This may be a little long winded and jump around a bit, but please bear with me...
DS is 15 1/2 months old, and we've had nap issues forever. There have been good stretches, especially at about 13 months when he got on a good 2 nap a day schedule... He'd do 1 hr 20 minutes, twice a day. Around that time, I signed him up to start at a "real" day care (instead of the sitter's house) to go Tues-Thurs (like at the sitter's). He was going to start 2 months later, so the sitter thought it would be a good idea for him to take 1 nap at midday occassionally, since that was going to be his only option at his new day care, just to get him a little more used to it. So, for the past couple months, he's had 1-nap days mixed in with mostly 2-nap days, but the one nap days got to be the norm at the sitter's house during the last two weeks he was there. He started at the day care this past week, and of course only got one nap there. 30 minutes the first day, 1 hr 45 min the next two days.
I thought I had a good plan: I'd let him take 2 naps on the 4 days a week that he's home with me, sort of to catch up on his sleep, since he'd take 1 nap the days he was at day care. This past week, I managed to get him asleep by 6:30, which is about an hour earlier than usual, but I knew he needed it to catch up to being "behind" on his sleep. I planned to slowly reduce the number of days per week that he took 2 naps at home until he was on 1 nap a day every day.
My problem is this... He hasn't really given me tired "clues" or "signals" since he was teeny tiny. He's the kind of kid that will just go and go and go, until I start the milk, reading, rocking, etc. to let him know it's time to sleep. Most times, he's asleep pretty quickly, and I am glad I went ahead and initiated the nap, since it usually seems like he's never going to. So, when it comes to deciding if he's "ready for the switch," I can't do like most people suggest and just follow his lead/read his sleep clues/whatever, since he doesn't give me any "hints," even when I know he's tired.
So how do I know when and at what rate to switch him? I tried 2 naps today, but the first was an hour and the second was only 40 minutes, and he woke up crying (which usually means he's OT). After 3 days in a row of 1 nap, can he be getting confused by the 2 naps?
My mom says I should just go ahead and do one nap every day now, but I can't possibly get him in bed by 6:30 every night to make up for it - that was really difficult to do this past week... with working, trying to get from the office to pick him up, dinner and bathtime all smushed together.
Any suggestions or advice? Or am I just rambling? It's hard to tell - my brain is jelly from trying to figure this out and trying to make "Sneaky Chef" purees tonight...
