I don't know if it is related, but DD has dropped down to 1 nap most days. She is up around 6 am. She will generally nap for 1.5 - 2 hours, starting around 11:30 am. Sometimes she has a little nap before this, at 9 am, on the walk home from dropping DD1 off at school.
A lot else has changed in the past week or two. She is teething something fierce again. She is on the verge of walking. And she has started really eating, compared to her earlier few-tastes-then-done approach.
Bedtime used to involve waiting until she showed signs (starting to rub her eyes mostly), then changing her, putting on some music, and side nursing to sleep. Or, if her mouth hurt, the above, then snuggling, singing, and dancing for a song or two, until she could drift off. She would go to sleep between 6 and 7 pm.
Now, when she doesn't fall asleep nursing, and I start to snuggle her, she freaks and fights it. I thought that she was fighting going to sleep. But tonight, waiting it out, it seems like what she is fighting is me helping. I stopped trying to help. She played actively on the bed for a while, then played quieter, then lay down and "read" a book, then stood/lay draped on me, then asked to nurse again, and finally went to sleep.
What I am thinking, is that we introduce a bit more of a routine to wind down. Change her, read books together, turn down the lights, put on some specific bedtime music. Then make sure she has a blankie, stuffie, and a couple of small books she can handle well herself. Set the rule that she stays on the bed, but otherwise let her handle it herself.
The problem? Tonight it took her a full hour to fall asleep. If she doesn't get faster at it, what do I do when DH isn't here and I need to get DD1 to bed too? I guess I could just keep her up until she is quite literally falling asleep, and hope for the best.
A lot else has changed in the past week or two. She is teething something fierce again. She is on the verge of walking. And she has started really eating, compared to her earlier few-tastes-then-done approach.
Bedtime used to involve waiting until she showed signs (starting to rub her eyes mostly), then changing her, putting on some music, and side nursing to sleep. Or, if her mouth hurt, the above, then snuggling, singing, and dancing for a song or two, until she could drift off. She would go to sleep between 6 and 7 pm.
Now, when she doesn't fall asleep nursing, and I start to snuggle her, she freaks and fights it. I thought that she was fighting going to sleep. But tonight, waiting it out, it seems like what she is fighting is me helping. I stopped trying to help. She played actively on the bed for a while, then played quieter, then lay down and "read" a book, then stood/lay draped on me, then asked to nurse again, and finally went to sleep.
What I am thinking, is that we introduce a bit more of a routine to wind down. Change her, read books together, turn down the lights, put on some specific bedtime music. Then make sure she has a blankie, stuffie, and a couple of small books she can handle well herself. Set the rule that she stays on the bed, but otherwise let her handle it herself.
The problem? Tonight it took her a full hour to fall asleep. If she doesn't get faster at it, what do I do when DH isn't here and I need to get DD1 to bed too? I guess I could just keep her up until she is quite literally falling asleep, and hope for the best.
