Saturday 9 February 2008

The Terrible Transitions

Terrible two's?? Ha ha ha.... I laugh in the face of such things.... because we are stuck deep in the middle of what I have now termed the "Terrible Transition".

Naomi has never been the best sleeper. I used to call her the "39 minute wonder". But now we are stuck in a terrible groove that I can't se ehow to break her out of. The dilemma is... 1 nap or 2 per day??

She usually wakes sometime between 3.30am and 4.30am, for a feed, or if I don't feed her, for a cry. Then wake up for the day between 5.30 and 6am (depending on outcome of 3.30 wake up). Ready to crash again between 9 and 9.30 (latest). But only naps for maybe an hour, at the most. And then, she is ready for action. Mostly refuses an afternoon nap and by 4pm is collapsing with fatigue. Then she quite often has 30 - 40 minutes nap around 4.30pm, and wakes up sooooo grumpy that I have to carry her on my hip until dinner is ready, then quick bath and bed by 6.45pm.

The up side is that she then usually sleeps through till that 3.30am wake, because she is so exhausted.

The poor little mite is tired all the time, she is cranky, clingy and fussy. But if I try putting her down for a nap, she screams and screams and screams (you get the idea).

I have been trying to push the morning nap back towards lunch time, and hoping it will get a bit longer, but she just can't make it past about 9.30am, and the whole cycle starts again!

Does anyone have any ideas for transitioning from 2 sleeps to 1?? I am calling on all you experienced mummies out there.... HELP!!

2 comments:

Kara said...

Oh gosh that is hard! Would it totally mess things up to try putting her to bed a little later, that way she would sleep later in the morning and hopefully not nap until afternoon? My oldest gave up naps altogether around this age and usually woke up in the middle of the night...I'm happy to say she now sleeps soundly!! Good Luck:)

Emma said...

It's a hard transition to make, and a very slow one. The thing that I've found easiest is to gradually sneak the morning nap back, by about 15 minutes at a time, so that the morning nap eventually starts around 11:30 - midday. She'll phase out the evening one herself if the morning one is a bit later. Make sure her tummy is nice and full when she goes down for the morning/midday nap, so she sleeps as well as possible. AnnMaree (my twin friend) has her boys play in the paddle pool, and outside time as much as possible to keep them interested and awake through the morning.

I hope she settles for you soon, but don't be surprised if it takes a while. A-M has a really good sleep book she swears by, I'll ask her the title for you.

Love, Emma