Anyone want to talk about the 2-1 transition #26

[BusterB]

Hiya Laura! Thanks for the suggestions - I don't actually mind the early mornings in themselves though, it is more the fact that it is impossible to keep to any schedule with 10.5hr nights...the mornings just get earlier & earlier, so if I followed your example EASY it would be fine day 1, but the following wake up time would be much earlier and throw the whole thing off! So the crux oft issue is, what do I do on that 2nd day if we are only on 1 nap? I also don't do BT before 7pm for that reason.

I can't leave him once awake either as he is LOUD and my hubby needs to sleep in the mornings, as he works lates in the week.

As it happens, after the 2 short naps yesterday (total 1.5hr) he did a v rare 11hr night, with a 40m NW @ 3am, so overall almost 12 hours! Which is great as he is better rested today & w/u was 7am.

We have gone for 1 nap today after 5hr A.. last time we followed this routine we ended up with a 4 hour NW after BT... so will be interesting to see how it pans out!

[Kellyjs]

Good luck Busterb! Hope it doesn't go that way again tonight.

If it's any consolation, O is being a nightmare atm with her nap! It's got to be teething, but she's rarely going over an hour to 1.5hrs. Can't push the A much more or the day will get far too long. Oh well grin and bear it, ride it out and hope we all come out the other end eh?! X

[yujai]

I need help again!  I think this time LO maybe really ready for nap transition.

My almost 16 months old has been waking up at 4:30-5:00am (if not woke at night) or around 6am (if woke at night) for past 2 weeks.  He was sick a few weeks ago and since then he has been having wonky night sleep and naps.  Last weeks he was waking up every 30-40 minutes during nap and I can usually rocked him back to sleep, put him down and slept for another 40-60 minutes.  These few days he can either sleep thru 1-1.5 hours. 

He used to wake around 6:30 and bed before 8pm with two 1~1.5 hours nap at 9:30/10am and 2:30/3 pm.

Current schedule:
5-6am Wake up
9/9:30am First nap, usually wake up before 10:30
1:30/2:30pm Second nap, usually wake up around 4pm
8pm Bedtime
If he sleeps pass 4pm, it will usually took him longer to fall asleep at bedtime.

He has been shorten his morning nap and taking earlier afternoon nap in these 3~4 days.  Would this mean he is really ready for 1 nap a day?

[MarciaMSPT]

Wow, yujai!  16 month old and still taking two naps!  You have been lucky.  My 13 month old is down to one 1.5 hour nap on most days now... but I know it all varies.

i'm no expert but I would try extending your morning Awake time.  My 13 month old wakes at 7am and goes down at 12:15 or 12:30 ish now.  You may be getting undertired nap for the first nap.  Lengthening your morning A time will likely result in a good (and later) nap.  When my LO was doing the 2-1 (and we still do a 10 min car nap if need be for 2nd nap if need be!) I always just did the car thing... that way I could manipulate the timing AND the length of the nap since he always woke up when I shut the car off. 

As your morning A time gets longer and your morning nap gets longer, you may want to cap the PM nap.  I think your LO is getting too much sleep during the day and this is affecting his night sleep. 

Night wakings and EW where always a A time issue for us (except for teething

I know that some LO's do a short am nap and a longer PM nap - there is a link somewhere about that.  I can never get the search button to work...  anyway... if that is the case, I'm no help at all.  but hope something I said helps you! 

[lauradj]

So, I just had a look over my notes from the last two days (yes I take notes.  I'm a teacher, it's habit!).  T woke from his morning nap after only 45 minutes yesterday and 30 mins today!  I guess it's time to push him to stay awake for another 15 minutes in the morning?

[Kellyjs]

Hi yujai, as Marcia says, well done for holding out for so long!

We did long am, short pm nap so I might be able to help with that. We didn't do it the other way round. Marcia has already given you fantastic advice. I wouldn't go cold turkey to one nap, but definitely start working towards the transition.

There's two ways you could do it, either leave the first nap where it is and cap it at 45mins, then do a longer afternoon nap. You might need to reduce the A slightly after this short nap so he doesn't get OT before his pm nap. Just like you have been doing already.

The second is to do as Marcia said and push the morning A by 15mins every few days to lengthen the morning nap. Then look at doing a shorter 45mins CN in the afternoon. With this version, they need a shorter A to bed than you have been doing because of the CN.

It's up to you or him which way you'd prefer to do it. Your day is already long enough, but he is getting a lot of day sleep for a 16mth old so I think capping one of the naps will eventually lead to better night sleep.

And lauradj.. I take notes too! Or look at my past posts on here!!! Yep, I'd lengthen that A, hold for a couple of days then lengthen again if needs be. Do whatever you can to get that decent nap in the morning. Might need to cap the other nap to stop the day getting too long.

We're going to have to have our first intentional 2 nap day for a looong time! Back to a 5.30am wu this morning  . Need to break this before it becomes a habit again. I reduced the first A for a couple of days thinking she was OT, but that has led to a much shorter nap and too long of an A to bed for her causing early NW. I hope one day of 2 naps will take us to a better BT and wu then I can push out the nap to where it used to be to get back on track. We were doing so well for so long, it's just sooo disappointing.

[BusterB]

Nothing is consistent with these little ones is it?! Just when you think things are on an even keel you get a curveball! Sorry for your early wake up today Kelly!

History did repeat for us last night unfortunately.... after a great 1 nap day, he was awake from 9:30-12 last night

As usual he just seemed wide awake & wanting to play.. not classically OT & he coped with the long A times really well yesterday, pretty smiley & happy even at 5hrs... So I think the 1hr 50m nap he took was just too long and stole from our night sleep!

Total night sleep was only 9 hrs so we'll have to do a two 45m nap day today! He really does seem to sleep better with no more than 1.5hrs total nap/s

Is it really wise/possible to move to just 1 nap of 1.5hrs at only 11 months?

[Florena49]

Can we go back to 2 naps, no 3 please. I dont want my baby to have one nap!
So we are back from grandparents, and we are back on two naps. And our nights are so much better, only woke twice last night and up for the day at 6.40! He generally seems more tired, he has strated moving a lot, crawling and trying to pull up, so seems that he wants more sleep. Like your LO BusterB mine handles OT well, he might get grouchy for a bit but it passes and he will be happy and a bit manic OT. We had a few days of one nap and the nights were horrendous.
So yesterday we did this:

6.00. Wu
9.40nap-11.20 3.40A
3.10nap-4.05           3.50A
7.35A.                     3.30A

[Kellyjs]

Oh no Busterb that's just rubbish! What a little monkey. 

I think anything is possible hun, problem is that he treats BT like a nap. Is your routine different for BT. Ie do you do a bath? Point is, he can do the long A times as you say so I think he's capable of going to one nap. But those nights are short. It really is a difficult one.. I really like to be consistent for O so she knows what's happening. We did originally have 1.5hr naps but they did lengthen.. Unfortunately this took away night sleep!

Up to you hun, you could alternate but the danger is that he might expect a 2nd nap hence the silly wu after BT... (Hugs) it really is pants for you atm x

[yujai]

Thank you all for the advice!

My LO was once struggling with afternoon nap right before his 1 year old birthday for 2-3 weeks, and when I thought he is transitioning, he somehow went back to the solid two 1.5 hours nap a day.  I tried make one nap a day, but each time is a nightmare.  He would have multiple wakings at night, that's why I have been really hesitate to transition him until now

He used to do a longer morning nap which makes second nap more difficult. At one point he was at 4.5~5 A time in the morning, but these days he seems to prefer his afternoon nap. He would be fussy around 9~9:30am and if I asked if he wants to nap, he will nod his head and walk to his room. 

Yesterday he slept from 9:30-10:15, then 1:30-3:45pm (He slept in car though. For some reason he sleeps so much better in car, even after I parked the car in garage).  I will try following this schedule again today.

[Kellyjs]

Sounds great yujai, let us know hoe you get on 

[lauradj]

Ugh Kelly and BusterB, what a nuisance for you both!!  It's so frustrating when you take 3 steps forward and 2 steps back (I think that was a Paula Abdul song...).
I managed to keep T up until 10:45 today, he might have been able to go until 11 as he was zipping around the house with his walker but I decided not to push it.  He passed out cold so I guess pushing the A time was a good call!  It looks like T needs a week to adjust to a new nap time and then he's good to go, so I'll keep that in mind.  I might actually get him on the day care nap schedule before he's there for full days!

[Shiv52]

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Anyone want to talk about the 2-1 transition #27