Early morning wakings

[madame]

I don't know whether to drop dd 2 6months daytime nap. Up until now she has been going down for her daytime nap around midday for anything between 1 hour and 2.
Last night she was awake and buzzing at 4 am onwards.....she had 2 hours in the afternoon yesterday but I still woke her at 3 so she would go down at 7.30.
When she doesn't have her sleep in the day she is really quite grumpy come early evening and it's hard to get tea into her. I just don't know what to do as I don't want her nap to become a battle ground but at the same time I can't cope with her awake for hours at night.
She's really battling me now as I write...
Do I just get her up and accept it...

sorry is she 6 months?

no she is 2 and half

give her 45 mins-see what happens-this happened with my ds and i just get shortening the naps till he could drop it-he is 2.8 and still has 30 mins some days

I woud try waking her after an hour

Or bringing the nap earlier in the day

Does she have a dummy? If you remove it after 10 minutes then she make wake 'naturally' (albeit crabby) after a certain amount of time

She might be crabby for half an hour or so on waking but it might improve the sleep situation

she you get your ds protesting like she is to go down

she is now at the top of the stairs asking for milk ....

Are you saying she is hard to put down?

Will she lie next to you and have a cuddle until she falls asleep? (maybe on your bed?)

I just don't know what to do here as she is still awake and crying, I am doing the pick up put down and she jsut isn't relenting....

Have you just got the one child?

If so tell her that mummy is tired too and close the curtains in your room, and lie down and have a cuddle together

I always make sure mine has done a wee so she is comfy beforehand

or close the curtains in the lounge and tell her to cuddle up with a blanket and cushion on the sofa while you sit on the end and read

yes, she is just protesting going down. She missed out last night on at least 4 hours sleep and I think that's why she is being like this. I am just unsure on when/how old you just forsake the sleep and not go through this battle ground.

She isn't going to go to sleep if she is crabby and distressed - try staying with her and reading a book or something

No point making her stay on the stairs shouting her head off

Just make nap-time calm and cuddly for now

(I mean YOU reading a book, not reading one TO her. Just sit on teh end of her bed, or try going to bed with her as suggested)

Oh, that's funny morningpaper as I read it as read her a book so I just did that and she calmed down a bit now.

fair enough - is she still upstairs and you are downstairs? Is she calmer now?

no unfortunately not, she then was insisting on more books.....I have given up afetr 50 mins of her crying and me up and down. I have just bought her down and she will have to miss out on her sleep today. I can't just keep running up and down the stairs after the night I had last night.
I am just too tired and she does seem to be full of beans so maybe she is ready to drop her sleep.

I just don't know as she is my first and so don't have a clue really

Have you tried lying down with her? Or letting her nap on the sofa? My 2.5 year old loves lying on the sofa with a blanket while mummy reads the paper at the other end of the sofa.

i will try this after some lunch, thanks

Message withdrawn

Hi Mellowma, I think this is what I am going to do. She is still very happy and full of beans even though she hasn't had her usual sleep.

I have given her a good lunch and therefore she can have something light and snacky for tea and yes I think in bed for 7 rather than going upstairs for 7 and bed for 7.45.

Now I am calmer i think she just was genuinely not tired.
What I am unsure about is other than when I am in the car and she nods off do I at home still try and put her down or do I make this the routine now of no sleep....

Message withdrawn

well we are still going.....and I managed to keep her awake in the car after the hairdressers!

Early to bed and I hope she sleeps well tonight!

can anyone tell me whether they think I should stop the daytime sleep or not...

dd 2.7

she was really tired tonight but fot the last hour quite irratable...

Confused as to what to do

I have looked for other threads but can't find any specific one's

hi. im am going through the same thing with my dd who is 2years 10 months. she is very active and talks non stop and i need her sleep to rest my self.
however she goes to nursary 9-3 2 days and i found she was easily falling asleep for an hour after that but not settling in bed till nearer 8pm. so now 5 days a week she doesnt have a nap. we put a dvd on and she lays on the sofa with a muzzy and milk and gives me a cuddle for 30 mins. sometimes she naps for 10 mins. others she doesnt. on these days she has her tea early at 4. ( we used to all eat together at 5- 5.30) and she is in bed by 6.30. sleeps through as normal. if we left her to her normal bedtime she was so ratty and exhausted it was hell. plus she woke early as she was in such a deep sleep when she first 2went to bed.

however 2 days a week we eat at familys so her eating early isnt an option, so on those days she still has a nap and a later bed time. she understands that some days she needs a nap and some days she doesnt. she will even ask for a nap on the sofa if she is tired. we have been doing this for 3 weeks now and it seem to be working. the aim is to push tea back a bit later each week once she gets use to it and settle on a 7pm bedtime.

some days if she has been very active are worse than others and we have on a couple of occasions scrapped the bath ( part of our daily routine as she gets so grimy) and others like last night as we had company she managed till 6.45 and was bearable. i found that judging each day is the easiest. just 10 min can make such a big difference at the moment.

sorry its so long. but thought you might like to hear how we are getting through it.

now if i can just get my 5 months old to not be screaming in pain for 3 hours at night and me not have pregnancy exhaustion then maybe i will start to feel human again!

Thanks Amyjo22, that's really helpful. My situation is quite similiar to yours in that my dd goes to nursery 2 days a week. I think I am going to play it by ear like you suggest, I am lucky in the respect that she does tell me when she wants a sleep and I think yesterday was just not one of those days.

Like you last night I scrapped the bath and she was in bed by 7, usually 7.45 and she went off really well.

It's the not knowing that's the hard part...lack of routine...

Thanks for telling me how you get by, and good luck with baby no 3....