from 2 to 1 nap - how, when and the bumps

[Kori]

OK. I am on a posting spree... Beth, I am totally going to follow your lead! Tomorrow one nap!! She did great today so why not. That is what I did with every time we changed schedules and it worked. Thank you for posting your schedule. It really helps!

[Hunter & Sithia's mom]

Anytime!!  I never profess to be an expert, so I am glad that I can help with what little I know  :roll:   

I think that imagining what it will be like is usually worse than what it really is like.

Keep us posted!!!!  And good luck.

[Meg's Mom]

Beth - very helpful thanks!  How long before he starting taking a long nap?  You hit the nail on the head, my imagination of how it will be FOREVER is running wild.  I don't do well w/ uncertainity - ha, welcome to parenthood Michelle.  :evil:

Kori - Today was 11.30 but Monday and tomorrow (nursery days) it will be 12.30.  Maybe i should keep it the same.  I'll think I will or at least similiar AND Good luck.  Let us know how it goes.

PS: I have also been putting her to bed apprx 30min earlier and she is waking about the same.

[LindseysMom]

We are still trying for 2 naps a day, some days it happens some days not.  She has been waking around 7:00-8am and going to bed around 8 pm.  Today she took her am nap from 11:00-12:15 and I put her down for her pm nap at 3:00 which she talked until 3:40 when I went to check her and then put her back down as I was going to give her til 4 to fall asleep and she finally fell asleep at 4 and slept til 5:15.  She was not happy with me at all for putting her back down after checking on her and when she woke up I went to get her and she looked right at me in the eyes while I was holding her and she smacked me on my cheek.  Not hard but it kind of shocked me.  Surely she did not mean too?! :shock:   The funny thing is that some days if I put her down before 3 pm it almost seems like she can fall asleep easier for her pm nap even if her A time has been shorter?  She rarely gives tired cues anymore so I kind of just try it and see what happens.  This does really suck.  Also, she is getting so fiesty.  I can hardly change her anymore without her pitching a fit.  Anyone else going through this change in temperament?  Is it just age related with her getting older?

[Keren]

It is all going pear shaped for me at the moment. I started extending his awake time little by little but then he started full on refusing to go down which confused me; had I pushed him too far? or not far enough? So today I pushed him to 11am and he went down ok but still only slept 30mins. Aaaaagh!!! So a car trip it was this afternoon and he slept 45mins in the car and was a big grump for the whole evening.

I think I am going to follow Beth's lead tomorrow and just go cold turkey and give him lunch at 11:30 and put him down around 12 - 12:15. He just isn't giving me any tired signs anymore, like the rest of you are having trouble with too.

Michelle are you finding 12:30 works for Meg?

Cheers
Keren

[CW]

Oh yes, we are in the same boat!  Our pattern the last few days...he wakes at 5amish....talks, moans, then falls asleep again at about 6am til 7am wakeup.  If I can get his nap #1 at 10amish and keep it to only about 1.25-1.5 hrs then we have enough space to get in nap #2. 

Lynne - just like you, I no longer get sleepy cues, and we have a bear of a time with nap #2 if its after 3pm. 

Donovan is only 11 months and I really don't want to go to one nap yet.  It just seems too early.  But then he was only about 5 months old when we ended up dropping the catnap.  That process was a huge headache and took about 1 month to get settled. 

I wonder if there's a connection?  Babies who dropped the catnap earlier...do they go to only one nap sooner?  Curious if you other moms are seeing the same...

[Meg's Mom]

Lynne - wow, what a shock that would be.  Yes, Megan has also had a big change in temperament.  Fighting the car seat, fits/tears on the changing table, etc, etc.   Have a read at new BW toddler’s chapter, in case you missed it the first time.  Tracy talks about testing limits, etc.

Keren - 12.30, 11.30 - doesn't seem to make a difference...but she is soooo tired by 12.30 when I collect her from nursery.  I have to sing to make sure she doesn’t fall asleep in the car.

Small improvement today, she slept for 1.30hr (15min more then any other day this week!).  I read a few posts last night and a few moms said that at first the 1 nap was the same length as the normal am or pm nap and slowly it extended to 2hr+.  This makes sense - even though we know they will get 1 nap - her wee body doesn't yet.  And it takes 2-3 weeks for bio-rhythms to re-set in an infant.  So there is hope yet!

[Hunter & Sithia's mom]

Lynne:

Yup here too for the temperment thing.  Hunter is REALLY difficult to change, unless it is first thing in the morning, while he's still sleepy.  It's just too funny to watch DH try (key word here) to change him ... lol

[Kori]

Michelle I am glad that you saw improvement. Well, we did it today and it was hard. She woke up at 7 and honestly it seemed like she wanted to go to bed at 9 like she used to, but that was when she got up at 6. We finally went shopping for a bit just to keep her awake and doing something. I don't know if we need more toys or what! Poor thing laid her head down on her high chair several times while I tried to feed her some lunch at 11:30 and was too tired to eat. I put her down at 11:45 and she slept for 2 hours and a half!!!! YEAH US!! So we will see how tomorrow goes. She goes to a nursery for two hours in the morning which should get her really tired too. Good luck everyone!

[Meg's Mom]

wooohooo Kori!  Can you send some of that 2hrs my way  :wink:

Good luck tomorrow and to everyone also :!:

[Kori]

OK. I have officially decided that I have pushed too hard. Yesterday I thougt that my dd was really cranky but went ok with the nap. Today was a NIGHTMARE! It was like we should have been on Supernanny! HA! She cried majority of the day and held on to my leg if I wouldn't hold her. Quite strong for a 12 mo. old. Suppsedly she cried the entire time in the nursery too. She did sleep over 2 hours, but constantly rubs eyes. Tomorrow I am going to go back to her ques and see. What are someone else's thought? Cold turkey not a good idea? We were doing so well. I honestly think now that she is just so tired from all these days. Here I think I was getting somewhere...

[Meg's Mom]

Hi Kori

Oh my doesn't sound nice.  Glad she slept 2 hr though.  I agree w/ you, follow her cues and see how it goes.  We went back and forth for about a week or 2.  1nap, 2nap, 1nap, 2, 2, 1 and catnap, 1 - well you get the idea.  Some days she just won't be able to make it, then you will get to a stage where 2 naps doesn't work at all (like we did) and you commit to 1.

Hope that helps.  Good luck!

PS: Megan slept an extra 10min more today, so she is lenghtening her nap time ever so slowly.

[Lilah'sMommy]

Okay, I think we've got the nap thing under control (for now :wink: ).  If I give Lilah a morning nap of less than an hour, starting at 10:00, she has a great afternoon and is ready to take another one of 1.5 to 2 hours at around 2:00 or 2:30.  That's how it has worked out the last few days.  Of course, we haven't had any of the pooping trick this week either.  Hope that's gone for good.

As I suspected, she thinks she only needs one nap, but just can't keep it together until early afternoon (or even late morning).  So this morning catnap seems to be the solution.

Okay, gotta go get her up now!

[Meg's Mom]

Lilah'sMommy - sounds great, that should postpone it for a while.  Does she poop after a certain food?  Megan does, so I was thinking could u move it to a different time in the day.

All - I will be busy all weekend and then on vacation until 17 Oct.  Good Luck everyone - happy napping.

ALSO, since there are soo many questions when riding the 2 to 1 roller coaster.  I would like to start an announcement for the 2 to 1 club -  things like: how do you know if ready or not, ideas, tips, what worked, what didn't, how did you delay it.  Something like we have for teaching sleep to infants.  If you would like to help out, please email me with the following outline/notes:

The problem (either current or past)
what strategies you tried - if it worked or not
Any other helpful tips.[/list:u]
Thanks

[LindseysMom]

Well, Lindsey refused to take her AM nap this morning but I think it was because she was hungry.  She also slept almost 12 hours last night too.  So I got her up and fed her lunch around 12, she played til 1:15 when she started yawning so I gave her some milk and put her down.  She did kind of konk out while nursing but oh well, at least she went to sleep without a fight.  Do you guys think this is just a one time thing and that I should try and go back to 2 naps tomorrow?  It does seem like that if she gets 12 hours of sleep at night she only needs one nap. 

Also, what do you feed your lo for breakfast?  I give Lindsey some cherios to snack on while I am in the shower and then I give her a packet of oatmeal and she gets a cup of water mixed with juice.  She also gets nursed first thing in the am.  Should I give her more for breakfast?