Son not napping

[LittleBen]

OK, so the afternoon nap was a little different because we had gone to Jeremy's mom's and he fell asleep in his car seat on the way home.  He fell asleep about 12:50 pm and we got him out of the seat when we got home at about 1:20 pm and he woke up a little but Jeremy laid him down and he went back to sleep and slept until 3:10 pm.  He got up in a great mood I nursed him.  We left and had to run errands, we fed him around 6:00 pm and started getting him ready for bed about 7:30 pm and he was in bed by 8:10 pm.  He didn't even fight going to bed. 
Last night he woke crying at 11:00 pm, for just a few minutes.  I went in and laid my hand on his back and did some shhing for about 2 minutes and he went back to sleep.  He did this again at 2:15 am and then again at 4:00 am.  He woke at 5:50 am for about 5 minutes, but then went back to sleep till about 6:25 am then he was wide awake. 
So, last night was a little bit more up and down sleep thru the night, but overall still good. 
Sorry I never posted, I just didn't have a lot of time before I was ready for bed.
We will just keep plugging along and trying to work it out.  Hopefully by the end of this week we will be doing good and getting to where there isn't as much of a battle.
We shall see.  It is 8:45 am now and in about 20-30 minutes my sister will be getting him ready to try and lay down for his morning nap.  I hope all goes well.  We will see when I check with her later.
I will be sure to post the status. 

[Layla]

Thanks for posting back.... & don't feel guilty for not!!!

I hope he sleeps well for your sis today!!!

[LittleBen]

Well, once again I didn't have a lot of time last night to post yesterday's progress.  I guess she worked with him for about 20 minutes yesterday morning and got him to take a 40 minute nap around 9:20 am, it would have been a bit longer nap had one of the kids she watches not gone in the room and ended up waking him up.  My mom was over at my sister's yesterday around his afternoon nap time and she was able to get him down for his nap in about 10 minutes, he fussed and cried some Jenny said, but not too bad.  He slept from 12:15 till 2:00 pm.  He was in a great mood all night last night.  We had a small little accident, he was playing on the bed in his room and started jumping around and then crawled to close to the edge and we couldn't get to him quick enough and he fell on the floor and bumped his head.  He was upset, more so from the scare I think than anything, but he's OK---thank God we have carpet in there.  I loved on him and did my fair share of crying too, I felt like a horrible mother to have something like that happen.    Anyway, he's OK and acting as if nothing happened.  We had him in bed at 8:00 pm, once again later than we planned, but we had gone to the store to get ice cream and cake ingredients for out family dinner on his Birthday Thursday night and to get decorations for his party on Sunday.  So, of course I didn't have a chance to post again.
Last night he did really well, he only woke once around 10:30 pm and I think it was because he heard us talking in the room next door and then in the shower as his bed is against our master bath wall in our room.  But we were able to get him back to sleep in minutes and he barely cried.  He slept thru the night and woke up on his own around 6:40 am and was in a happy mood and just sitting there in his bed playing with his bunny and pacifier.  He didn't even wake up crying like he has in the past.  Things are going so much better and he seems so much happier.  I hope it continues.
I will try to post this evening.  I guess it will all depend on how things go.  Thanks for posting back... I appreciate all the words of encouragement.

[Layla]

Poor baby . THey bounce back so quick though (thankfully!). Sounds like another good night & naps for you!!! I think a 40min nap in the morning is acceptable. 40-45mins is good (any more & he might fight the afternoon nap)

 

[LittleBen]

Yeah, I'm so glad he was OK and that they do bounce back so well.
Yesterday wasn't so good, he didn't take a morning nap for my sister at all, she tried about 25 minutes with no luck, but she couldn't leave the other kids alone any longer.  She got him down for his afternoon nap around 12:00 pm, but he only got about 45 minutes because one of the girls my sister watches kept squealing and screaming at the other kids and it woke him twice.  He was pretty fussy when I got home yesterday, then he fell asleep (6:00 pm) when Jeremy was holding him while he was doing some stuff in the kitchen so Jeremy laid him down and he slept about 20 min (till about 6:20 pm) and then I nursed him a bit (about 15 min.) as I hadn't nursed him since I was home from work, then we gave him his bath and by then it was about 7:00 pm.  I went ahead and nursed him some more and was getting him settled down for the night.  I put him to bed completely awake at 7:20 pm and he only fussed about 1 minute and I laid him back down and he went to sleep on his own without me patting or anything.  He slept till about 10:15 pm and then woke up crying, Jeremy went in and patted him and told him to go "night-night" and he went right back to sleep.  He woke once around 2:15 am and was sitting up in his bed crying I got him to go back to sleep in a couple minutes by patting his back and shhhing him.  Then he was fussing in his sleep on and off till morning and he woke about 6:10 am.
He wouldn't take a nap this morning for Jenny again today, she tried for 20 minutes, but couldn't leave the other kids alone any longer. He fell asleep in his feeding seat after he ate his lunch this afternoon, this was around 11:20 am and my sister was able to lay him down and he slept till 12:40 pm, so not too awfully great but not terrible either.  We shall see how tonight goes.  Hopefully good.  I will keep my hopes up.  I can see progress which is good.

[LittleBen]

Well, sorry that it has been a while since I last posted, but it had been so crazy and busy since I last posted.  Ben did OK yesterday, he still isn't taking morning naps for my sister, but he did take a 2 hour nap for her yesterday afternoon which was a good thing because yesterday was Ben's 1st Birthday and we went to my mom and dad's for dinner.  We were at their house later than we planned and it was almost 9:15 pm before we got Ben to bed.  He slept till 7:10 am, which is later than usual, but I was off work today so I just let him sleep till he woke up.
He fell asleep at 9:25 am while I was nursing him, then we went to Jenny's.  That was a mistake because all of the kids were not behaving and since there was so much commotion, Ben didn't want to take a nap.  I tried 4 times to get him to sleep, each about 20 minutes long and he refused.  He never took a nap today.  He had his 2 year Dr. appointment today at 1:50 pm so that was not fun with him being fussy and tired.  Then he got his shots.   We both cried, of course Ben was done in less than 30 seconds, I wasn't so fast to stop.   Anyway, we were ready to nurse and getting relaxed for bed at 7:30 pm and he was in bed a little after 8:00 pm.  Hopefully for the night.  I also hope for a good weekend, as his Birthday party is Sunday afternoon.  We shall see how it goes.  I may not have time to get on and post till Monday, but I plan to keep in touch.

[Layla]

Oh poor baby - I don't like the shots either.

Happy b'day to little Ben!!!

I just wanted to say (again) that if he's not napped well or not napped at all, be careful to keep him up until his usual bedtime.

Keep me posted

[debo620]

Hi there, have read all of this thread, and just wanted to say that you have made some great progress.
I just wanted to add that you need to set your day up so that he is asleep no later then 13hrs after he has woken and that is on a good nap day.

so if he wakes at 6:30am, then he really needs to be asleep by 7:30pm. I do realize that social gatherings etc are sometimes unavoidable, but if you devote 2-3weeks to this rouitne, you will see massive improvements in the number of nightwakings. also I think it helps them set their body clock for night sleep and day sleep.

if he is waking at 6:30, and fighting a nap at 9:30
maybe try 9:45 or 10 for a nap, he is not ready for a nap starting at 12.  waking after 45min is definately overtired, as much as I like to think noise and other environemental factors wake my son early, it more often then not is a sign of wrong timing. My son once slept through a very loud door banging closed from the wind right across from his room.

so could you try:
wake 6:30
nap 10-10:45
nap 1:45/2-3:30
bed asleep by 7:30

[LittleBen]

Oh, I forgot to say that Ben did end up falling asleep on the way from the Dr. appointment to my mom and dad's it was about 3:15 pm till after 5:00 pm (at least 2 hours I believe), that was partly why we didn't worry too much about the 7:3 pm bedtime tonight.
This weekend is going to be kind of a set back with the B=-day party and all, but I plan to get back on track ASAP once Sunday is over as we aren't planning to have any big plans till September for my nephew's B-day party.

To Isabella&Jasmin'sMum what do you mean by be careful to keep him up till his usual bedtime?  Do you mean not to let him go down after ot do you mean to be sure he at least is up till his usual bedtime and not to take a late nap or go to bed earlier?  I'm a little confused.   

To debo620 thanks for the advice, I think he still needs a morning nap, but I'm still working on the best time for it.  He shows tiredness around 9:15-9:30 am, but doesn't always do good at napping then, but I guess we could try to push it later and the other nap later.  That will have to start Monday, as it won't work on Sunday, we planned the party around the 9:15 or 9:30 am nap and the afternoon one around 1:30 pm.

[Layla]

If say he's not slept well in the afternoon then its better to bump up bedtime (make it earlier) so that he is not awake for too longer in the evening. I think its better to do earlier bedtime than a late catnap, which might in turn push bedtime too late....

But its still good that he had some sleep than none - & it worked out well for you since you had plans for the evening.

[LittleBen]

OK, I understand now what you mean. 
I did have every intention of getting home earlier and getting him to bed at 7:30 or earlier, but of course it didn't happen.  But, I guess, at least he was down before 9:00 pm and it is the weekend so he won't have to get up super early in the morning.
I will just have to crack down on a structured schedule after Sunday and stick with it, it is just so hard when I am at work and Jenny can't just sit in the room with Ben and help him to sleep, because she can't leave the other kids alone that long.  I hate not being around during the day to help get him on a better schedule, but I have to work.

[LittleBen]

This morning wasn't so good with trying to get him down for his morning nap.  I started trying at 9:10 am and I tried until 9:40 am and still no success (I tried to do the wo/wi but that was NOT successful at all.  After getting upset and crying because he was crying, I asked Jeremy to take over.  He did the pu/pd method and got him to sleep in 10 min and he has been asleep for almost an hour.  I don't think he is ready yet for the toddler pd or the wo/wi methods yet.  I think right now we will just stick with the pu/pd method and get him back in a routine.  My sister says she's still on board with trying to be consistant with that method as well.  We aren't having any problems with getting him down at night, but naps during the day (no matter if it is the am or afternoon one) are a major challenge still.  I hope the afternoon nap goes better.  When we wakes up we are going to our county fair before his afternoon nap, then we might go back to the fair this evening after church--we'll see as we have to go to the store to get food for his birthday party tomorrow.  If I have time tonight to post more I will.

[LittleBen]

Well, this weekend was really crazy  and super busy, but we survived.  Ben was hard to get to lay down for all of his naps this weekend.  We let him take a longer nap yesterday morning than we usually have him do in the am, but he had his birthday party at 11:00 am and we wanted him to be rested for his party.  The party went good, he was happy and it seemed like he had fun.  We had a lot of fun, it was just very hot (in the 90s).  He was in bed at 8:00 pm last night, later than we were wanting him to go down, but he wasn't wanting to relax.  I was trying to get him to relax around 7:00 pm by nursing him, but he was just wanting to get down and play.  Then Jeremy had put his wagon (his big B-day present) together and we gave him a short ride down the block and back.  Last night when I laid him down, he wasn't fussy but he just didn't want to lay down and relax.  I thought it might have been all the sugar from the cake and the cake icing, as he dove into to the cake and had a good amount of it.  It was so cute and so funny.  He did at least take a morning nap from about  9:40am till 10:50 am or so.  Then he took an afternoon one from about 2:45 pm till 4:00 pm. 
Today he wouldn't take a morning nap for Jenny, she said she tried for about 30 minutes.  She said he was getting kind of tired and fussy acting around 11:00 she fed him lunch with the other kids around 11:20-11:45 am and laid him down at 12:00 pm, she said he really didn't fight going to bed then and he slept 2 hours.  Tonight he ate around 4:45 pm and then we went for another wagon ride.  I got him ready for bed around 7:00 pm and had him in bed by 7:25 pm, and he didn't fight it at all.  He has been asleep for about an hour.   I just hope that Jenny can eventually get him to take a short morning nap, as he obviously still needs it.  I guess maybe she should try to lay him down for a morning nap at a later time, but then he will have a later afternoon nap and it would also interfere with the normal lunch time that Jenny has for the kids.  We will have to see if we can get it worked out. 
Does anyone think that I should just go ahead and drop the am nap?  Please advise, thanks.

[momofclaire]

Hi. 
It sounds like your son is doing what my daughter did around that age. 
I found quickly that she didn't want any part of a transition. I stopped offering a morning nap (because of the constant fight) and moved the afternoon nap a bit earlier as well as put her to bed a little earlier.  She did wonderfully.  I wouldn't suggest this for all kids but I do believe there are some, like my Claire, who just want to "get on with it."  I tried desperatly for a couple of weeks to offer a short morning and do a gentle transition to one nap but she didn't need the transitioning time. 
Just a thought.
Myia

[Layla]

You could try & drop the morning nap & just offer him the 1 nap around 11.30-12pm. He might take well to that but if in about 3-4 days you see signs towards overtiredness (like waking up earlier for the day or only taking a short nap - like 1hr) or waking up at night & crying then he might not be ready or you could try to offer him 2 naps every 3-4 days (like catch up). That worked well for us as well. Is he fighting you as much as your sister on the morning nap?