bedtime getting later for 1 year old

[Little Dot]

Hi,

Just after a bit of advice from anyone who has experienced anything similar to this.
My 1 year old has started waking a little later in the mornings recently which obviously is great for us as she was such an early bird (5.30/6am sometimes). She would stay awake for about 3 hours, have a nap, stay awake another 3-3 1/2 hours, have her 2nd nap and the stay happily awake for about 3 1/2-4 hours and be ready for bed at 7 or just before.

This slightly later waking means her naps have been pushed later so her morning one is around 10 ish and because she can manage to stay awake for 4 hours after she wakes from this nap, she isn't ready for the next until about 3. She has about an hour. The problem is that since this has happened she is having real difficulty getting to sleep at the adjusted bedtime of 7.30 because I just don't think she is quite tired enough. It's taking lots of fidgeting, moaning and eventually standing in the cot crying and shouting for me until she crashes out at 8 ish (the time I imagine she is really ready for sleep). I think this is too late really. I would prefer no later than 7/7.30.
I am wondering if something simple like letting her only have a half hour in the afternoon would help. She isn't ready for 1 nap yet because she is absolutely ready for that 10am nap and because she is so active, she definitely needs something to get her through the afternoon. In other words she is still showing plenty of sleepy signs.
Shorter morning or afternoon nap maybe? Any other ideas?
Thanks so much.

[15milner]

At around this age, Ds started to get later and later for the pm nap and it started to impinge on bedtime.

I knew that many people work on dropping the morning nap and just going for one after lunch, which *I* didn't like the idea of.  So I worked on stretching out the morning.  I gave a beaker of milk as a small snack at around 10 and got to naptime of 11am.  He slept for a couple of hours, while I went round doing all the housework type stuff.  We had lunch together and then the rest of the afternoon.  that protected bedtime of 7.30.

We kept that timings until about 2 months ago, when being almost 2 he wasn't ready for sleep at 11, so we now have lunch at 12, and sleeps from 1-3ish. It took me AGES to accept this change but I've got used to it now.

Alex

[Aarismom]

I think he might be ready to start transitioning to 1 nap a day.

You can use Alex's suggestion and keep a late morning nap instead of an early pm nap, or you can start pushing the am nap back to around noonish and keep it there for awhile until you feel he's capable of staying up until 1 pm or so. The afternoon nap, as it is, can either be eliminated or shortened to be only 45 mins (a cat nap).

OR, you could start shortening the am nap to no more than 45-1 hr, and try for a nice long afternoon nap, eventually eliminating the morning nap.

Basically you have a few options here. Just do what you feel is the best course to make the transition. It doesn't have to happen in 1 week. It doesn't have to take a month. It can take 2-3 months or more if you're comfortable with it, based on his reaction to the change.

There is a thread somewhere recent in the nap forum with a long discussion of transitioning to 1 nap, and there is a thread at the top of the nap forum that discusses it.

Good luck!

*HUGS*
Sonya =P