Could you look at our routine?

[Beabea]

Any guidance about what we can change to make DD sleep till a reasonable hour. She has just turned 1 and started nursery 2 weeks ago for 2 days per week.

Wakes anytime from 4.30am
Bottle 7oz anytime between 4.30-6am on average 5.30am
Breakfast at 8.30 as this is when nursery gives it. Cant do any earlier as they open at 8am.
Bottle 9oz about 10.30am- 11ish
Nap sometime between 10.45am 11.30am depending where we are and what we are doing. Sleeps between 45mins to 1.5 hrs.
Lunch around 1pm
At nursery has a small tea at about 4pm and then at home has a proper tea about 5pm. When at home all day tea is at 4.30pm
Bath about 5.30pm
Bottle about 6-6.30pm
bed soon after up till about 7pm normally

We introduced an early morning bottle at 6am as she started nursery and this is where things seemed to go wrong. She now wants it on waking first thing. I think if we can move the bottle till later she may sleep later. How do I do this? Day time nap also needs to be addressed. Sometimes she has 2 naps if she has a 45min sleep.Will only let her have half an hour or else she doesnt go to bed till 8-8.30pm .

Something needs to change. Some of the day works very well but other bits are not good at all.

Anyone able to point us in the right direction?

Thanks

Its bound to be more tricky if your day to day activities vary. Can you stop the outings and groups for a short while to see if it does make a difference?

Generally things do have to give for a while, thats the nature of being a parent IMO(thats not saying that you should be so rigid that she would then protest if anything changes though)

Remember that the routine you had wasnt working, thats why you wanted to change it, also, they change anyway as your child grows. Youre not going to be worrying about her naps when shes a teenager .

I guess I have to give it a few more days.

The previous routine wasnt ideal but at least she was sleeping a bit longer and eating her meal in one sitting not two.

I guess I cant go back to adding in formula milk (non dairy) again. She currently has approx 16oz plus 3 soya milk on her cereal.

She is now drinking much more water than before - so that is good.

I can restrict full days out like today, but this was planned a while ago. Will see how the next few days go rather than jumping the gun like I normally do and change again. She is rather active so will still go to the M&T group as that will fit in better with this routine anyway.

Thanks for the support.

I wouldnt let the two sitting lunch become too much of a habit though, believe it or not she is more than capable of manipulating you and mealtime is when you say, not twice when she fancies it.

It really would be worth trying a later bedtime if you can manage it.

Good luck and try not to get too stressed about it all, they can tell .

Yes dont I know it. DH has just spoken to me about stressing.

Im just worried that she will be too tired to eat.

I went through a terrible phase with DS around 14 months, food throwing, refusal, taking it then spitting it out.

If she is hungry, she will eat, honest.

Everyone told me at the time, I wasnt so sure, but they were right.

Even if this is necessarily your problem, it boils down too the same thing. If she didnt get enough lunch one day, then another day she will think 'hang on, Id better have a bit more or I'll have to wait until tea'.

crikey beabea - have just caught up with this. Sorry to hear about your miscarriage. Perhaps dh could look after dd for a bit so you could put your feet up? or perhaps he could get up with her at 4.30/5 so that you could get a rest?

I've already told you what I think about the routine so I won't bore you with it again but perhaps give yourself a bit of time to rest/recouperate - changing routines is always a bit of a stress!

I used to try to give dd her lunch early and go fo the nap afterwards but she ended up too tired to eat properly and it was too stressfull - thats why she now has a snack around 10.30/11am along with a drink of water/juice and has her lunch after her nap (starts around noon) - lunch is normally 1.30/2pm.

That routine is not set in stone though as she has a toddler group and a mini-movers class during the week which are at 1.15 and 2pm respectively (right in the middle of naptime/lunchtime). On those days I do try to fit in lunch before the nap or she gets it on the way to the class in the car!! (not ideal, but you have to fit it in somewhere).

I think what I'm trying to say is that you can have a routine most days but sometimes it has to change a bit to fit in other events - on those days you fit things (naps/food) in where you can. If your lo doesnt have much lunch they will usually make up for it at dinnertime anyway.

Please dont feel you are doing anything wrong - you are just tweaking your lo's routine to see if you can come up with one that works better for all of you - and hopefully stop the early waking.

p.s dh snores too and I have to wear earplugs - I can still hear dd if she wakes and cries even though she is in a seperate room although now she is in a big girls bed we get nightime visits instead - its all good fun

Thanks all. Luckily DH was off last week when mc and early mornings were at there worst. So DH was able to help out too. He is rather good at that bit.

Well its day 3 with the new routine and what do you know. She woke at 4.30 this morning but as she has a cold we gave her milk and medised. Then she slept for a further hour. Put down again until 6.45am. Had a nice morning lunch at a friends at 12noon and ate it all. Came home just after 1pm and she laid back into her cot and went to sleep without a peep. Can we have more days like this please.

Lovely

Beabea, hooray! Keep at it, we will all get there in the end (tell me it will be before ds leaves home, please)

Frannyf - Just crossing my fingers that she sleeps for another 20 mins or more.

How are you doing?

Great news Beabea!!

Hope she's given you time for a nice rest today.

Just wanted to say I agree with MMH, when I decided to get ds into having one sleep after lunch, I didn;t go anywhere or do anything for a couple of weeks in the late morning because he was falling asleep in the car on the way home, etc, and to ensure we moreorless did the same thing every day at the same time. I explained to friends & family etc what I was doing so they didn't think I had gone mad!

I do think it's worth it just for a few days.

Thanks Freyedknot. The problem was really just Monday as I had made plans to meet a friend a while ago. The other days and things I do usually fit in with the new or old routine.

Shhhh still sleeping. Must go finish my shopping list for this afternoon.

Pleased you are having a better day today. I think the fact that she has a cold may not be helping things either. Keep at it, it will pay off.

Beabea, I'm ok, thanks, and ds has gone to bed at a reasonable time the last few nights. I find like you, if I don't get out to some activities in the day I go mad, but if ds doesn't get home for a sleep by about 11 am, he can be up until 9.30 or 10 pm in the evening. I think he's also at the age where 1 nap is too many, but no naps - ugh - disaster!

My next child will sleep 12 hours at night and 2 in the day, and will put themselves to sleep effortlessly, in fact at 7 pm they will say "Just off to bed now, mama, goodnight," and trot off upstairs (stopping to brush their teeth on the way, of course)

Hope she slept a bit longer and that you are still taking it easy. It definitely sounds like things are improving, don't be put off if you have some not so good days along the way.

Frannyf - Ah yes I have already put in my order for my next child to be just like that.

She slept for 1hr 20mins. Still woke up crying and very tired but soon got over it.

She is currently sorting out my socks, or is she sucking them?

Glad your DS has had a good few nights. Im even in bed by 9 most nights!

Heres to anther good one