anyone want to chat about the 2-1 nap switch , thread#2

[texasmom]

Hey Sophie,
I have been putting him down after 3.5h A time.  So if wake-up was 6:30, it'd be 10.  Glad you're little one is sleeping in a little! 

Hi Deb,
Is it possible to get him sleeping 11+ hours at night when he has always pretty much done 10.5?  (sometimes up to 12 h at night, but that was when he was really pooped and only 1 night in a row)  I would love for him to sleep 11+.  He seems to sleep on average 13/13.25 h total in a day.  Sometimes more, but sometimes less.     Thanks for your input!

[debo620]

Brooke, yes it is possible---infact it is pretty much necessary to be able to go to one nap
beleive whenI say, may son was always a 10.5 hr night as well.....but I knew he needed more. I think that if you were to do some combo of naps that allowed for only 2.25 max TOTAL, then his nights would increase.

so when we had 6am wakes,
this was our routine:
wake 6
nap 9:30-10
nap 1-2:30
bedtime 6:30-hopefully asleep by 6:45-7

[texasmom]

Wow, thanks for sharing that.  I will definitely try what you suggested.  When you put him to bed at 6:30, he didn't wake at 6 again the next morning?  That's what I'd be afraid of.  DS used to have a 7:30 asleep time, but I think with the naps getting all crazy, his last nap fell later, and he couldn't fall asleep till 8ish.  But when he went to sleep at 7:30, he did wake at 6ish. 

Did you shorten naps more than 20 min?  This is where I start to get confused on what to do.  When to start trying 1 nap?  Collin starts Mother's Day Out Sept. 4, and they give 1 nap.  Concerned about that.  I will be sooo glad when he is on one nap and doing well. 

Thanks again,
Brooke

[rinajack]

Brooke - I have not had any success with lengthening Zara's night to over 11 hours, 11 hours is a good night, 10.5 is probably average.  It is worth a try though.

Zara does sleep a lot less than average though, as you know - she is probably only at around 12-12.5 hrs per day.  We have periods of longer nights, and I always think, this routine is great, I will stick with this, but in hindsight, it is usually a growth spurt, or a catch up from being extremely busy (and therefore missing a heap of sleep, like when we go away or something).

Unfortunately, we are still having plenty of early wakeups due to when DH goes to work, so we have had to bring bedtime earlier again, to compensate.  We were doing OK in the middle of winter, but as the days get longer, having Zara sleep through him leaving for work just isn't happening.

[jmoran544]

I've been reading your posts and wondering if my kiddos fit anywhere in here. They (twins) are 10.5 months old (8.5 adjusted) and naps are wacky lately and driving me nuts trying to figure out what to do. Dh and I just started putting them to bed at 6:30pm, since they are waking at 5:30- after reading everyone's suggestions. A few nights now they have gotten 11hrs of sleep. Not yet consistent, though. Anyway, my question is, is it too early to shorten their naps to 2.25-2.5 hours, to ensure they get the 11hrs at night? I haven't really paid attention to the length of their naps in relation to their nights. SOmetimes dd will sleep more than 3 hrs, and ds 2.5 at the most.

[debo620]

Brooke, I don't think you should aim for more then 11, just 11 at the least.
Noah always woke at 6am,so I guess I just accpted that and se t the day up so that he would be asleep no later then 13hrs later.

I'm just saying you should not let the 2nd nap push bedtime unitl 8pm, if he is waking btwn 6-6:45---thats just too long of a day. if you have to wake him from his pm nap at 1.5hrs or shoreten the am nap in order to achieve an 11hr night--then you should do it. you really need the night and day sleep to be in the right proprortions in order to get this one nap thing sorted. I think loger night ie 11hrs are more restful in the long run

[OliverRowland]

Brooke, when I was in your position I shortened the am nap to 20min and brought it in from 10am to 9:40-10 wake up.  Generally it is then recommended to have the second nap 2 hrs later but ds would have nothing with it and would only go down after 3hrs.  So, he sleeps from 1pm-2:45 (sometimes i let him go t'ill 3).  But I always maintained a 7pm bedtime.  But I do agree with Debo, that there comes a time when too much day sleep = less night time sleep.  So you may need to find the right combo.  Ds generally does no more than 11 hrs...but he has been able to do longer A times.

[M and N's Mom]

jmoran544- Welcome to the fun!  Could you post your routine?  They would be too young for 1 nap but might need to shorten the morning nap to ensure a good afternoon nap.  The 2.5-3h naps...is that total between 2 naps a day?  That's probably ok, but the 3h might be a bit much depending on the child.  Are the EW new?  Could be because of too much day time sleep.

[jmoran544]

Thanks for responding. The ew's are newish- they started when dd started sleeping through the night. It's like she eliminated the nw's, but subtracted that amount form her night. So instead of waking at 3-4:30am, then back to sleep until 7, she now wakes at 5:30am. Here is their schedule. Keep in mind it is still a little rocky.

5:30 wake up and bottle
7:30 cereal and fruit
9:00 down for nap
9:15 asleep (ranges from 45 min to 2 hrs-  ds and dd seem to wake within a half hr of each other)
10:30/11:00 wake from nap, bottle
12:30 lunch
1:30/2:30 nap #2 (usually if ds has taken a good am nap, this one is short, otherwise it can be an hour; dd can sleep 1.5 at this point)
3:30/4 bottle
5:00 dinner
5:30-6:15 baths,walk,bottle
6:30 sleep (we have just started trying this earlier time- a couple of days they woke at 5:30, this morning it was 4:30am- they fell back to sleep from 6-7am)

[NiknLily]

I have a preemptive question. 

When you do start to get fairly consistant 1 nap days but then OT starts to creep in, how then do you get them back on track if they will no longer easily take 2 naps.  Lily seems to be at 4hr A time in the am and for 1 nap 5hrs.  Or is it the case that when OT you can generally squeeze an am nap in, even if only for 10Min's and at what point in am would you put it?

[M and N's Mom]

jmoran544- I'm definitely no expert, but here's what I think:

1.  Giving a bottle right when they wake at 5:30 may reinforce the early waking if they begin to wake then looking for the bottle.  Could you delay it a while?  If my DS wakes early I try not to give breakfast until the time I WANT him to wake and have breakfast so he doesn't start waking earlier looking for food.

2.  A long morning nap can also reinforce early waking as they begin to look at it as an extension of their night.  "I can get up and play a bit and then go back to sleep."  So, you may have to limit the morning nap to no more than, say 1 hour.  Then, they will hopefully have a longer pm nap.

[debo620]

newmum,
we are just getting over some OT,
so actully what I found was:

while OT, Noah was waking early, so easily  took a 10min am nap 4hrs or so after wakeing, right around 10am, this kept him going to a nap at 12---which I let run for about 2hrs, and then early to bed by 1/2hr or so.

[NiknLily]

thanks debo620.  I only wrote the other day that Lilys routine is changing and it is happening so quickly all of a sudden.  We are getting way more 1 nap days plenty of 10/15min nap days (she is doing this herself I'm not waking her) and fewer successful 30min am nap days.  But I'm not complaining as she sleeps really well in the pm following a 10min am nap (1.5-2hrs) and so far has done well on 1 nap days (2-2.5hrs)  I guess as she is at 4hrs A in am, should be limiting her to 20Min's anyway?  Would a typical day starting at 6.30 look something like this?

6.30 wake
10.30 nap
10.50 wake
1.20 nap
3pm wake
7pm bed

[debo620]

yes I think that looks good

[texasmom]

Thanks everyone. 

Today he is having 1 nap b/c he woke at 7:40.  Not sure why, but it was nice b/c we got to go on a fun outing.  So he went down at 12.  I am going to work to get him to sleep 11 hours at night.  Wish me luck!

Rina,
Baby's coming soon.     Hope you're feeling ok.