Troubleshoot our naps

piphigirl · December 2013

We moved Charlotte to one nap per day on weekends in early November because she was consistently not taking an afternoon nap at home. That went fine and she was sleeping from about 11:00 until 1:30 or so on weekends for a while.

In late November, she started to consistently not take an afternoon nap at daycare, so her daycare provider talked we us and we decided to try her on the "big kids" schedule there, which is lunch at 11:15 and nap at 12:00. She has done pretty well with that, too, sleeping consistently until 2:00 or even 3:00 on some days!

So, now every day of her life, she is put in bed for one nap at 12:00. (Wherever she is, bed is a crib with total darkness, white noise, a sleep sack, and two blankets. She has 8 ounces of WCM before naptime.) However, the last three days, she has taken 30-45 minutes to fall asleep. This is VERY unusual because she usually is asleep within five minutes since dropping a nap. The last three days, she will play for a while (say, 20 minutes) and then whine for a while and then fall asleep. After it takes her a long time to fall asleep, she will sleep for 90 minutes to nearly two hours before she is up. At that point, it's been three hours since food and a diaper change, so she's not going to sleep longer. I think she needs 2.5 or three hours of sleep to be happy, so this long play period before sleep has got to go.

Ideas? Here are my thoughts:

Monday, her daycare provider let her skip the nap entirely. She was wound up from their party and hadn't gone to sleep by 12:30. I think that gave Charlotte the idea that naps are now optional, which they are totally not. (Monday was her only daycare day this week.)
Christmas in general has her wound up. Christmas Eve we didn't do anything, so I'm not sure why that was an issue, and today all we did was go to Target and then play around the house - business as usual. That's not very exciting. Yesterday we went to my parents in the AM for presents but came home for her nap.
She has a cold and cough and it's throwing her off. However, she's had colds before and they never have the affect of making her take longer to fall asleep.
I could try moving her nap up to 11:30 or back to 12:30 and see what that does. Has that worked for anyone?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

sdlaura · December 2013

If I were you, I would probably keep doing what you're doing and just chalk it up to her being wound up from the holidays. Just the past week or so we started doing the same thing that you're doing - aiming for one nap at noon (she used to sleep 9-10 am and 1-3 pm).

I don't think my daughter needs 2.5 hours of nap anymore, though - I think 2 hours is enough for her.

CoUnTryBB1 · December 2013

I would just keep doing what you are doing. LO will sometimes be down at 11:30 for her one nap no problem then other days we will put her down and she will play in her crib and then wine a little before she falls asleep. I do agree it could have just been the holidays and she was a little to over stimulated. When DD is overstimulated or misses her nap time it is always more difficult for her to sleep.

On a side note - the best thing about Christmas eve for me DD took a three hour nap. I kept thinking she would wake up any minute so I didnt nap like I should have. Oh well

Hopefully this will pass and she will get back on track.

piphigirl · December 2013

@CoUnTryBB1 - A three hour nap is a wonderful Christmas gift! Nice! Charlotte did that the day before Thanksgiving and it was wonderful to get everything done!

CoUnTryBB1 · December 2013

I know, I shoud have fully taken advantage. She didn't nap at all Christmas on Christmas Day except 20 minutes in the car.

ccam · December 2013

I would just stick to your normal routine. DS has been a bear going down for naps and at bedtime (Christmas night was pretty much a nightmare!!), but I'm chalking it up to the fact that he is completely thrown off his normal routine, plus he's teething and on antibiotics for ear infections.

Troubleshoot our naps

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