Altering DD's nao schedule | ExpatWoman.com
 

Altering DD's nao schedule

231
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 May 2011 - 18:06

Hi ladies.

DD is on a pretty good routine. She wakes about 8ish and naps from 10.30 to 12.00ish. Bfast is at 9.00 am. Lunch about 12.30 to 1.00. then she plays like mad and goes back down at about 4.00ish for a nap that goes till 5.15. Then milk when she wakes up and dinner at 7.00-7.30 she is in bed by 9.30 pm.

I REALLY want her to stop napping so late. I would LOVE to move up her afternoon naps for two reasons

1. I want her in bed by 9.00 pm latest
2. All playdates start at 4.30 and we have been unable to do fun stuff in the evening because nap ending and dinner are very close! The afternoons are too darned hot to do stuff.

Any advice? I feel like we are missing out on morning classes (like Boogie Babies) and also evening playdates. Also, it would be SOOOOO great if she could nap after lunch so I could nap with her. Right now her naps are in the middle of my days and in the afternoon I could use a small snooze myself after getting her bfast organized, DH off to work, the day's chores and then her lunch.

THanks for any advice

PS the post title should say NAP and NAO! and DD is 14 months old.
<em>edited by kcinthecity on 06/05/2011</em>

1861
Posts
EW EXPERT
Latest post on 07 May 2011 - 18:32
We went through a similar phase with DD - she wanted a late nap, which then threw dinner and bed out, so she would hardly eat and then be grizzly until bedtime. Our solution was to move her dinner forward, get her active in the afternoon, dinner at her peak, then a gentle wind-down to bedtime at 19h. I know it's a shame to feel they're missing out on all the fun, but they actually need their sleep more. DS has been missing out on the morning activities for ages and ages, but hey, he needs his nap. If I were you, I would push her morning nap back by 30mins/ 1 hour, lunch back to 13h-14h and then ride the wave until dinnertime. Thinking about it, too, she's currently lasting very well in the afternoon, in comparison to her mornings because she has lunch 3 hours after breakfast and then dinner 5-6 hours after her lunch... same with her naps - think about the amount of time she's awake - 2h in the morning, then 4 hours before her afternoon nap then another 4 hours before she's down for bed at night - there's no way she could last an 8 hour stretch awake and stimulated! DS's routine (which has been the same for aaaages) is up at 7h, breakfast at 8h, down at 10h30-11h, up at 13h, lunch 13h-14h, dinner at 17h, sleep at 19h.
231
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 07 May 2011 - 15:15
Thanks for the advice ladies. I am going to work on altering her meal times and pushing her naps around a bit. Wish me luck.
197
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 07 May 2011 - 10:17
Hi KC My guru is Dr Weissbluth. I've followed his schedule with DD and it saved my life. He recommends 1 nap from one year on. What i did is slowly delay the morning nap by 30 min intervals. A was on pretty much the same schedule. When she turned 1, I moved her nap from 10,30 to 11, and then 11.30 and then 12ish. So, What I do is breakfast at 8am and lunch around 11.30 and then nap. She naps for an hour and half and then is up till 7.30. Bath and bed by 8.00. Cutting the afternoon nap is easy. I just used playdates. They get so excited playing that they forget about sleeping. And the first few days bedtime was super early and then I slowly extended it to 8.00. HTH
587
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 07 May 2011 - 08:58
Hi kcinthecity, I followed routines by a sleep guru from Australia, and could email you one if you like, just let me know your email address. I'm no expert myself and every child is different, but I would say that at that age my daughter had a 12 hour day eg. up at 7am and bed at 7pm. So to get her to nap earlier you may need to bring her meals forward an hour eg breakfast at 8 am when she wakes and lunch at 12pm, then bed by 8pm. She may be napping more in the daytime as she may not be getting enough sleep a night.
 
 

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