I will go for the nap the same as yesterday for tomorrow, that was 1pm-2.15pm, it seemed to do the trick.  Thanks for the advice girls.

[esthere]

Hope it works
hugs

Est

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

We had 45 minutes of Twinkle Twinkle and Jingle Bells at the top of her voice tonight  which also made it our latest sleep time so far in ages of 8.45 pm, tomorrow should be fun.
Good luck with nap time tomorrow, hope it goes well.
Fiona

[mari]

Well last night was great, she woke at 5.30am, and I thought, here goes, that's the end of my sleep, but I went in, put the blankets over her, she went back to sleep immediately, and I actually woke her with my hairdryer (not literally, I was drying my hair and the noise woke her!) at 7.30am.  Today I gave her a similar nap and she went down the same.  I hope this is the way forward.