1 yrs old, 1 nap, 1 hour - help!

[aubrey]

My son is 14 months old and over the past week or so has dropped his morning nap.  He's never been an extremely long napper; when he took 2 naps, they'd each be about 1 1/2 hrs at best.  But, I don't know if I can survive on one, one hour long nap!  It's been taking him about 30 - 45 minutes to fall asleep.  He'll talk and play most of the time and just fuss a little bit right before he falls asleep.  When he wakes up, he's grumpy and clingy.  I've tried going in right when I hear him wake up to help him fall asleep.  I'll rub his back and talk softly and he'll lie still for about 5 minutes and then jump up and start talking.  I just feel frustrated because I don't get very much down time during the day and then I have to deal with a grumpy baby all afternoon.  Here's our typical day.... Can anyone offer any suggestions?

7-7:30 Wake up
8:00 Breakfast
9:30 Snack
11:30 Lunch
12-12:30 Go down for nap
1-2 Actually asleep
2:30 Snack
5:00 Dinner
6:00 Wind-down (bath, story, milk)
6:30-7 Asleep for the night

[Layla]

You might want to try an earlier nap. Usually when they transition to 1 nap, they can only manage about 4.5hrs A time before nap & slightly longer after nap... so him taking a long time to fall asleep could be because he is overtired by 12.30pm.

Also I wouldn't go in if he wakes earlier (unless he is crying)... try leaving him there & he might fall back asleep himself.

He's in the transition phase at the moment & it could be that skipped the morning nap for a few days but is still not ready for 1 nap. You might want to try offering him a morning nap at 10am & if he's not asleep by 10.30am then try for 1 nap around 11.30am but if does fall asleep in the morning then wake him up 30mins later & offer an afternoon nap about 3hrs later.
So somethine like this:
7am - wakes
10-10:30 - morning nap
1.30-3pm - afternoon nap
7pm - bedtime (to be asleep by 7.30pm)

He's also doing 12+hrs at night & at this age 13hrs is about the av (nap & nightsleep) so it could be that 1hr is all he needs (or can do). I know its hard to push bedtime if he only slept an hour but thats another thing worth giving a go.... you only really need 11hrs at night & 2hr nap.... so either consider waking him up earlier or push his bedtime about 15-20mins later (& not let him sleep in the morning).

Sorry I hope my rambling makes sence.... let me know if you have any q's
Layla

[aubrey]

Thank you so much, those were really good suggestions.  I didn't realize how much sleep they need at this age and so I've been pushing his bedtime earlier to compensate for his short naps.  What you said made sense though, that maybe because he's sleeping so much at night, that he doesn't need longer naps.  I tried putting him to bed a bit later tonight and I'm going to go for an earlier nap time tomorrow.  We'll see how it goes.  Thanks again!

[Layla]

Keep me posted.... I always recommend an earlier bedtime if nap is short but maybe you could try to find that balance without him getting overtired,

Also wanted to say that when Isabella first made the transition to 1 nap she also took 1hr naps & did 12hrs at night. It took me a while to find the right balance... if you see sleepy/tired signs in the morning as early as 10am perhaps you could still try for a morning nap (but shorten it) so that he is still tired enough for a pm nap

There is a support thread on the 2-1 nap switch.... lots of mummies going through the same thing. Have a read through it if you get the chance https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=98011.0

[elmarie]

Hi Aubrey,

My dd has also now transitioned  to 1 nap and is doing 1h for her nap time as well.  She also does a 12 h night .  It seems common when they transition.  As Layla says it does take time.  It has been 2 months now and we are still not ready to start moving her naps later so I think you need to be patient as it is a slow process.  our routine at the moment is:

6ish wake up
11ish nap
6ish sleep

I do wi/wo if the nap is shorter than 1h to extend it to force dd to go back to sleep.  On the odd occasion it doesn't work, then I put dd into bed and asleep by 5.30pm...