sleep/nap stuff.... wwyd?

Seattle_JiLLn · September 2009

Ben has been sleeping a little less overall since he's been in his big boy bed. He's been waking up in the 7-7:30 timeframe where he used to sleep til at least 8, and sometimes past 8:30. SO we moved his nap time and bed times up a 1/2 hour.

Now he usually is asleep by 10 (we do bedtime at 8:30 and we're ou of the room at 9). And he wakes up around 7:30. Then he takes a 1 1/2 to 2 hour nap. So he's getting about 11 hours total per day, which isn't terrible, but he used to get 12.

What seems to happen is that he's fine, and then for a few days he starts to get crankier, then he takes some longer naps for a few days, and then it just starts again. He took a 3 1/4 hour nap yesterday, and he's been asleep for 3 hours already today and I jsut saw him wake up, look around, and lay back down and go back to sleep. He was a nightmare this morning... just a pain in the ass and a crank. In fact on our way home from the grocery store around noon I asked if he was sleepy and he said "yes, I'm going to take a good long nap".

So, I'm trying to figure out if there's any way to break this cycle of him being a little extra tired for a few days, and then a tank up. Or should I even bother?

What I'd really like is for him to sleep until 7:30 at a minimum. ANd I think if he would just lay back down he would fall back to sleep. The other morning he woke up at 6:45 and I brought him back to his bed - I have a rule that he can not get up before 7.

Anyway, I put him back to bed and he fell back asleep and he did sleep til after 8.

And now I'm just randomly babbling...

ANy good ideas? I want to get this alarm clock:

https://www.americaninnovative.com/products/oktowake.php

But it's not available yet. argghhh...

Any other ideas? I don't want to put a light on a timer in his room b/c the timers we have make a super loud "click" when they go off so I'm afraid that would wake him up.

And when I've tried putting him to bed earlier, it jsut takes him longer to fall asleep.

BethS2006 · September 2009

i've heard a few parents mention nputting a night light on a timer, and when it goes OFF he can get up....

Seattle_JiLLn · September 2009

yeah but the timers make such a loud click when they switch from on to off or off to on. LIke those timers you use to leave lights on when your'e out of town, right? I wonder if they make quiet ones.

I love the OK to Wake clock that I put the link to since you can use it for a nap timer too, and as a real alarm clock when they're older....

greenmtbride · September 2009

I have no ideas for ya, but I LOVE that clock! How cool!

JDCSKF · September 2009

I thinks it's all a transition to going to no nap. Josephine is doing the same thing. She never slept 12 hours at night, but with no nap, she almost does. With a nap she falls asleep around 10pm and is up around 6:30am. No nap she is asleep around 8pm and up a little after 7am.

I think the key is just making him comfortable in his room. I have no idea what time Jo gets up most days. She just sits in her room and looks at her books until we come get her, even when her door is open. Sometimes she even gets up to go to the bathroom and then goes back to her room.

keri1013 · September 2009

I'm sorry, that is hard! What about shortening his nap and then putting him to bed earlier? I have no idea if that would work but maybe worth trying for a week or so...like wake him up after an hour of napping, and maybe also see if you can shift the start of nap time a bit earlier? Then maybe he can fall asleep earlier at bed time. I agree that it is probably the beginning of a transition to no nap. I know he is a little young for that but in my nanny days I had a few kids who stopped napping at 3. I hope it smooths out for you.

Seattle_JiLLn · September 2009

I cant' really get him down earlier for a nap just with the logistics of doing stuff in the morning and lunch and all...

And I do think he is comfortable in his room. I think we just set a bad precedent letting him come into our room when he wakes up. When he was wakign up late, it really didnt' bug me (and it's really sweet) that he comes in and snuggles with me in the morning for 15 minutes. He's not getting up in the middle of the night trying to sleep with us or anything. But I suppose at some point I'm going to have to get him to wait in his room. That's one thing I think that cute clock might accomplish. Maybe???

We'll see how tonight goes. He napped for FOUR HOURS and I still had to wake him up.

sunmountain · September 2009

10 seems way late for bedtime. If it were me I'd try and try to get the bedtime earler. (I know you've tried) but it needs to be 4-5 hours after he gets up from his nap so that he's good and tired. You might have to wake him up some days.

The getting out of bed thing. I read this in Parents. Make a clock that reads 7 and put a real clock next to it and tell him when they match, he can get up.

GL!

Seattle_JiLLn · September 2009

sunmountain:

10 seems way late for bedtime. If it were me I'd try and try to get the bedtime earler. (I know you've tried) but it needs to be 4-5 hours after he gets up from his nap so that he's good and tired. You might have to wake him up some days.

The getting out of bed thing. I read this in Parents. Make a clock that reads 7 and put a real clock next to it and tell him when they match, he can get up.

GL!

10 is not when we bring him up. We go up at 8:30. He just doesn't fall asleep til 10. And this is earlier than it used to be. He (and we) are more night people... His whole schedule is just a little later than some kids - he gets up later, his nap is a little later, and he goes to sleep a little later. IMO there's nothing special about the number on the clock that says it is too late or too early for bed. I'm more concerned about the total amount of sleep he's getting and then the random catch up days. I don't know. maybe this really isn't a problem and is just how it goes. We just had such a great thing going for a while - I guess once you get happy with the system it changes.

And normally, he would get up from his nap at 4, and then he'd be awake for 4 1/2 hours before we go up for bedtime, and 6 hours before he'd fall asleep. Tonight is going to be the weird one. He'll be asleep by 10:30 though I'm sure. Even when he has a late nap, that's as late as he ends up. He just lays in bed for an hour (or more sometimes) quietly or else talking/singing to his guys. It's not like I'm in there or anything. So it is like he is getting another hour of relaxing/rest time. Maybe that counts for something?

He doesn't get out of bed until after 7 99% of the time as it is. I'm not sure he's really ready for the matching the numbers thing yet. He's not even 3. But my friend's little girl did really well with that kind of trick - waiting til it started with a 7 or whatever...

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sleep/nap stuff.... wwyd?

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