1 year old ... ready for 1 nap?

[sa]

DS is going to be 1 year old in a few days time

ok .. we are having nightwakings, early waking, long am nap, refuse pm nap here for the past 7 days or so. think we are facing 1 nap soon ??

this is what it look like today:

5am - woke (instead of 6am)
8.30am - his usual am nap time.
11.30am - woke by DH

3pm - put to bed. singing for 30 mins and slept by 3.30pm

5pm - woke up crying.

8pm - his usual bedtime. again singing, fussing for 30mins before sleep.

read a lot of posts regarding 2 to 1 nap. most mums seem to drop their lo's am nap.
i would actually want to keep his morning nap as DS seems to love his morning sleep... so does DH !!

i think DS is not quite ready for 1 nap just yet. what do i do in this transitional period?

please help and advise. TIA

[Meg's Mom]

Hi, happy birthday dear LO, Happy birthday dear LO!

We went to 1 nap at 13mos, so maybe i can help.  You said he is refusing pm nap, but in the schedule you posted he was happy for 30min and then slept for 1.5hrs.  Can you tell me what he has been doing (in as much detail as you can) the past few days?

I am not sure yet, from what you posted, if he is ready for 1 nap - but i can say you need think of his sleep, day and night, as a total.  DS is getting lots of day sleep - 4.5 day and 10 night = 14.5 which is right on for 1 yrs old.  Let me double check that...yup. 
12months -  11 1/4 at night and 2 1/2 (2 naps) = 13 3/4 total

I think if you want to help his stay on the 2 naps, then you will need to start gradually shaving 15min off the am nap every couple days.  That will help w/ the pm nap refusal.

Hope that helps, let me know if you have any questions.

[sa]

Michelle, thanks for your reply.

sam is having 2 naps a day since 5.5 month. am nap at 8.30am, pm nap at 2pm. give or take half an hour. both nap 2 hours. night sleep always 10 hours. (actually i wake him up at 6am, because i need to go to work at 8.30am).

lately when sam is put to bed at 2pm, he cries. so try again half an hour later, still refuse ... some days he doesn't give in until closer to 4pm. this only happens for his pm nap.

so you see, late pm nap means he is not tired by bedtime. then some nights, he woke middle of the night playing which he hasn't done so for a long long while. we have 5am wake up call for a few day, then he sleeps 3 hours in the morning.

question is, is it possible to drop pm nap instead of am nap? if dropping pm nap, how do we work towards that? 

[Aarismom]

Heh, mine is almost 9 months old and having problems with her second nap...similar story. She's also been waking at 3 am or there abouts and playing, which she's also never done. She's up to 3+ hours of "A" time.

Michelle is right, if you shave off the amt. of time your lo sleeps in the am by waking him up after an 1.25-1.5 hours, he should be (hopefully) tired enough to take another nap by 1 or 2 pm.

I'm trying that with my lo as well. She's been shifting the time in the am she gets up (thankfully) so our entire day has to be shifed up to compensate. Her second nap has been falling way late though, to the point where it would really interfear with bedtime (after 4 pm). It's been suggested in other literature, as well as other moms on this site, that cutting the am nap shorter really does help.

If you drop the PM nap, a lot of lo's get really overtired by bedtime, hence the reason it's advisable to keep the pm nap. But I know some lo's function better on an am nap rather than a pm nap when it's time to drop it. When it is time, you can always try to push the am nap closer to the pm (maybe around 11:30 ish/noon), and drop the pm nap and see if that helps.

Just some additional thoughts!

*HUGS*
Sonya =P

[Meg's Mom]

HI, Sonya gave you some great advice.

question is, is it possible to drop pm nap instead of am nap? if dropping pm nap, how do we work towards that?

You can keep the am nap by moving it later in the day, gradually push it 15-30min every few days - if your lo can handle it w/o getting over tired.  I would also recommend to keep offering the pm nap during the transition.  If he does sleep and it is going to be too late then make it a catnap 30-45min.  If he doesn't take the pm nap, then i would also suggest temporarily moving bed time forward (20-30min) so that he isn't overtired.  This may help w/ the early waking.

Ideally you are working towards the 1 nap being between 5-6hrs after wake up.

All LO go thru a stage where 2 is too many and 1 isn't enough, so expect a few bumbs in the road.

Hope that helps.

[sa]

the past 2 days is getting worst. we have 5am waking (woke up screaming), am nap waking every hour screaming, pm nap wake up every hour screaming......

when he is out of his cot he is happy and content. so i am not sure if he is teething, he's got 7 teeth .. that is about 2 months he hasn't got any new teeth.

i don't think it's sep. anx. as i am sleeping in the same room, and can hear him suddenly wake from sleep to scream !! is he over-tired? how to break this cycle? if i extend his A time, afraid it will make him more tired ..... it's so confusing.....

[Meg's Mom]

have you ever tried awake to sleep?  have a look at the sticky at the top of this forum...it may help break the cycle.  But you also need to try your best to keep him from getting overtired...maybe earlier bedtime??