[jalapeno]

My boys (now 15 and 18 months) still often have a morning nap. They go down between 9 and 10 if that's the case. I don't let them sleep longer than 30 minutes in the morning. (I know it's an absolute no-no to wake a sleeping baby ). But then all my kids will typically take a 2 hour afternoon nap (down at 1pm). Bedtime at 7pm. And they usually wake up between 6:30 and 7:30am. I'm really strict about sticking to 1pm and 7pm for the kids to be in bed. And they all sleep great most of the time. If I let my boys sleep in the morning, they won't sleep in the afternoon at all and with my DD's nap schedule, we'd literally never be able to leave the house. My boys often fall asleep in the car too when we go out in the morning. I let them. Then they have their 15 to 30 minute catnap and I wake them when we get home. That actually works out pretty well for us. I'm pretty strict about mealtimes too because that keeps the flow of the day going. One thing leads to the next etc.

[shy_bear]

See if I let A. take an afternoon nap he will not go to bed at night. Yesterday was PT and when we got home he did not want to go to sleep. He stayed in there talking to himself forever; I ended up waking him up at 2:45 b/c I knew it was getting late in the day and sure enough he would not go to sleep last night.

[binkybear]

Originally Posted by Stormster

I'd love to compare schedules with you. Our seems off. Mostly because of the early AM naps.

6:30 wake and 6 oz bottle milk
7-8 Play and TV
8 Breakfast (I like to give him time to digest bottle so he'll eat! But should i feed him earlier?)
Then we play, go out or whatever. Sometimes a class
10am-12/1 (sometimes 2) NAP (which is why the late breakfast is good?) He does get another 6oz bottle at this time
1/2 Lunch (sometimes later if he gets up later)
Then just play and hang out with one snack at around 4
Dinner 7
Bath and Bed and bottle at 8

Because of that 10am nap I don't know what i can change really. Does this sound like anyone else's child? We are trying to keep him up later in the mornings so his naps will be at 11. Ideally I'd like him to have an earlier breakfast and a small snack before his nap.

Anyhoo, just wondering. Seems likei have the only toddler in the world who naps from 10-1

No t a SAHM, but a home all day auntie so here's her basic routine, it varies here and there by a half hour depending.

8 wake and milk with a good shot of smoothie or yogurt (don't mess with the smoothie shot, she knows if it's missing!!)
8-9 Play
9 Breakfast (we give time to digest the chugged milk too)
10-12 we play, do little crafts, have a small snack of fruit, cheese or whatever.
12:30 Lunch
1:30 naps for 2-2.5 hours
Ususally up right when "mommy's home!!"
Mommy does snack at around 3:30 or 4
Dinner 6
Bath at 8, then books-prayers-bed

She was never a good multi napper...ever....and has been at the one afternoon nap since about 16 months or so if I'm remembering right. Before that we were always lucky and happy dancing to get more than 30 minutes in the crib. She just doesn't nap in the crib...night time is totally fine, naps a no go. She naps in her bed or on the couch depending on where we are in the house. She's been off the bottle for a long time now, so it's just filling up the milk cup and doing juice once a day.
The little guy I watched did the late morning nap like E and then they gradually rolled it into the one afternoon nap to meet the daycare's schedule. I remember having to keep him awake during that transition period. Firs few days were rough, having to see him so sleepy. But it was just a week or less to get there.

[Stormster]

Binky i guess the trick is being in a situation where you CAN keep them awake! Car is not good. Seems like we are either home or in car.

[hml1976]

We have an earlier napper too, my DD was the same way:

7am Breakfast with cup of milk
7-10 play or have a playdate
10am snack if he asks for it
11-2 nap
2- lunch
2:30-4:30 pick up DD from school and play outside
4:30-6 indoor play while I cook
6 -7 play with Dad
7-bed

[Stormster]

Originally Posted by hml1976

We have an earlier napper too, my DD was the same way:

7am Breakfast with cup of milk
7-10 play or have a playdate
10am snack if he asks for it
11-2 nap
2- lunch
2:30-4:30 pick up DD from school and play outside
4:30-6 indoor play while I cook
6 -7 play with Dad
7-bed

I'd be thrilled with 11. It's the 10 that kills us. ANd it's like 10 on the dot. Wherever we are he just collapses.

[binkybear]

Originally Posted by Stormster

Binky i guess the trick is being in a situation where you CAN keep them awake! Car is not good. Seems like we are either home or in car.

hmmm. Maybe pick a week (winter weather coming up may make it easier to do..not wanting or needing to go out as much, like in nicer weather...) so, maybe pick a week to just totally focus on flipping his nap time. Pushing it back a little each day. Kinda like naptime bootcamp

[Stormster]

Yeah today was a bust though....he slept from 9 to 11 and then 3 to ......

He has a cold so it's not a good time to start boot camp! Maybe on vacation!

[mondk]

I only work 2 weekends a month, so I'm basically a SAHM during the week at least. My dad stays here some and helps out in the mornings; sometimes I actually sleep til 11am! Anyway, Joshie is 17 mos. and here is his current schedule:

9am: Waking and has a full bowl of cold cereal and we give him every last bit of milk with it
9-11: Playtime with either mommy or Grandpa, if Grandpa, he gets a sort of "school" because my dad is really big on speech stuff. If he has mommy, usually his BabyFirstTV because they do baby/mommy stuff in the morning like exercises etc. I try anyway, he's not as into it as I am though LOL.
11-2p: Nap
2p: Lunch followed by YoBaby yogurt (no bottle)
2:30-5p: Playtime with brother when he gets home from school and/or some TV shows or outings or whatever
5p-6p: Short nap
7p: Supper and vitamin
7-9p: Bath, bedtime routine, book reading, etc. and finally, a milk bottle (8 oz.)
9-10p: Bedtime

He has juice sippy cups periodically throughout the day, but only has milk with meals and at bedtime. I figure the juices (I buy fortified ones) will substitute some calcium and Vit. C. His actual vitamin at night will give him the rest of his vitamins/minerals. I've started reducing his bedtime milk bottles by 1 oz. per week to try to gently wean him off this bottle. I plan to give extra milk with supper to make up for it.

Blessings, Michelle

Edited to add: He does eat snacks between meals...usually a banana or pieces of fruit (he loves apples and oranges) and Ritz crackers or animal crackers...he does get a chocolate cookie after supper most nights.

[Stormster]

Originally Posted by mondk

I only work 2 weekends a month, so I'm basically a SAHM during the week at least. My dad stays here some and helps out in the mornings; sometimes I actually sleep til 11am! Anyway, Joshie is 17 mos. and here is his current schedule:

9am: Waking and has a full bowl of cold cereal and we give him every last bit of milk with it
9-11: Playtime with either mommy or Grandpa, if Grandpa, he gets a sort of "school" because my dad is really big on speech stuff. If he has mommy, usually his BabyFirstTV because they do baby/mommy stuff in the morning like exercises etc. I try anyway, he's not as into it as I am though LOL.
11-2p: Nap
2p: Lunch followed by YoBaby yogurt (no bottle)
2:30-5p: Playtime with brother when he gets home from school and/or some TV shows or outings or whatever
5p-6p: Short nap
7p: Supper and vitamin
7-9p: Bath, bedtime routine, book reading, etc. and finally, a milk bottle (8 oz.)
9-10p: Bedtime

He has juice sippy cups periodically throughout the day, but only has milk with meals and at bedtime. I figure the juices (I buy fortified ones) will substitute some calcium and Vit. C. His actual vitamin at night will give him the rest of his vitamins/minerals. I've started reducing his bedtime milk bottles by 1 oz. per week to try to gently wean him off this bottle. I plan to give extra milk with supper to make up for it.

Blessings, Michelle

Edited to add: He does eat snacks between meals...usually a banana or pieces of fruit (he loves apples and oranges) and Ritz crackers or animal crackers...he does get a chocolate cookie after supper most nights.

That's a great schedule. How do you get him to sleep that late? If E slept that late he wouldn't be so tired by 10. He has a dark room, his sound machine (air purifier) and everything a little boy could want to sleep nice and late but to no avail. ETA so Joshie gets 16 oz of milk and the Yobaby is the iron/calcium as well?

[mondk]

Yes, and YoBaby is made with whole milk so add in 4 oz. right there.

I leave a lamp on in Joshie's room and he will "play himself to sleep" usually...tonight at midnight he was half naked and crying and had an awful pashooey diaper. So I took care of all that and then we rocked and played gently with Mama until I saw the eye rubbing and went back to bed; he is fast asleep now. Basically, I can count on him sleeping 10-12 hours at night between wakings. His room isn't dark, he has stuffed Elmo's in his crib and his blankie of course...he just usually drops right off to sleep.

I just had a sleep study done on myself last month with horrible results...I woke up every 12 min. and never once made it to deep sleep! I guess kids are different and you may just have a light sleeper, Storm. Once their little clocks get one way I've noticed, then all at once everything is opposite...eegads!

Blessings, Michelle

[Stormster]

Hi again. Well it's 6:30am here and he's been up for 45 minutes. He's happy in his crib so he's still in there. Which means if I try to keep him awake until 10:15 it will be 4.5 hours until his first nap. Which is really long for him. He didn't fall asleep until 9pm last night. It doesn't seem to matter when he goes down. He still wakes up early. I agree he's a fairly light sleeper and once he hears Elvis (DADDY) moving around the house there's no way he can ever sleep again!

I found yesterday particularly exhausting. I have discovered that unless we have a routine and get out of the house AT LEAST two hours a day I am not good SAHM material. So his extreme tiredness yesterday (he has a cold too btw) made it difficult. The saving grace was that he was enjoying being in the house (he sometimes goes nuts and gets bored easily here).

His new thing is moving chairs around. So not only picking up toys constantly now moving chairs around and saving tables from being pulled over.

Can you tell I'm stressed? TGIF! I also have zero right to be stressed. He's sincerely the greatest kid. I feel so lame.

[OakShannon]

Originally Posted by Stormster

Hi again. Well it's 6:30am here and he's been up for 45 minutes. He's happy in his crib so he's still in there. Which means if I try to keep him awake until 10:15 it will be 4.5 hours until his first nap. Which is really long for him. He didn't fall asleep until 9pm last night. It doesn't seem to matter when he goes down. He still wakes up early. I agree he's a fairly light sleeper and once he hears Elvis (DADDY) moving around the house there's no way he can ever sleep again!

I found yesterday particularly exhausting. I have discovered that unless we have a routine and get out of the house AT LEAST two hours a day I am not good SAHM material. So his extreme tiredness yesterday (he has a cold too btw) made it difficult. The saving grace was that he was enjoying being in the house (he sometimes goes nuts and gets bored easily here).

His new thing is moving chairs around. So not only picking up toys constantly now moving chairs around and saving tables from being pulled over.

Can you tell I'm stressed? TGIF! I also have zero right to be stressed. He's sincerely the greatest kid. I feel so lame.

I never would have guessed ahead of time how much work taking care of one child could be! I used to take care of 20 at a time, so I thought this would be cake. You don't sound a bit lame to me! D is a total sweetheart, but I spend a lot of time following after him putting things away and cleaning his messes. (His other mom calls him "the human tornado.") I love him to pieces, but that doesn't mean our days are never stressful.

E.'s nap schedule would make it hard to get out of the house - and I'm sure you get cabin fever on days when you don't make it out. I don't enjoy those days, either! I hope you're able to transition him to a later nap so it gets easier. I have heard that most of us are pretty hardwired as either morning people or night owls right from the start. So you may always have a kiddo that wakes up with the sun. (or before!)

[Stormster]

Thanks ((((huge hug)))))

For me it's the one on one thing with so little help during the week. It's so intense. And then if someone does want to help I can't leave the house! I hope I will find more balance as he starts more school programs. For now I hope the consistency of me will help him in some way.

[OakShannon]

I'm sure it helps him a lot. It's clear how devoted you are to him.

It is intense, isn't it? I can feel both things so completely. I love my son intensely and I love being with him - I wouldn't trade being a SAHM for anything. And yet I have moments when I really just want to unplug for awhile and have a period when no one needs me for anything. Getting out helps a lot because I can talk to other adults! It's nice that D is old enough now for gymboree and other outings - but he still naps twice a day, so our days feel like they are constantly going from nap to meal to nap with only brief windows to go out and do things.