DD is nearly 2.5. The last nap has to go, but I keep chickening out!
If she naps during the day, she is up well past midnight. Which is insane! She just isn’t tired, it doesn’t matter if she’s sitting in the dark etc, routine has no effect, there is NO way to get that kid to sleep! Cutting the nap short doesn’t work, I had hopes but we get the worst of both worlds: screaming and horrible when you wake her, still up ridiculously late! Once she’s asleep though she generally sleeps through and is contented.
If she doesn’t nap, she goes to bed at a perfectly reasonable hour (between 7&8 depending on exactly what time she got up) BUT is usually overtired and then wakes up a lot during the night!
I really can’t take the late nights any more. Last night she didn’t go to sleep till 1.30am, which as my alarm goes off at 5.30 really sucked. She and my husband will probably have blissfully slept till 9.30am.
So the nap HAS to go.
But I’m a big coward. I’m afraid of the bad nights and the crying if she is overtired. We had one night where she basically clung to me almost all night or she woke up. And I feel awful keeping her awake knowing she’s getting overtired, I feel like the worst mum ever at about 5pm when she wants a snooze and I say no.
The other problem is nursery. Two days a week she naps there. I can’t cut that nap unless she’s had a good nights sleep as otherwise she’ll fall asleep in the car on the way home, which is a complete disaster and means she is awake literally half the night. But I’m hoping if I can get the other nights sorted those two will fall into place in time.
Can I please have some handholding? The crying at night goes right through me. Advice will also be very welcome. On a previous thread someone suggested “just do a strict 7 to 7 routine and stick to it no matter what”. A bit more detail about how much flexibility you can get away with would be very helpful. On the two days she goes to nursery she will continue to nap, and even if she didn’t it’s not possible to get her fed and into bed by 7pm, and she can’t get up later than 6.45 on those days either. If she has two days that are different than the other 5 does that completely mess up getting a routine in place?
I feel like a completely crap mum. It seems like if I didn’t have anything else in my life I could get this sorted and she’d go to bed at a reasonable time, sleep through, I could have some time with DH (who I think it starting to think I’m a complete martyr) and it wold all be fine! Instead DDs routine is bonkers, I’m sleep deprived and I never get ANY time alone with my DH.
Please tell me your stories to help me get through this!