Anyone Want to Talk about the 2-1 Transition? Thread #10

[All4Finn]

I am really losing my mind.  Week 2 of PM nap refusal...he's not even 10 months yet...has another 6 days to go.  He absolutely lost the plot by 5 p.m. today after his AM nap ended at 11:30.  I tried for an hour to get him to do a PM nap...and then went for a walk in the stroller.  Yesterday I had to drive him around for an hour and he slept 10 mins out of the whole hour. 

This bites.

[*Jo*]

Wendy, how long is your AM nap?

[All4Finn]

Today was:
Awake 7
Nap @ 10 - 11:30
Nap @ - tried at 3:00 - fought until just after 4 - stroller until 4:30 (too cold, no nap) - lost the plot at around 5:15 p.m.
Asleep by 6:10

But that is out of the norm.  He only woke at 7 because we had a late appt. at the doc yesterday and he wasn't asleep until 8:30 last night = 10.5 hours.  He is normally 6:30 - 5:00 or 5:30 - if we make to a 7 bedtime he's still up at 5 or 5:30 with shorter night sleep :-( so we just put him to bed earlier and have a longer evening to ourselves...

[*Jo*]

have you tried waiting for tired signs? i know they can be unreliable at best but sometiems if you are watching very carefully you can catch them before its too late, im thinking if he fought it then it was because he wasnt ready, i know for us if we even attempt to put Caleb down 15mins early he refuses his nap and all naps for the rest of that day!

[Nauvoo]

Brrrr, I bet that was a chilly walk in the stroller in Canada at this time of the year!   We had pm nap refusal before 10 months as well.

And we still have it, like today.  We seem to have a trend of no more than 1.5 hour sleep total for the day.  1 hour nap this morning and 30 minutes this afternoon which she fought really hard, that's why it was only 30 minutes.  By the time she got to sleep she was OT from fighting it.  Go figure!
Anyone doing a short am, long pm?  I would really like to know if you get long naps consistently in the pm.

[All4Finn]

Hi there, Jo he's not giving me anything I can work with.  It's like go go go until he collapses in a heap and has a total meltdown.  I took him up yesterday afternoon after some eye-rubbing, did a nice wind down, a bit of reading, singing etc.  I thought 'yes this is it'.  He didn't cry going into bed at all, he seemed ready. Then he played in his crib for an hour - whining and jumping up and down, literally.  

He pulled off 11 hours last night so we were up at 5 this morning.  I am happy about the 11 hours but man we need to get this day pushed out once and for all.  Our ideal day is 6 a.m. - 7 p.m.  No idea how to get there hehe.  

I think I will work on pushing out his morning.  It might cause some short OT naps for a bit but maybe just maybe he will get the idea and do a nice long nap.

[calebsmama]

Hi Ladies:  I hope you're all keeping well & your LO's are keeping you busy!

I need help  

My 11.5mth old DS was sick last week with the flu and therefore getting more daytime sleep (2hrs in the AM and PM) obviously he needed it. Except, now he's stuck with getting up at 5am and wanting to have his AM sleep at 8:30am instead of 10:30am...so that pushes up his PM nap and then bedtime is super early and of course when one goes to bed at 6pm - one gets up at 5am!! :S

So yesterday I thought because he woke up so early, I could put him down for a little sleep (I woke him after 30 min) and then we had A time for 3hrs, and I put him down for another sleep (I woke him after 30min again) and then we had A time for 3hrs and he had a 1hr45min sleep in the afternoon which gave him a later bedtime (just before 7pm)...but he woke up at 5am again!!  He was moaning and groaning so I didn't go to him, but he continued until 6:30am and I went in at 7am to wake him for the day and he was all slumped over and exhausted from calling (perhaps the full nappy he was supporting had something to do with his calling :S).  This morning I kept him awake until 9:15am and he fell asleep on me while we were looking at books. I'm going to wake him after 1hr and carry on with our day. And hope for a good PM sleep.

How can I get him out of this funk? Do I cut his morning nap?  Do I just "keep him up" as long as possible in the AM?  When he's had a good sleep, he's A time is 3.5hrs and sometimes more (but not for too many days in a row)...but when his sleep is rubbish I have a hardtime getting 2.5hr A time from him.  A few weeks ago, he was sleeping longer in the AM and then about an hour in the PM...and now I'm not sure I know what he wants (or that he knows what he wants either!)

I should also mention that I go back to work in 2 weeks and he will be going to daycare fulltime and I'm not sure I can handle the 5am wake up call when I have to be functioning at an office all day!

Any advice?  Help. please!

[alethiaperry]

Anyone doing a short am, long pm?  I would really like to know if you get long naps consistently in the pm.

nauvoo06:  we're doing a short am/long pm nap and it's going really well.  In fact, ever since I switched, it's better than ever.  And I don't know how I got so lucky, but once I stopped going by As etc, and just go on a set nap time, DS sleeps like a champ.  He's down at 10am each morning and I keep it under 45m (if I notice him waking earlier, I'll cut here first).  Then I put him down at 2:30pm for a 1.5hr nap. 

When I first started this, he did two one hour naps.  Then, I cut the am nap a bit and as the days went on, he lengthened the pm nap on his own.  I never let him sleep past 4:15pm (with a long nap) and he's in bed at 7:15 or 7:30 every night!  It wasn't like that before.  I'd always try to do the long pm A and he'd be in bed by 8pm... with the odd, brief NW about an hour after bed.  NOW, I have him down earlier, after barely 3 to 3.5hrs of A and he STTN to 7am. 

I know set nap times don't work for most, and many babes at this age don't get the 2.25hrs day sleep like DS likes... but this is working for us.... and I'm SO grateful!  We haven't had a bad day in weeks.  He seems to be thriving on set nap times.

Oh ya, and even if he sleeps in to 7:30 or 8 am, he still goes down at 10 am!  And if he wakes earlier... he still goes down at 10 and I just make sure he's up by 11am so that our day is still on "schedule". 

I know things will change, but I'm relishing these days for now.

[Nauvoo]

Leath, how interesting.  We have also been doing 2 1 hour naps and it's just not working anymore.  So how did you start cutting the first nap?  Did you do it in 5 min increments or 15 min?  I'd really like to know.  We need something here and originally I planned to do a long am but she just won't sleep more than 1 hour in the am even with extending the A times.  Then she fights the pm nap and we get tops maybe 1.5 hours day sleep and then an OT night.
What does your routine look like now?

[All4Finn]

This is my exact issue.  If I shorten the AM nap I still get PM nap refusal.  And the later it gets in the afternoon the less likely he is to go to sleep until bedtime. 

[Nauvoo]

I went back and looked at the sleep log I'm keeping and my LO on Sunday did a 40 minute am nap and 1.5 hours in the afternoon.  I was completely shocked she could actually sleep this long since it hardly ever happens.  Does this mean I should try the short am long pm?  Who knows, all I know is whatever it is we are doing right now is not working!!!  Funny how when my LO sleeps well I look back on my day and think it was a great one

[All4Finn]

On my latest Nap saga thread a poster said 'What worked before doesn't always work now and what didn't work might'.  And she has a point. 

[calebsmama]

leath:
I'm going to give the 'set' nap times a whirl! thanks for sharing!

[~Jen~]

We are also doing short AM/Long PM.  We were doing a 30min catnap and a 1.5-2hr PM nap until a month ago.  It did work well for us for a while.  but now we are down to 25min catnap and 1.5hr PM nap.  Things have started changing again though and our nights are starting to get short again.  Also taking him 20-25mins to fall asleep for PM nap.  He just plays in his cot until he crashes.  It used to only take him about 10mins.  I may need to cut AM nap a little more.. but that doesn't leave much further to go.  I would love to do set nap times.  But our wake ups have been all over the place and so hard to get the days to look the same....  

[*Jo*]

oh i would love to be able to get Caleb in bed by 7/7.30! but 8pm it is for us, 7am-8pm days, which i really shouldnt complain about i know! we tried putting him down at 7 the other night and it worked, he slept 7-7!! however the last two night he wont have a bar of it, put him down at 7pm and he just screamed, got him up and he played till 7.45 when he started to look tired, took him to his room, short wind down and he was out for the night again so i think 7-8pm is what it is for us for now. it does work out well because we have a nice long afternoon to be able to go out and do things, so i guess its a case of where do you compromise?

Wendy - i just had a thought, when you saw the eye rubbing, i think perhaps your wind down was too long, for Caleb if i get the eye rubbing i take him to his room, read one story (instead fo the normal two) a quick cuddle and into bed, no singing, nothing that will take the wind down past 5 mins.