14 months and still 2 naps

[The Vern]

Just wondering if it comes a time when I should force the 2 to 1 switch? DD's sleep is fantastic right now. 11.5 hrs at night (7-6 or 6:30) and she usually takes two naps during the day. She's often ready for a nap at 9 a.m. and sleeps for 90-120 min and then again at around 3 for 60-90 min.  Can she get too much sleep???  It doesn't seem to be affecting night time sleep at all, so I don't really see a need to force the issue, but thought Ii'd check with others. Seems like she sleeps quite a bit for her age, no?

[KathrynK]

hiya
my dd has always slept more than average too, and at 14 months we are still on 2 naps- 30-40 mins in the morning, 90 mins in the afternoon and 11.5 hours at night.
She has been at nursery 1 day per week for a month now and just this week at nursery she wouldn't go to sleep in the morning so ended up having one 2-hr nap at lunchtime, I guess this is the first sign she is going to be transitioning soon.
I personally wouldn't worry, you will see signs when she is ready to have less daytime sleep. For us it's when she starts waking regularly at 5am  . Unless it's interfering with her nighttime sleep I would just enjoy still having some time to yourself during the day!
kathryn x

[yaya]

I would agree with Kathryn, dont push it, LO will let u know when ready to tranisiton!

[Layla]

Agree with pps, some don't go to 1 nap till 18 or even 20 months so if she is ok on 2 naps, let it be.

[The Vern]

Well, things might be starting to change...the past three nights she has woken up at 5:15-5:30, an hour earlier than usual.  The past two days she didn't go back to sleep, today she did for an hour. She is at daycare during the week, so I'm not sure how I'll go about switching the naps. She knows dd's cues really well actually and puts her to sleep when she is tired. DD sleeps really well there.  Maybe too well...Yesterday she had a nap from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 and then again from 2:30-3:30.  What do you think would be the best way to switch her naps (I assume she is ready if she keeps waking up early like that?)?  She really doesn't handle being overtired very well and it's not fair to the daycare person having to deal with her being cranky, since she's usually such a happy-go-lucky baby. She will literally start heading up the stairs, wave and say bye-bye when she's tired! If she's tired during the day, it doesn't seem right to keep her from sleeping, but maybe that's just something that needs to be done?  Anyway, thanks for any advice.  Maria

[yaya]

hmm its a tough one, there r a few sign which seem to indicate shes heading towards the switch but I would do it really gradually as u say she doesnt take well to being overtired. Start by reducing first nap as this is seen as an extension of night sleep so if she naps too long at this nap it may be biting in to her early am sleep. I would wake after 1.5 hrs, really wouldnt let her sleep more than that. then put her down for her pm nap a bit early and follow with an earlier bedtime. u do need to bear in mind some degree of tiredness as shes switching.
For instance if she goes down for her nap at 8.30 then wake at 10 then put down for nap at 1.30-2.00ish depending on her cues and let her sleep as long as she liKES /NEEDS then put into bed for the night around 7?
How does that sound?
Check out the switching 2- 1 naps thread!

[KathrynK]

hi Maria
out first indication that dd is having too much daytime sleep is always early morning wakings. Since she was 11 months I have been trimming her naps whenever we have a bout of early waking. Last week we were on holiday and I was a bit lax about timings, and let her sleep for an extra 15 mins here and there ... and guess what? She woke at 5.15 every day- aargh. So this week I have been really strict. Now she has 30 mins in the morning and 1hr 30 in the afternoon- I wake her on the dot and every day this week she has slept till her usual 6.30! 
I definitely agree with yaya, you should start by shortening her am nap. If she usually has 2 hrs, then try 1.5 hrs. If she usually has 1.5 hrs, then try 1hr, you know your dd best. You will probably have to wait a few days to see her extend her nighttime sleep again. I find when I shorten dd's am nap it means her pm nap is a bit earlier than normal, and then she has longer A time before bed. That's fine for us, as it's the best way I've found to extend her nighttime sleep. You will need to watch her carefully to make sure she doesn't get overtired and it might take a couple of weeks of juggling timings.
good luck! x

[The Vern]

YaYa and kathrynk - thanks - that's definitely something I could work with.  I guess the eventual goal would be to shorten the am nap until it disappears and the pm nap would then naturally be moved to an earlier time and then she would be used to sleeping a long time in the aftenoon.  How long do you think it would take to switch her? I can see her being quite resistant, but like you say, 1.5 hrs in the am should be plenty. I know yesterday she was just so tired from waking up at 5:15 that she needed more sleep at 8:30 already.  Anyway, I think I'll tell the daycare person to wake her after 1.5 hrs because after her naps she can usually stay up for 3.5-4 hrs, and if the pm nap goes long it doesn't seem to affect her bedtime, which is always b/w 7-7:30.  Thanks again.

[KathrynK]

well I've been shortening Sophie's naps now since just before her birthday. Prior to that she was on 2 x 1.5 hr naps per day. First we went to 1 hr + 1.5 hr for a few weeks, then 45 min + 1.5 hrs. Now she's on 30 min + 1.5 hrs. So just like you said, that morning nap is getting shorter and shorter and will eventually vanish. It's so gradual, I don't think you can estimate how long it will take for her to switch finally to 1 nap. Most babies begin the switch around their birthday, and most are established on 1 nap by 18 months. In between, it seems like anything can happen!
My dd goes to nursery 2 days pw and last week started to refuse her am nap there, and instead have a 2 hr nap in the middle of the day. The days she is at home with me she still has 2 naps. She is definitely not ready to have 1 only nap every single day, as she is exhausted after 2 days at nursery! This is very common, some babies alternate between 1 nap and 2 naps for weeks and weeks before they can cope properly with only 1 nap.
The biggest pain for me in all of this transitioning is that I have to wake her from every single nap, and have done for the past 3 months now  . So I have to listen out to hear when she falls asleep (as I always leave the room while she is still awake) and then I have to watch the clock so I don't let her sleep over time (as then I get those pesky 5am wakings!)

[mamameme]

My DD is 16 months and still has 2 naps; she wakes anytime from 630am, has an hour on our bed for milk, toast and stories then goes back to bed after an hour - I can see what you mean about this being an extension of the night sleep. She naps for 90 to 120 mins, altho sometimes I can hear her chatting for up to 30 mins before she falls asleep, and the same when waking before she calls for me, so its really only 45-60 mins sometimes. Then she naps again at about 2pm, another 90-120 minutes; I try not to let her sleep past 4pm as she won't be ready for bed at 730pm otherwise. She sleeps really well, always has, no real signs yet of dropping either nap although on 'high days and holidays' she may do without one, perhaps if we are away for the weekend. I know Mums who get hardly any time to themselves so I'm not worried, even though it sometimes restricts the things we could do. After all, she's got years and years to learn to swim, dance, paint etc!

[The Vern]

Oh, I'm in no real hurry to get things to 1 nap, however, we are going on a cruise in April and it would kind of be nice to have her on 1 nap by then, but oh well. I'll let her direct what she needs/wants. But like I said earlier, I think I will have the nanny wake her in the morning. Isn't it great to have awesome sleepers!

[mari]

You lucky, lucky people!!  Have a nice holiday.

[The Vern]

So I'm probably being very impatient.  The past two days I have limited dd's am naps. She had 2x90 minutes the day before yesterday and yesterday she had 1x60 and 1x120 minutes.  She still woke up at 5:30 and 5:15 respectively.  She goes down for her am nap earlier and earlier.  So now not only is she sleeping less in the day, but she woke up even earlier today, and only got 10.25 hrs at night. I'd love to break this nasty early waking habit.  I guess I'll just keep at it and with time...

[mari]

You have a few weeks.  You could just try to take 15 minutes off the am nap and bring the pm nap forward little by little.  Hopefully the nap gets dropped without it being noticed.

[KathrynK]

hi Maria
when we first went through this it took about 3 weeks of nap- juggling before I hit on the perfect combination of naps to get her sleeping longer at night again. It was painful but we got there eventually.
I find with Sophie the trick is to not put her down too early for that first nap. You know they say it is an extension of night-time sleep? If dd gets used to having her first nap early there is no incentive to sleep longer at night as she learns that she can catch up on that lost sleep in a couple of hours time, kwim? We had a bout of early wakings a couple of weeks ago as we were on holiday and I was really lax with naps and let her sleep longer than normal. When this happens I find that the quickest way to get her nighttime sleep back on track is to try to keep her awake until her normal nap time in the morning. So her usual nap time is around 9.30 (from 6.30 wake time). If she wakes at 5.30 I try to keep her up as long as possible, keeping her activity really low key so she doesn't get overtired, perhaps a walk out in the pushchair, and I'll put her down as close to 9.30 as poss- she usually makes it to at least 9.15 without any problems. (Now they are older I think they cope much better with the odd longer period of A time.) Then for the rest of the day I am really strict with her nap times and I don't give her any extra naps to catch up on sleep- I keep to her normal 30 mins in the morning and 90 mins in the afternoon. Then as if by magic she catches up overnight and sleeps till 6.30 again!
I am not suggesting you go straight to a 30-min am nap, as your lo sleeps more than mine at the moment, but I hope you get the gist! I would try keeping her up longer before 1st nap, maybe restrict that to 1 hr and the afternoon one to 1.5hrs and see how you go. Remember it took us a few weeks to get it right, so hang on in there xxxxx