i don't know what to do about this 1 nap thing

my one LO has been taking steps. they are both teething; i give them teething tablets before bed. for the past 2 weeks or so they've been night waking and i am not sure if its their milestones or the fact that they are overtired???
i dont know what to do about their napping!

they always went down at 10 and 2. then recently (weeks worth of recently) they were fighting their afternoon naps. they couldn't fall asleep until almost 4! then they were up at like 6 am instead of 7ish, 730.

the past week and a half i've been putting them down at 11. they are definitely tired at 11. they show signs of being tired before then, too.
at around 7 at night they are so tired. i was thining of moving up their bedtime to around 630. they do well once they wake up from their afternoon nap. they dont seem cranky shortly thereafter.

any ideas or thoughts? i wish this was easier, lol!!

 

i think you should try to go with their cues for a little while & see what happens. if they seem tired before 11:00am put them down when they're tired for their nap. when they seem tired in the evening (even if it's way before their regular bedtime) put them down for the night. try it for a week or two & see how it goes, then re-evaluate. it may give you a better idea of where their natural sleep rhythms are sitting right now & that will be a good starting point for setting their schedule. GL!

 

Have you read Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child?? It's a great book and yes it does the cio but how they explain their cues for being tired was a huge asset to me! If you can tell they are tired then they are already OVER tired. Mine have always gone down for their first nap earlier then most but that's because that's when THEY were tired. All kids are different so you won't have the same schedule as anyone else.
I also think that 7 is probably too late for them. Mine still don't go to bed at 7 yet.
Good luck!

 

they sleep fine in the am. the afternoon nap they LOOKED tired (cues - i.e. rubbing eyes, yawning, etc) and when i put them down (which was 2:00 everyday) they stopped sleeping. they would hang out there, cry, moan, move, play and then at FOUR would finally fall asleep.

 

it's possible that, as Brigette pointed out, those cues were actually indications that they were already overtired - hence the extra long time to fall asleep in the afternoon. with their two nap schedule, did you ever try putting them down earlier for their afternoon nap?

 

yes they just played. we were on the 2-3-4 schedule for months; it lasted great from 6 months to almost a year and then they wanted to stop napping.

todays ONE nap they did from 11:15 - 1:45. i hope it stays this way, lol?

 

Our one nap right now is from 10:30 to 12:30 or 1:00. I push it back every couple weeks, so next week, we'll stretch it to 10:45. However, I've found that we definitely still need some quiet time in the late afternoon, even if they don't sleep. I'll pile up some pillows, big stuffed animals and blankets in our den, turn the big lights out and put on some Backyardagins or Baby Einstein. They'll usually settle down for about an hour in the afternoon and rest, then we're good until bed time at 8:00. Maybe try a quiet time in the afternoon.

Also, they may not be ready for 1 nap/day yet, but still fight the afternoon nap for a bit. We went back and forth for a good 2 months before settling into 1 nap and that was only within the last 4 weeks. Actually, they still took a second nap one day this week.

Good luck!