OMG........................pleade join me in a happy dance! UPDATED again p.3

[yaya]

how can I fight the overtieredness? He still finds nap hard to fall asleep and by the time he goes to sleep he is beside himself... do u think getting him into bed earlier will help? or would he fall asleep at the usual time anyway?

[Messa]

Prob is he takes 1 hr to go to sleep, cant really get him into bed any earlier than 12.30. I'm hoping he'll get a bit quicker a t falling asleep for the nap.

Why can't you get him to bed earlier?  This may be what is perpetuating the over tiredness...his A time is too long.  I would suggest going NO MORE than 5 hrs between sleeps and with him being overtired I might even try 4.5hrs KWIM. 
So for example
Wake 6:00
Nap 10:30-11 (hopefully 2.5hrs)
1-1:30 Wake
Bed 6:-6:30
HTH

[yaya]

thanx! he really isnt ready foe sleep at 10.30 and tbh I treat 6 am as an early wakeup, I dont want it to be our routine! it's really not possible either to change bedtime, other than a one off if he's very tired but 7.30 seems to work well for us.. I will try to get him into bed at 12.15 ish so even if he takes 1 hr to go to sleep it's still a reasonable time

[Messa]

Well you have to do what works for your family and I totally understand that.  My thoughts were that because of the overtiredness he is waking early it is something that I have seen with my DD that the longer her day and how unbalanced her day was the earlier she wakes, especially when we were doing the 2-1 transition. So my thought was to get a nice routine down and hopefully that will correct the early wakings.  Of course you don't want to be waking at 6am!!  And treating it as an EW is great but it is still too long for him to go between sleeps KWIM. 
Here is what our schedule looks like after her 2-1 transition, maybe it can help you.
7:30-8:30am Wake
1:00-3:00pm Nap
8:00pm Start bed routine
8:20ishpm in bed
8:30ishpm asleep
Hope it all works out for you!!

[yaya]

thanx!
I had him down at 12.30 for his nap and it went sooo much better...he chatted very happily for almost 40mins then went to sleep, I woke him after 2 hrs! keep ur fingers crossed for us!
Thanx agaiN!|

[Messa]

Yeah I am glad you are seeing some changes keep up the good work.  Dont be afraid to tweak here and there until you get the results you want.

[yaya]

AArgggggggggggghhhhhhh, after yesteday's nap success, today was awful it took over 1 hr!
So annoying i thought we were getting somewhere..why does he find it so hard to unwind?
So i put him down for his nap and sat on my usual chair, he was happy and relaxed, started babbling, same as yesterday then got more and more hyped up to the point he was running up and down in cot I said 'thats enough go to sleep' and he layed down. i had to do this 3 times over the 1 hr . I also tried to leave the room to see if it was me being a distraction but his antics got worse! eventually i went in and said 'thats enough' with a very stern voice and he layed down and went to sleep in mins.....where have i gone wrong? he seems to to do this when he is oevrtired but he wasnt overtired to start with (gentle babbling)

Any advice anyone???

[Shdef]

I think you did really well... Have you tried NOT to stay in the room with him?  mean in general? he might be ready for that soon, maybe not yet though. has he ever went to sleep without you in the room at all?

[yaya]

thanx steffi! yes he has, he does for bedtime now since the sleep training...i think this much too altho he wasnt taking any notice of me when i was in there

[Colin Macs Mom]

Colin does the same thing sometimes Michelle - we always just leave and he does his thing and then lays down and goes to sleep. I think it comes with the spirited territory.    I often do the stern voice thing too and it works fine.

[yaya]

how long does he do it for Jess? t it was over 1 hr today and he was clearly tired, he'd been swimming too!

[Colin Macs Mom]

Well granted I don't think it's ever been an hour. But there have been times of 30/45 min but not very much like that anymore.

[Messa]

  If kalebs eyes close in a car or stroller, p retty much means disaster at nap, even for 2 mins. Totally sucks. 

My DD is the EXACT same way 

My DD sometimes gets wound up before a sleep and she kicks the wall    It usually doesn't last too long but if it does it IS usually because of being overtired.  I think that once you get your schudule ironed out you will be able to tell is signs etc.  Just keep with it and try to move nap earlier.  Good Luck!!

[Shdef]

Same here Stacy. As if A-time starts the minute he opened his eyes, even when it was a supershort nap. Odd.

[yaya]

yep, same here, I NEVER let T fall asleep in the car before a nap...gives a whole new meaning to the term 'power nap' LOL!!!
well I can't believe my luck but today I put him down for his nap walked out and he chatted for 15 mins then went to sleep It may be a combination of diff factors: me not being in the room , less overtired as got him down a good 20mins before usual time...who knows! Fact is DP is making lunch and i am so shocked with the 'me' time that am I... painting my nails!!

thanx girls, will keep u all posted, if this goes well I shall eb asking to be toddler sleep mod LOL lord knows i have the experience!!!