Any tips to prevent nightime problems with the 2-1 nap switch

[Sarahboh]

After waiting for quite a while and wondering when Ella would go to one nap, I think she has finally given me two days of notice Everyday during her afternoon nap for the last two days she has been quite unhappy to go down, yelling loudly for me after leaving (which she never does) and wanting to basically get out and play again. I see by the boards she is a little older than most converting to 1 nap (16months in a week). I think it is time to switch. My question is I don't want her to get into a overtired state and then it cause problems with the night sleeping. Currently her routine is as follows (since about 7 months)

7:30am wake
10:20-11:45 am nap
3:20-4:20 pm nap
7:00pm bed

We have tried the one nap with her a few times and by 11:30 getting lunch into her before the nap she was really tired, rubbing food in her eyes, etc (I have never seen her like that). On those days she has been in bed by 12pm and slept until 2:30-3pm and made bedtime a little earlier like 6:45pm.

Should I just do it cold turkey and start putting her to bed after her lunch at 12pm and will this disrupt her night sleep by starting an overtired cycle?

Thanks for any info!
Sarah

[LeesMom]

Hi Sarah,
My DD went down to 1 nap at about 14 1/2 mos. or so and we struggled with the same issues (and still are to some extent!). She started refusing her morning nap, so after trying unsuccessfully to keep it in place for a couple weeks, I ended up just going cold turkey and keeping her up till 12:00 or so, giving her lunch beforehand. For the first 1 1/2 weeks or so, she would take her nap but only sleep for 40 min.  . We put her to bed a little earlier on those days, but not super early. After that week and a half, things were GREAT for about 2 weeks and she would take 2 or 2.5 hour naps in the afternoon and sleep 11 hours at night. That was a dream! Things got thrown off by having company in the house and we started an overtired cycle which we're still dealing with now, but in our case it really didn't take long for her to adapt to the 1 nap per day. If your dd has previously taken 2.5 or 3 hour naps starting at 12, then you probably won't have the 40 min. nap issues that we originally had. In our case, the amount of awake time our dd needed and could handle after switching to 1 nap increased really quickly. Less than 2 months ago, she could wake from a 2 hour nap at 4:30 and be ready to sleep again at 7:45. Now, she really needs to be awake at least 5 hours or so to be able to fall asleep easily. Not sure if this is the case with everyone, but that's what happened with our dd. I also took one of the suggestions I found on these boards and did a quiet reading time with our dd during her previous morning nap time (she had only been sleeping 30-40 min. in the mornings before refusing the nap completely). This seemed to help carry her through till lunch. Good luck and hope this was sort of helpful 

[imsmum]

Tracy sets out in Baby Whisperer Solves All your problems a method to transition if your lo will do 2 naps which basically was to push the am nap later and later until it started to lengthen at the same time offering a short cat nap in the afternoon. 

If your lo won't do that, you don't really have much choice but to push the nap to about 11:30 and then do a super early bedtime--like 6 pm to avoid overtiredness.   I think the rule of thumb when they first transition is to get them into bed 4.5 to 5 hours after they wake from their nap.

[Sarahboh]

Thanks for all the tips! My husband actually tried Ella out on one nap today while I was out at work. It seemed to have went well, but by late this afternoon she has been sneezing and sniffling so I think she is coming down with a cold? Could that have been why the last two days she was resisting her afternoon nap (morning and night sleep were the same)?  Today my hubby said he put her down after her lunch at 12pm, he said she seemed tired but not too bad, then she slept until 2:20pm. In a great mood until she was put to bed at 6:45 which seemed good (other than the cold that I think is on the way). If she is sick tomorrow should I stick to the one nap or just let her have the two she normally would? TIA Sarah

[Sarahboh]

We have ended up switching to one nap now, it seems to be going okay. Stacy, I did try shortening the morning nap to preserve the afternoon, woke Ella up after 1/2 hour but she didn't take an afternoon nap and was a wreck by the evening. So the next day we tried one nap and actually for the last 3 days, she has did well. Put her down by 12pm and she in sleeping about 2-2.5 hours, one of the days she cried out at 45 minutes but seemed to still be sleeping as didn't hear from her for another 1+ hours. I am still pretty concerned she may get into an overtired state while transitioning here, but I am going to persist with the 1 nap and a little earlier to bed. Here is what we are doing right now (oh yeah and she has a mild cold right now too).
7:30wake and sippy milk
8:00-8:15 breakfast
11:30 lunch
12-(2-2:30nap)
snack and sippy milk
5:00 Dinner and sippy milk
6;15 Bath
6;45 Bottle and Bed

Please keep your fingers crossed that I don't get her overtired 
Sarah

[Sarahboh]

Thanks Stacy, I will definitely keep an eye on that as that is what I would like to avoid. I was following you on another thread and responded to you once, how are you feeling on the medication these days? Hopefully better. Thanks again!
  Sarah