How does my early waker drop down to one nap?

[Trentsmommy]

Hi Everyone,
My ds is 17 months, and we've always had nap issues.  I think he's ready to go to one nap.  He currently wakes at about 5:15.  If I give him a bottle he will go back in his crib til about 5:45.  Sometimes sleeps sometimes he doesn't.  He has a nap at about 9, and then another one around 1:15.  He used to sleep an hour, and sometimes the second nap would be an hour and 15 minutes.  (That's the best it's ever been.)  Lately, I started trying to move his first nap up, just by about 15 minutes every three days. I did this because he had a few days of pm nap refusal with my mom, who watches him 4 days a week.  Now he'll only nap for 30 minutes, and yesterday afternoon, even his second nap was only 40 minutes.  How do change his naps when he gets up so early?

His bedtime is 7pm with a very consistent routine-we have no problems with bedtime.  If he wakes at night (from his teeth) he turns on his music toy and goes back to sleep.  I make sure he's not hungry before naps, so I'm sure it's not that.
Should I just try keeping him until 11:00 or so?
Thanks for the help, Gail

[Layla]

Gail, I would maybe leave the morning nap where it is but limit it to 45mins so that he is tired enough to take the afternoon one. If he is still fighting the pm nap, then cut the morning nap to 30mins, then 20mins until he refuses it altogether. My dd never took a long morning nap so my only option was to cut her morning nap. Other toddlers take a nice long morning nap (like 1.5-2hrs) and then have a short catnap in the afternoon but that never worked for us.

If he is still fighting the afternoon nap even with the morning nap being short, then try to keep him awake in the morning until around 11ish. Eventually push his A time until you have him napping at noon. If possible, get him out of the house in the morning, provide lots of stimulation (makes it easier for them to "forget" the tiredness). You can then give him a big snack before nap time or maybe offer 1/2 lunch and the other 1/2 when he wakes up. Have a long winddown before nap time to get him nice and sleepy & hopefully he'll take a good nap. He might not straight away be taking a long nap so bring the bedtime forward to 6-6.30pm. Don't be afraid to put him down earlier for the night. If you keep him up until his usual bedtime then it will cause overtiredness, which can cause night wakings and early morning wake ups. You can push the bedtime back to 7pm once he is comfortable on 1 nap & it is taken around noon.

Most are on 1 nap at 17months so its worth giving it a go.
hth & let me know what you think
Layla

[Trentsmommy]

Thanks- I will try  your suggestions.  He woke at 6 today, so I waited until 11:00 to put him down, just based on some other post I had read, and it did help.  He slept an hour and 20 minutes, which is much better than 30 min.  Of course, he slept from 11-12:20, so I don't know if I should try a catnap at 3 or not.
Thanks again!  I'll let you know how it goes.

[Trentsmommy]

I forgot-one more question, when he is down to one nap, how long should it be?  Is an 1.5 hour long enough, or does it need to be two hours?
Thanks!

[Layla]

You can try a catnap but if he is not having any of it, then put him to bed really early like 6.30pm. When he goes to 1 nap, it averages about 1.5-2hrs. So its not a concrete 2 hrs, 1.5 is ok.... most do 13hrs in total so 1.5hrs nap and the rest at night. Mine takes 1.5hrs usually and occasionally she'll do 2 or even 2.5hrs.

Good luck & keep posting
Layla