Nap transitioning - how to avoid over tiredness?

[mcflumpy]

My 10 moSSS Is transitioning from 3 naps a day to 2 one for @ 1.5-2 hours the other for @ 45 mins the second nap she wakes at around 2-2.30pm and that's it til bed time at 7.30. I've tried to get her to nap again but she simply won't despite being pooped. As a result she has become a bit of a nightmare to get to bed and is waking a few times during the night and this morning on top of all that she was up at 5.50! I'm totally convinced it's all related to overtiredness. I am however at a loss as to what to do. My happy to go to sleep DD has turned into a fractious crying a lot at bed/nap time baby which is really stressful and draining.

Should also add that the longer nap is new, she'd previously do 3 x 40-50 mins.

Any thoughts?

That should read 10 mo DD!! Blardy iPhone....

No advice but bumping because I am in a similar position except my 5 mo DS is dropping from 4 (stupid short) naps to 3...

Also need advice from wise ones

Can you try and swap the naps so that the earlier one is a short nap and the second is a longer one, meaning she would wake up at 3-3.30?

I would work on extending the second nap if possible, as you know she can do longer naps.

FWIW at 10 months my DS was dropping down to one nap a day rather than 2 but it was for 2.5-3 hours. He used to nap 10-10.30 and 1-3 but when we (he!) dropped the morning nap it was then 11-2/2.30 and we extended it by 5 mins every day until it became 12.30-3/3.30.

HTH!

My 10 month old charge is going through the same thing... she was napping 3 times a day now she seems to want just 2, so I am twiddling stuff around and trying to get her to do 930-1030am, and 130-4pm as this means she can happily stay up til 730/8pm with her parents. However, she is a bit schizo at the moment what with teething, a cold, and a sudden appearance of Temper Tantrums, so encouraging her to nap is interesting to say the least. Even her loving parents call her Banshee at the moment

What about trying an earlier bedtime if she is struggling to stay up until 7.30pm? This may help with the transition and also result in a reduction in night waking. Also, I know it sounds strange but may also help with early morning wake ups because she is better rested. This is what we had to do when DD dropped her third nap at a similar age, she simply couldn't stay up past 6pm / 6.30pm.

Thanks some helpful suggestions. Today she went back to 3 x short naps so guess I'll see what tomorrow brings! If we do get a long nap I think I'm going to try and keep her up a little longer between naps without getting into the OT realms. I can't bear the thought of waking her from one nap in the hope she'll have a long nap later in the day....if that doesn't work early bed time for a bit til she can stay awake longer between naps.
I've waited so long for longer naps and my DH is quite excited at the prospect of me maybe being able to iron something for the first time in 10 months! (he is if course very capable of doing this himself). Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

The transition phase is difficult, isn't it? With DS I tried to get him to have a longer nap in the afternoon by keeping him up but it never worked - bah! What I used to do was sit on the sofa and rock him on my knee for 10-15min when he would have had the 3rd nap. Sometimes he'd sleep but mostly he'd perk up again until bedtime. I also made sure he got to bed on time.
Now, at 12mo, the days he's at nursery he's very tired when I pick him up at 5.30ish and sometimes has a nap but usually a bf and quiet cuddle is enough to get him through until bedtime.
Hope your DD's long naps continue

I have always found the dropping of naps tough. The extra nap is too much but without it is too little!

Here is a really useful article on dropping naps which helped me a few times - is your baby ready to drop a nap?

Thanks that is a really helpful article, really good site actually.

Can I ask, does anyone know if dropping a nap will in turn affect the babies ability to settle herself? The article says it could. Reason I ask is that I have adjusted her awake time during the day the last 2 days so she is awake a bit longer between naps and getting up from her second nap around 3-ish as any earlier seemed too long til bedtime. However she is still extremely difficult to get down at night. Every time I go to leave the room she is hysterical. Prior to this week I'd put her down leave the room have to pop in once or twice then she'd settle herself to sleep. It's all gone a bit potty and I'm freaking out!...

What's happened to my little self settling sleep all night baby?!!

It could be that the crying at bedtime is due to separation anxiety rather than being linked to naps. My DD went through something similar at this age and I read somewhere that 10 - 12 months is a developmental stage when babies become v. clingy and upset at being left. My DD would still settle herself at nap times with no crying but would sometimes get v. upset at bedtime. She seemed to know the difference between the two but I don't remember it lasting very long!

Thanks Hannah that's what we've come round to thinking it might be. Same she is totally fine for naps but seems to know her big sleep she's not going to see me for a while and REALLY doesn't want me to leave the room. Fingers crossed it's the same for us- that it passes soon enough! In saying that she only did 2 short naps yesterday so we did early bed time instead, went down at 7(instead of 7.30-8) and no probs what so ever, she is still sleeping now at 6.30.

Think we'll just have to play around with awake times and bed times until she settles into a nap 'routine'. Just never realised that there would be a transitioning period when naps change! Another thing learned as a first time mum

I think it could affect self settling because they become overtired. It's like when you're almost past it because you're so tired.

Maybe four hours is too long for her. But I don't know what you could do since she is dropping the third nap.

The only advice I can give you is to not slip into bad habits, which I've done before. But I don't suppose that's very helpful!