1 year old 40 minute napper...how and when to switch to one nap?!?!?

[Sungrl]

My DD Zoey has been taking two 40 minute naps since she was around 3 months old.  For a short time, she would take a 1.5 hour nap in the AM, but she's been back to 40 minute naps for a few months now.  I tried everything to extend her naps when she was younger, but after many months of that, I gave up.  She's one year old now and some days refuses to take her PM nap.  Obviously, when she does that she is VERY cranky in the evening, having only slept 40 minutes in the morning!  I'm just very unclear as to how and when I will switch to one nap if she continues having such short naps!  What if she ends up with only ONE 40 minute nap??

Her routine these days looks something like this (I've just gone back to work and she's at a dayhome most weekdays)

7am wake up and nurse
8am breakfast
9:45 small snack
10 or 10:30 nap for 40 minutes
12 lunch
2:30 small snack
3:00 nap for 40 minutes
4:00 another small snack (she loves food)
6:00pm dinner
7:00 bath,massage, PJs, story, nurse
7:30 asleep

If she refuses to go down for her PM nap I usually have her asleep in bed by 7pm.

Anyone have any experience with transitioning a short napper to one nap?  I'm not in a hurry to have her taking one nap, but if she would nap longer only once a day that would be GREAT!

TIA
Shannon

[Layla]

If she's refusing the pm nap on 40mins, you could try 30mins am nap & pm nap around 3hrs later. Otherwise I would keep her up until 11-11.30am & offer her 1 nap. The nap "should" extend in time or you could try w2s. Usually when they consolidate naps it becomes 1 long nap...

If she wakes at 40mins & still seems tired (which she probably will), I would do wi/wo or pd to help extend that nap. If she's quiet then I would leave her there for anothe 20-30mins to see if she will go back to sleep.

How is she put to sleep? Is she rocked or anything? Sounds like she's unable to put herself back to sleep & maybe its prop related... or it could just be that she needs less sleep that the av toddler .

[Sungrl]

The last few days I have tried putting Zoey down at 1pm.  The first day, she slept for 1 hour, and I then I brought her into my bed and she fell back to sleep for another 20 or 30 minutes (I wasn't expecting this).  The second day she slept for 30 minutes.    Today I am going to try 12:30 and see if that is any better.

Yesterday I tried getting her back to sleep but I had no luck.  She goes to a dayhome during the day and I can't ask the DCP to do wi/wo because she has other kids to care for.  I have no problem leaving her fuss or cry for a while to see if she'd go back to sleep, but yesterday she didn't.

She is not rocked or anything to sleep, she goes down on her own...usually with no fuss.  I don't go to her at night if she cries and she is able to get herself back to sleep then too.

I know she is tired when she only has one short nap.  By bedtime she's a mess and she often wakes in the night or very early in the morning.  I know she needs more sleep.

[yaya]

hug hun Just wanted to offer my support as I too have had a fair run of bad nappin If she is consistently waking 40mins i would def give w2s a try, even if u just do it weekends when u have her. HAve u asked her carer what she does, eg when she wakes?
IS she very spirited?with ds anything would wake hjim as he was transitioning into another sleep cycle and zoe sounds very similar...

[Layla]

I would probably try a nap earlier than 12.30 & try w2s at the same time. At the start when they transition to 1 nap they can only handle about 4.5hrs A time. I agree with giving w2s a go.

She might not be ready for 1 nap just yet.. you could try 30mins am & longer pm 3hrs later (with w2s again)

[skatty]

Hi Shannon, I have the same problem, Leorh has never napped consistantly and has recently been having 2 x 40 mins. For the last few days I have been putting her down after about 4 hours A time and she has been sleeping about 1hr10/20, brilliant fo her, I have then put her down about 4hrs later and shes having another 40 mins. I plan to keep pushing that AM nap up towards lunchtime then eventually drop the PM nap because if I shorten the AM nap there is no guarantee she will have a long PM nap and then the afternoon stretch is too long and results in OT. I have also been making the mornings busy without being OS and making sure she gets lots of fresh air, it seems to be working 

[Sungrl]

The problem is that I have just put her into a dayhome for the first time and she is not dealing with the seperation from me very well, so it's hard since I am not with her all day and the DCP is having so many problems with her other than napping.   She normally will go down for 2 40 minute naps for me with no problem, but at the dayhome she is only taking one nap, and that HAD been at 10:30-11:15am.   Even though the DCP tried to put her down again at 3:00 or 3:30, she refused to go to sleep.  So, she was a total mess by dinner time and completely overtired.

Zoey is definitely a spirited little girl.  I tried w2s with her when she was younger and it never worked (did it many, many times).  I don't think the DCP would be able to do w2s anyway, she's having so many issues with Zoey adjusting at all, I don't want to ask anything more of her!  So, if she goes down at 11:30 or so, she will sleep for MAYBE one hour, and then refuse to go down for the second nap at the dayhome.  If I wait until I pick her up it's already 4:45 and too late for her to be napping.  I am really confused about what to do...

[skatty]

Do you think you could just get her to have a 15 min catnap, I read on this site that that should give them an hour and a half to get them through dinner and bedtime routine and 20 mins equals 2hrs and so on. Leorah has been taking 40 mins some afternoons and not waking until  after 16.30 but can still be asleep before 7pm. I hope this can help, it's a big change for them to go into daycare isn't it? Zoey sounds so much like Leorah with her spiritedness and I think they are about the same age, we have always had short naps too but on the bright side I think we will find the actual transition to one nap easier than those who have always taken long regular naps because we are used to the take one nap at a time approach 

BTW Leorah missed her PM nap today partly becauseof a bad cold and cough and partly because we were walking home with the plan she'd catnap in the pram and I bumped into a friend who kept talking and L was so nosy she went past the nap window so after an hour of trying she has now gone to bed at 6pm with no dinner and an extra big bottle of milk with protein powder  Hello NW and EW  Do you do early bedtimes? They are great for a short period to overcome OT but we get caught up in 13-14 hour nights and no room for day sleep if it goes on too long 

Anyway lots of luck, Katt