So have any of you experienced this? Jack is almost 18 months old. And I think it's finally time to change his nap time. He's always napped late morning. But his body seems to be shifting. Lately it takes him FOREVER to go to sleep at that hour and he doesn't wind up falling asleep until early afternoon. So I am just going to keep him up all morning and start putting him down for an afternoon nap after lunch. Hopefully that will work better for him. Now I just have to adjust to having my free time in the afternoon instead of the morning! I'll let you know how my little experiment works out.
We have been going through something similar. Alec has always taken 2 naps a day, morning and afternoon. But he seems to be having trouble falling asleep in the afternoon now. I tried just giving up the morning nap but by 11 he can't hold his eyes open. Then if I put him down at 11, he sleeps for at least 3 1/2 hours and we've missed lunch. If I feed him lunch at 2:30 then he's not hungry for supper. So I have tried giving up the afternoon nap, but by 5 o'clock he is so grumpy we can't stand to be around him so we have to let him take a short nap. Today I tried something different. I put him down at 11, and I am going to wake him at 12. Then put him down again this afternoon. We'll see how it goes. Let us know how your day goes, Kristi.
That's what's been happening with us! He spends so much time talking and singing in there that by the time he actually sleeps and wakes up it's almost 3 and it's past lunch. So I feed him lunch at 3 and then dinner is only a few hours later. It doesn't seem right.
Right now it's almost noon and he usually goes down at 11. But he's showing no signs of being tired. He's playing. So maybe this will work. I'll feed him lunch soon and then put him down at like 1-ish.
Well, with daycare Ronald has a regulated nap from 11 til 1:30. Not to say they all actually sleep the entire time (he is cranky in the evening if another kid wakes him up), but they all have the chance to sleep that long. They eat lunch between 10:15 and 10:30. Kind of early, but they have a snack when they get up from their nap, and a cookie later in the afternoon. I don't like they cookies every day, but if I try to take him something else to eat, he will just try and take the other kids cookies. Ugh! Ronald is usually tired by 6:30, so going to bed is no problem.
I hope all goes well. Let us know!
Posts: 559 | Location: Northport, AL | Registered: 09 November 2007
I think it is time to adjust. Mine did that, dropped the a.m. nap and then I switched nap time to 12:30 - 3:00 and it works like a charm. They eat, sleep, wake, snack, eat again at dinner and are tired around 8 or 9pm! Go for it!!
Well, it's working like a charm. He now stays up all morning, eats lunch, and goes down at 1. Yesterday he slept from 1 to 3:30!!! I think I've found exactly the routine his little body wants right now. I just have to adjust my schedule to working more in the afternoon than in the morning.
Well, my plan is not going so well. I am thinking that we might need to go to just one nap a day because he has started crying at night when we put him to bed and he never used to do that. The only problem is figuring out when to put him down. I guess I will just have to try and keep him up until after lunch and then he will probably sleep for 4 hours! He will eventually adjust, right?
Hmmmm. Jack's bedtime did not change and he hasn't had a problem with it. He still goes down between 7:30 and 8. I wondered if an afternoon nap would make him less tired at bedtime but it has not. I guess you just have to tinker with it and find out what is right for Alec. Good luck!
I can't remember when, but it seems that about that time, kristi, we switched form morning to after lunch nap. I felt better not feeding lunch so late.
Kristi and Mom2alec- After talking to y'all about naptime on Friday i decided to try moving Olivia's nap back to 12:30 vs. 11:30. WOW, what a big difference. She slept for 4 hours. She has been sleeping for about 2 hours in the afternoon, then gets ill and cranky in the late evenings. She was so sweet this evening. Thanks for the great advice
Wow that's great. Sounds like exactly what happened with Jack. I couldn't believe how long his naps got when he went down in the afternoon. It just really agreed with him. Here's to some well-deserved ME TIME while the LOs are getting their 4 hours of beauty sleep! LOL
Well we have successfully moved to just one nap a day, finally. It took some adjusting for all of us. But it is going really good so far. Usually Aec goes down around 10:30 and sleeps until 1:30, give or take 30 minutes on either side. He has to eat a late lunch but that's ok with me. He just can't really stay awake past 10:30 or 11:00 without being in a really bad mood. Kristi and Livis mom- Are your babies still doing good on the one nap in the afternoon? I am thinking eventually we will be able to move ours back until after lunch but just not yet.
Yes, it is definitely agreeing with Jack. He goes down between 12 and 1. And he sleeps usually until 3 or 4. I love it. Good luck adjusting Alec's naps. Once you tinker with it and find a pattern that agrees with them it's so worth it.
Will has recently started just taking one nap per day and he's not even a year yet! He's always seemed to be ahead of what the charts say about how much a baby his age should sleep... or maybe I should call that behind. It seems to be working better for him. He's never had a very regular nap schedule, but normally he would take a nap mid morning and another one in the afternoon. Well recently his morning nap has been getting shorter. Then I had a lot of trouble getting him to go down for another nap in he afternoon. By 4 or 5 in the afternoon he would be exhausted and cranky. Then if I let him take a nap at that time he wouldn't want to go to bed at his normal 8:00 PM and would stay up till 10 or even 11. But if I didn't let him take a nap he'd be completely miserable till bedtime. So recently he's been taking one nap after lunch or within an hour or so of lunch and he sleeps about 2 hours. It's working a lot better, so far. At bedtime he is sleepy but not to the point of being overtired.
Posts: 579 | Location: Tuscaloosa, AL | Registered: 23 January 2008
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TuscMoms.com Editor Kristi Palma is an award-winning journalist with a Master's Degree from Northeastern. But she's first and foremost a stay-at-home mom to Jack, a blue-eyed banana-lovin' little boy born in November '06.
Contact her at kristi.palma@tuscmoms.com.
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