Transitioning

[Fancyties]

Hiya. When transitioning onto 234 type routine how long does it take for lo to adjust to it and not be cranky cause tired etc ? I braved it last couple days.

Thus transition should be more fluid and naturally developing, rather than forcing the issue.

So the 234 comes from baby have a "good day" and sleeping so long in the first 2 naps that there simply isn't time in the day for the third nap.

But it might just be a single "Good Day" within a week of normal days (normal days being 2h wake windows, 2 long naps, 1 teatime catnap and later bedtime). Then the next week maybe you have a good day with only 5 normal days between. Then you naturally find that 2 or 3 days a week "Good Days" until eventually most of your days are 234 because most naps are 1.5h plus.

In short - this is ideally a transition led by nap length and so led by the baby rather than the clock.

I didn't actually answer.

Transition from 3- to 2- naps per day generally takes about 2 months, give or take. Same for the other transitions (2- to 1-nap and 1-nap to no naps)

Hummm, ok. I see what you mean. I was doing it as she's doing her 3 hours a day over the day and generally getting to 3pm. Then bed asleep at 7pm. As her wake times 3 to 3.5 hours. Maybe too soon then.... 🤔

3h daytime and 12h at night?

2-nap days, or 234, tend to come when overall sleep is around 15h in 24h (with broken nights) or around 14h in 24h (sleeping through). The most usual arrangement for that, assuming not slerping through, is 11h overnight and 4h daytime. Could equally be 10h+5h or 12h+3h

Try putting your DD down after 2h wake window, especially in the morning. See what that does to naps.

Yep generally 12 hours at night. Sleep by 7. Wakes when I have a shower about 650am. Except when we started the 234 she started waking more 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

We were doing bed at 8pm as was having cat nap about 430pm/5pm ish. Still slept till 7am, after lots of hard work for stopping 530am wake up.

She does on and off have a feed - probably 3 times a week max. Depends on her tbh. So most nights sleeps through - probably jinxed myself now 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

We do 2 hours in morning. Sleeping by 9am. We have tried 2 hours other times of day though LO won't sleep longer then 45 mins.... No matter how hard I try.

Except when we started the 234 she started waking more

That could be due to over tiredness from daytime sleep. Equally it could be developmental (due to calorific need change) or behavioural (linked to motor skills developments).

How old is baby?

How long and what sort of time are current naps?

Yep. I'm going with overtiredness 😴

8 months old.

Today-
650am awake.
9am sleep.
10am woke
1230pm sleep
245pm awake.

If I put her down at 430/5 she is going to scream murder and I normally get no tears when putting lo to sleep (thanks to your advice in past)

The above is typical, though the lunch time nap can be more 1pm depends on LO and if she's tired. Which brings her up to 3pm ish 🤷🏼‍♀️

@Fancyties

Yep. I'm going with overtiredness 😴

8 months old.

Today-
650am awake.
9am sleep.
10am woke
1230pm sleep
245pm awake.

If I put her down at 430/5 she is going to scream murder and I normally get no tears when putting lo to sleep (thanks to your advice in past)

What will happen with a 6.30-6.45pm ish bedtime on that sort of routine?

I would be happy for bedtime with that. But would that mean early wakeup? My Oh thinks that's too early of bedtime. I personally don't 😂

We have been doing 7pm sleeping when woken 230/3 last few days. But overtiredness unless she is adjusting to it?

Would baby be ok with that sort of bedtime? Or is that where the grumpiness comes from?

6.30-6.45pm bedtime is certainly in the range for a 6.50am wake up that went with your day today. I wouldn't say it's too early for your current routine.

If baby has a tendency to wakeful early mornings (like 4am-6am) then I can see good reason for keeping the third nap and pushing bedtime much later. But on the face of it with your 6.50am wake up and assuming 12h overnight sleep, then I'd suggest a 6.30-7pm bedtime.

She would be fine. She doesnt have an issue when we put her to bed, I have worked hard on bedtime again thanks to all your advice 😂

She used to do that, then we put bedtime to 8pm. No idea if she do it now 🤷🏼‍♀️

Trial and error I guess. Thank you fate xx 🥰

So @fatedestiny we had a great night. Bed at 645pm. Sleep by 7pm. Woke at 10pm as fireworks going crazy, even woke me. Bit of a cuddle with oh. And she slept through until 550am, left her as she was content (was going to give her half hour and get up) and she went back to sleep about 615am and currently still sleeping from what I can see.

Would you suggest pushing a later bedtime by 30mins or so as maybe she will creep it earlier. Which been problem in past.... 🤔

Rather that just looking at bedtime, the idea would be to push all daytime naps by a bit, so the extra long awake time isn't all clumped together in the 3pm plus time.

You could push morning nap a bit later, then push afternoon nap a bit more later. Nothing too much to induce screaming overtirednness, but maybe 15-30 mins later if baby can manage it. Baby might manage up to an hour later if you're busy, it depends how baby is feeling that day (and how your night was).

In my view the ideal bedtime to aim for at this age is 8.30pm (assuming a 7.30am wake is ok in the morning). So I wouldn't be stressed by a 9pm bedtime, but wouldn't be happy with a bedtime before 8pm. But that's just me personally, it depends what you're aiming for.

Thanks fatedestiny 😊

@fatedestiny I have a quick question if you don't mind please 😁 I didn't feel it needs to start a new thread.

My LO can do 1.20mins to 130mins but Is clearly still tired so I resettle at this point. Problem is I usually have to transition her into the 3rd cycle - I usually hold her bum and tap lightly. Am I doing it wrong so to speak? As I thought if she can link cycles I wonder why I need to help her into the third?

Hope that makes sense.

Is she not needing a resettle before that 2h (ish) point?

If not, I'd suggest that is her natural wake up time from the nap. Unless she's having an especially overtired day, I wouldn't extend past any natural wake up time past 2h.

I forgot to address the fact that she's still tired when waking. I'd suggest tgis is one of two things.

Either the rest of her daytime routine isn't quite right yet and needs tweaking. So it's not that the individual nap needs to be longer but that other nap(s) need to be longer, or the nap needed to be earlier or later or a different wake window.

The other alternate is that nothing needs changing - maybe she is just the type who wakes up grumpy sometimes. Some people do, they just need half an hour quiet time without doing anything to "come round" before their mood improves.

So at the 1hr 20mins she wakes, crying. Go in pick her up and she falls back to sleep in my arms almost instantly, so I put her down and resettle in cot 🤷🏼‍♀️ doesn't need resettling before this point.... 🤔 She lightly wakes at the 45 mins. Grabs a dummy and goes back to sleep.

It's such a guessing game with babies 😂

Thank you for replying @fatedestiny 😊

Sorry, I thought you meant 120min-130min. Did you mean 1h20m-1h30m? That changes things, because that's right on the cusp of resettle or not.

I tend to suggest don't resettle past 90 minutes, so 1h30m nap, just consider that the natural wake up time and adjust routine accordingly.

1h20m is just less than that point, so it's not as cut and dry. I probably would try to resettle, especially if you're on the second nap of the day and the first wasn't long enough either.

Whoops my error. Sorry nope 1 hours 20 to 1 hr 30mins.

Yep it's on the second nap and first nap is usually only hour long. And normally sitting at 250pm when she needs the resettle. I don't want an early bedtime 😂 with the 530am wake ups again 😂

Thanks fatedestiny makes sense. Think i will resettle at this point and see how it goes.