When do they typically move to one nap?

[Liam and Shane's Mommy]

My 14 mos. old ds has started in the past several days being an absolute terror at nap time.  In the past he would go down for at least 2 hours sometimes more for AM nap at 10AM then for 45-1hour for PM nap around 3PM.  He's generally up anywhere from 5:45AM-6:30PM and goes to bed around 6:30Pm or 7PM depending on how he's napped during the day.  When he's at daycare he doesn't nap well so he goes down during the week at 6:30PM but 7PM on weekends when he's home and sleeps better.  He's always gone down awake no problems.  He's usually quite tired and ready for AM nap but on occasion has protested mildly against the PM nap for past few weeks.

Since I've been off on holidays however over the past 5 days he's been a terror.  He screams when I put him down for one or both naps and sometimes won't nap at all.  We can't figure out what's going on.  Since I've been on holidays there's been some changes in atmosphere ie. Grandma has been visiting.  Daddy was gone for a few days but is now back. 

He definitely seems tired but is fighting going down all of sudden.  This afternoon he was clearly tired but when I put him in his crib he played for 30 min. then started to cry.   After leaving him fuss for about 10 min. or more I went in and picked him up to cuddle him and sat in rocking chair and when he got relaxed I put him down in crib.  He tried to rest his head on my shouldder to go to sleep but when I tried to put him down he had a death grip on me and flipped out when I put him down.

Up until now I haven't thought he was ready for one nap as he still seemed quite tired in the morning and would nap for a long time.  Is it the changes in homelife right now ie. being on holidays, not at daycare?  Is he ready for one nap?  The other thing that occured to me is whether daycare has been rocking him to sleep.  In the past I've asked them not too but I wonder if some staff are doing one thing and the others are doing something else.  If they have been then it means I have to spend a miserable holiday reprogramming him.

Things had been going so well for so long.  I don't know why he'd change so suddenly.   I just don't know what happened.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[lindsaysmom]

I don't have any answers, just want to say we are going through the same thing with our DD, who is going to turn 15 months in 1 week.  She had been sleeping well till three weeks ago, when she had a cold.  Then I started a long stretch of crazy work schedule, so she was mostly home with DH on weekends or daycare during the week.  Now she is fighting naps during the day (both at home and in daycare); by bedtime, gets really tired so goes down easy, but has several wakings a night for the past 2 nights.  She's completely recovered from the cold and everyone's schedule is back to normal.  I wonder if she is trying to move to one nap, or trying to make up some lost time with me, or, teething--still hasn't got her molars yet, while she got the first 8 teeth earlier than most of her peers.  I think only time will tell.  The dilemma is I don't want her to get into bad habits during this, but on the other hand, I also don't want to push sleep training if it's teething.  Any insight/tips welcome!

[Aarismom]

We have been in this transition since Aari was 12 months old--that was almost 2.5 months ago. She was showing all the signs, and we tried to push her am nap toward the evening.

Yeah...that went real well... She began night waking being a general grump all day, which is not typical of her.

What we ended up doing is giving her a modified morning nap. She starting waking up at 5 am and wouldn't go back to sleep, so at around 8 am we would put her down and let her sleep no later than 9:30 (yes, that often means waking a sleeping baby...). Then we would give her a second nap sometime around 1-2 pm. This would set her up for bedtime somewhere between 7 and 8 pm. This has been working out for the past few weeks. If she sleeps in until 7 am or later, we just keep her up until 11:30 or so for her 1 nap. The problem we're running into with the early waking is that she's not getting enough night sleep, and is trying to make it up during the day. Continuing to give her 2 naps until she adjusts her  night schedule to something more reasonable morning wise is the only solution we could come up with. I know eventually it will--she got up at 7 am this morning, which is a good sign that she's at least starting the adjustment (finally). In the past, we were putting her to bed between 6 and 7 pm, but with her nap schedule the way it is, we don't have a choice but to put her to bed between 7 and 8.

It's typical during this time that they begin fighting naps--after all the transition to 1 nap a day is really hard on them. There's bound to be reprocussions somewhere for awhile. Don't fret...this process often takes several months to work itself through, and it becomes a matter of experimentation. You feel like you're taking one step forward then two steps back, it almost feels like they teeth for 3 months. Most babies transition somewhere between 12 months and I believe 16-18 months, some a little earlier, some a little later. Add teething and sickness to the mix and some days it's a nightmare (in which case, the mighty Dimatap for children is a lifesaver).

Just wanted to give a little bit of encouragement, although I'm not sure how much I can give

*HUGS*
Sonya =P

[LeslieG]

Glad to hear that we are not alone either. My DD is 13 months today and she starts daycare two days a week on Monday. They typically only do one nap there and so we have been working with her routine to try and do this at home as well. The timing couldn't be worse because she is also getting molars and has a runny nose. She has been a grump all week and not sleeping well at night.....

She was showing signs like it was time for one nap because her daytime sleep was starting to affect her bed time quite a bit.  Today she got up earlier than normal and didn't sleep great last night so I thought she would easily go down for an AM nap.  NOPE!! She refused it.  She stayed up until 1pm and is still asleep. Hopefully for another 1hour but we'll see.

Looking forward to more tips!

[Liam and Shane's Mommy]

Just wondered how everyone else is doing with the 2 to 1 nap struggle?  My ds has been going down a bit better for naps in past week but only because he was starting to get up at 5:30AMish. So was definitely tired.  I didn't give in and still made him stick it out until first nap at 10AM and eventually in past two days he's gone back to 6-6:30AM wakeup.  I don't want to put him down any earlier in the morning as I think this just reinforces the early morning wakeups.  Fortunately he hasn't been too grumpy.  Its actually suprised me how good natured he's been with lack of sleep.  He's dealing with it better than I as I'm just completely frustrated when he won't take PM nap.  I have resorted over the past few days to taking him for a late afternoon walk in hopes he fall asleep.  If not, then at least I get some excercise and work out my frustration.  I have found that waiting until later in afternoon to put him down for second nap helps.  3 hours after wakeup from AM nap just isnt' long enough anymore as he's use to going sometimes 5 hours between morning wakeup and first nap.  Another sign I guess that its time to just move to one nap. 

[Aarismom]

We're still dealing with on and off.

Sometimes she takes a morning nap at around 8 or 8:30, then takes an afternoon nap at around 1 or 2, other times I'm forced to keep her up until 11 or 11:30 for her one nap. If she takes 2 naps, usually she goes to sleep sometime between 8 or 8:30 regardless of when we actually put her down in bed. She'll either sit up and play until she falls asleep, or she'll scream and whine for a half hour. Usually if she does that we end up getting her up for another 15 or 20 mins, or holding her and rocking her for a while. Then she goes right down. If she takes one nap at around 11:00, she usually goes down by 7:30.

*HUGS*
Sonya =P

[*Natasha*]

Hi Girls,

We just started the transition to 1 nap a week ago and it is going well except for yesterday where she woke after 45mins and i had to resettle her but that was due to teething.
My DD was doing 7am Wake,10am Nap 1-1.5hrs,2pm Nap 45mins-1.15hrs 7.30pm bed. However she then started waking later then not going down until 10.30am and only sleeping 45mins-1hr and then not wanting to go down until 2.30/3pm for her PM nap. She would then take upto 30mins to fall asleep and onlt sleeping 30-45mins and then it started affecting her bedtime. So last week i though i would try it and kept her up until 11.30am gave her early lunch and then in bed by 12pm and she slept for 2hrs. So far she has slept between 2-2.5hrs which i am very happy with and we have moved bedtime back to 7pm for the time being. The only thing is she gets a bit grumpy between 10.30-11.30am so i have to keep her amussed during that time and if it is a nice day take her for a walk.