More sleep angst!

DS is a week shy of 17 months. Yesterday he did not nap until about
3.30pm. He was up again at 5.30pm and stayed up until - I don't know -
well after midnight. He woke at about 7.30am (not counting his usual
middle of the night waking to feed). It is now 2.50pm and he has not yet
napped. I feel like I have done nothing for the past two days but try to
get him to sleep. We have done EVERYTHING I can think of, but he keeps
bouncing back. In fact, he hasn't really closed his eyes at all, and seems
alert and energetic.

He's not a big sleeper at the best of times. His routine (ha!- we try)
usually consists of a nap around 10.30 or 11am to 12 or 1pm, bed somewhere
around 8.30-10pm (we aim for 7.30) and up at 7.30am after 1 night waking.
Mostly he is nursed or danced to sleep (Nat King Cole often does the trick).

He doesn't seem to be showing any other signs of teething (he's just
expecting the last four. When do they usually arrive?) and doesn't show
any sign of being in pain. Any ideas?

Better go try something else...

Libby

I am thinking if he doesn't show any signs of being tired, then maybe
that's enough sleep for him. I guess every child is different. Maybe
your child does not need to nap so often. My nephew woke up at 7 am, had
a nap at 12 till 1, then went to bed around 8 30pm. He seemed to be
doing real ok. He was always alert, but just didn't need too much sleep.

Mona

Libby Macdonald wrote:

DS is a week shy of 17 months. Yesterday he did not nap until about
3.30pm. He was up again at 5.30pm and stayed up until - I don't know -
well after midnight. He woke at about 7.30am (not counting his usual
middle of the night waking to feed). It is now 2.50pm and he has not yet
napped. I feel like I have done nothing for the past two days but try to
get him to sleep. We have done EVERYTHING I can think of, but he keeps
bouncing back. In fact, he hasn't really closed his eyes at all, and seems
alert and energetic.

He's not a big sleeper at the best of times. His routine (ha!- we try)
usually consists of a nap around 10.30 or 11am to 12 or 1pm, bed somewhere
around 8.30-10pm (we aim for 7.30) and up at 7.30am after 1 night waking.
Mostly he is nursed or danced to sleep (Nat King Cole often does the trick).

He doesn't seem to be showing any other signs of teething (he's just
expecting the last four. When do they usually arrive?) and doesn't show
any sign of being in pain. Any ideas?

Better go try something else...

Libby

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 17:26:05 +0000, zolw wrote:

I am thinking if he doesn't show any signs of being tired, then maybe
that's enough sleep for him. I guess every child is different. Maybe your
child does not need to nap so often. My nephew woke up at 7 am, had a nap
at 12 till 1, then went to bed around 8 30pm. He seemed to be doing real
ok. He was always alert, but just didn't need too much sleep.

Mona

Yeah, I think you're right. Thanks for the reassurance! His spartan sleep
patterns have been a nagging worry, I guess, leading me to over-react as
soon as they are further disrupted. Usually I have no complaints about the
time he spends sleeping, I just wish I could get him to do it in a
predictable manner. As a single parent, I really value nap time. I think
if I knew when it was going to be, and for how long, I could get more done.

Anyway, he seems to be back to his old ways and I think I felt bumps under
his gum, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was the problem. Thanks for
your reply!

Libby

zolw wrote in message news:Nom4c.17528$YG.170618@attbi_s01...
I am thinking if he doesn't show any signs of being tired, then maybe
that's enough sleep for him. I guess every child is different. Maybe
your child does not need to nap so often.

Maybe. Is he very cranky during the day?

My DD (14 mos) has become very difficult to get to sleep for naps, but
it's clear that she REALLY needs more daytime sleep. She falls apart a
lot starting around mid-afternoon if she hasn't had a good nap. The
other day, she, somehow, took a 3-hour nap, and she was like a
different child that afternoon and evening -- no tantrums every time
something didn't go her way; no yelling at me through the entire
dinnertime, etc. But usually, after I nurse her into a deep sleep, she
pops up when I try to put her down in the crib, and I admit that I
don't have the patience anymore to fuss over it. I give it a try and
if she pops up, I give up. I sometimes try again an hour later, but 15
mins is about the most I will spend trying to get her down at any one
time -- more than that is ridiculous, I think. Just go to sleep if
you're so tired!!

But my DH has been begging me to make it more of a priority, as she is
a bear to deal with in the late afternoon and early evening, when he
is home from work.

On Sun, 14 Mar 2004 19:49:54 -0800, Nevermind wrote:

zolw wrote in message
news:Nom4c.17528$YG.170618@attbi_s01...
I am thinking if he doesn't show any signs of being tired, then maybe
that's enough sleep for him. I guess every child is different. Maybe
your child does not need to nap so often.

Maybe. Is he very cranky during the day?

He has his moments, but I'd have to say mainly no. Usually when he starts
getting cranky he does go to sleep.

Last night was insane. Not normal, but not that unusual. After napping
only half an hour during the day, he stayed up until about 10.30pm. It
went a little something like this:

6pm - dinner
6.30 - bath
7 - stories (2)
7.30 - DS makes it clear that he wants to lie down in my bed (we mostly
co-sleep). He's very happy, excited. We nurse for about 30 mins with him
getting increasingly wriggly.
8 - He goes and gets a ball which he starts throwing at me. We try various
things including some quiet cot time, but he ends up bouncing from corner
to corner of his cot like a wrestler and starts climbing out. We dance for
a bit and then nurse some more.
8.30 - I think he's almost asleep when he unlatches and announces "cat
meow dog woof"
8.45 - We've been through all the animal noises he knows a couple of times
and he seems to drift off to sleep. I stay very still. He slithers of the
bed and walks away. He might be teething. I give him a dose of Panadol.
9 - We are nursing again and he seems to be relaxing when suddenly he
starts blowing rasberries on my tummy. I can't help laughing - it tickles.
9.15 - Another promising attempt at sleep is interrupted when he starts
pointing to and naming his features - "nose, eyes, mouth..."
9.30 - I call my mother. She tells me to be boring and to have my dinner
already. DS is crawling around the floor like a crazy thing barking and
panting like a dog.
9.50 - I leave DS reading a book while I put a frozen dinner in the
microwave (DS had steak and veg, but I can't be bothered cooking at this
point).
9.55 - DS starts showing me his book. Points out the cat, dog, moon, and
car in the picture he is looking at.
10 - DS tells me not to put my fingers in the door jam by pointing and
saying "no, no, no." He closes the door and tries to open it again but
stubs his toe. He cries briefly. We nurse and then dance to sleep.
10.30 - DS is asleep and my dinner is cold.

Sorry about the length of that. I just had to unload. He HAS to be
over-tired but he's completely unsinkable. I don't know what to do. Of
course, he'll probably be a model citizen tonight...

Libby
and DS 17months.