My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler.

Sleep

13.5mo driving me mad with naps

3 replies

Needsweetstosurvive · 23/05/2015 14:14

I'm desperately trying to get my DS to sort his naps out but he just does the opposite to what I think he would do! We have been trying to transition to one nap for weeks now since he started being able to go for longer in the morning and was fighting PM nap. When he was having a PM nap he wouldn't go to sleep at bedtime until gone 8pm. He wakes between 6 - 6.30am and has been going down for nap at 10.30, I have been delaying it gradually and has worked OK, he will usually sleep for 1.5 - 2hrs and have an early bed time. For the last few days I have delayed nap until 10.45, he has slept for 45mins and woken, he is still tired but wants to get up and after trying to get him back to sleep for 30mins I give up. This means he has another nap of 45 mins in the PM so back to late bedtime and basically less sleep overall. Why is he doing this?! My eldest transitioned so easily! What can I do? I'm trying to 'go with the flow' but it really is irritating me!

OP posts:
Report
Needsweetstosurvive · 23/05/2015 15:40

And today napped 10.45am until 11.30 and has refused an afternoon nap as well. Why?!

OP posts:
Report
FATEdestiny · 23/05/2015 16:28

How well does he settle to sleep generally?

If he settles OK all I can recommend is getting to him ASAP and re-settling and quickly as possible.

If he absolutely refuses to go back to sleep, then establishing 'quiet time' has some value. So when he wakes up instead of battling to get him back to sleep you change tack and enforce that while he doesn't have to sleep if he doesn't want to, that he will have to lie quietly in his cot for a set period of time.

It is difficult for a child this age to have any understanding of time passing. But teaching him that when he wakes from his lunchtime nap that you will expect of him that he will stay in his cot and play quietly for a while. Start off with just a few minutes, lengthening to half an hour or so.

The long term idea with establishing 'quiet time but not sleeping' is that ultimately it leads to the child knowing that when they wake they will not get up immediately as so will learn that if still tired they can doze back off (assuming the child is self settling, that is).

That all sounds rather more complicated than it actually is. Given that your son is in the middle of transitioning, his sleep is bound to be all over the place and so just waiting it out may be all that you need to do.

Report
Needsweetstosurvive · 23/05/2015 17:33

He settles very easily, I can sometimes get him back to sleep but not always. It's particularly harder in the weekends as he can hear my eldest playing downstairs so wants to join him! We have been working on quiet time in cot, he lays there and plays with his owl comfort toy but the last few days he has been waking up crying straight away, which I know means he is still tired. Thanks for your reply, I guess we will plod on until he extends them. One day last week I got a 10.30 until 1pm nap out of him, it was great! He had been up teething the night before though so was pretty knackered. Just wish he would be a bit more consistent. I'm studying for a degree so need to know that when he naps it will be for a reliably longish length so I can get some work in without stopping and starting. Oh well!

OP posts:
Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.