Hi all,
I posted about 6 weeks ago about my LOs sleep habits and how bed time was getting later and later, got some great advice and managed to stay on 2 naps for another month, with the odd 1 nap day thrown in when he woke after 7am(rare.)
Anyway, we were able to continue the 2 naps but it's been more and more challenging and bedtime was getting as late as 10pm which meant LO was getting only 8.5 hours overnight. So I decided I can't hold on to the 2 naps any longer.
We have had 4 successful 1 nap days, 1 unsuccessful so far (not in a row) yesterday I pushed him to 4 hours awake until 1st nap and he slept only 45 minutes, so we had to have a 2nd nap... 3 hours 45 is the sweet spot I've found. However, today he woke 6.30, napped 10.10-12.20 and was asleep for 7.
My plan is to push the nap back once established but for now, 4 hours = OT so it's 3hours45 to 1st nap, which isn't ideally, especially on a 6am wake day.
I'm wondering what others have done in this situation? I understand they shouldn't be awake longer than 6 hours at this age (he's 17 months) and today was awake for 6 hours 40 minutes before bed so am now expecting night wakings and early waking, based on what I've read. But I'm not sure what else I can do. Surely it's better to have a grumpy baby near bedtime than for the whole day because he was too tired for his nap?
How many days before increasing 1st wake window to try again? Will the longer stretch at bedtime really do him harm? He has been used to a 345 schedule so always longer before bed. Will it be detrimental to the transition to throw 2 nap days into the mix when needed? How long does this transition usually take?
I have always followed his lead but this time I think he needs a little help because his nighttime sleep is getting less and less and ultimately, eventually he will only be sleeping at nighttime. It seems counterproductive to continue letting him sleep for 3 hours a day when he's only having 8 overnight.
As a side note, on 2 nap days he usually totals 11.5-12hours sleep. On each of the 4 successful 1 nap days he has totalled over 13 hours sleep, 2.5 of those in the day, so he is definately better off on 1 nap, the issue I have is him waking closer to 6 than 7. If he woke at 7 we would pretty much be where we need to be.
I hope this makes sense and I haven't rambled too much lol