Anyone had to cap the nap at 16 months?

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Is there anyone out there with a lsn LO who has had to cap the nap at 16 months, or thereabouts?  Jack has always been pretty poor at napping, but pretty good at self regulating - he'd nap anywhere from 40 minutes - 1hr 20ish, depending on how tired he was.  He'd generally do longer naps on the days immediately after nursery, and shorter naps towards the end of the week and as long as we did a slightly EBT on short nap days he'd average 11 hrs at night.  No two days were the same, but he always got 11.5-12hrs sleep overall and if he had a short nap one day, he'd have a longer one the day after and it would all even out.

Just recently, he's started doing much longer naps, which has meant the return of EW for us.  We've had a few days where he's napped over 2 hrs and then EW'd the following morning.  The only night he's slept past 6am this week is immediately following the only day where he slept 1hr 10 instead of 1hr 30 (capped).  He's happy to be woken and I'm confident he's getting enough sleep overall, but he does better on longer nights - and so do I! 

Has anyone else had to cap naps at less than 1hr 30 at this age?  My daughter was on about 1hrs day sleep (capped) after 18 months and Jack is more lsn than her so I'm not surprised.  It's just new for him to have to cap cos he's never normally napped for that long, so I would be interested in others experiences....  And if you were capping at this age, when did NNDs start for you, just out of interest?

[TB9]

Yes!  We have been capping dd2s nap for months now!  Right now she gets her best night with a 1hr nap   I will let her sleep up to 1hr15min though if I think she needs it.  If I didnt wake her, she would sleep 2hrs for nap and stay up until 10pm

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Thanks tink - I knew I could rely on you As you know, Jack has not generally been a good napper, so this is new for him.  Previously though, I'd say averaged 1 - 1hr 15 long naps and we were getting good nights with that.  Anything longer than 1.5hrs though and we get nws and ews, so I just need to find what works for him I guess.  It just feels wrong waking him when I've never really had to do it before! I think I'll try capping at 1hr 15 at home this week and see how that goes.

Out of interest, what sort of A times is your dd2 doing now?  Jack still prefers a long morning, so is up at 6 - 6.30 (if he's not EWing), and naps at 1. Anything earlier and his naps shorten to 35-40 minutes and we end up in yet another UT/OT loop. Our second A is generally 4.5 - 5 hrs after a good nap, though I tend to just do a set nap and vary bedtime by 15 minutes according to day and nap length. I know your dd always preferred a longer afternoon rather than morning but otherwise their A's are often similar...

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

DD3 is 11 months today and I have been capping her nap for quite some time! Today I made a huge mistake by letting her nap for an hour after a 12 hr night (normally she does 10.5/11 but had done 2 hrs of swimming so was very tired!). Just managed to get her tosleep 1 hr 45 min after her usual bedtime - probably should have done a 30-45 min nap. Her nap is usually an hour, sometimes I let her go longer if we will be out in the evening but she is a real trooper.

[TB9]

DD2 is doing 6hrs am A, 1hr-1hr15min nap, then 6-6.5hrs pm A.  Her pm A hasnt gotten much longer because the nap is capped now.  If I let her sleep for a full nap she would be up for 7-8hrs A in the pm!

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Just a quick update on this - I did a week of naps capped at 1hr 15 but still got very variable nights with a lot of early starts.  Then we had a (planned) late night with a long nap and night the following day.  Since then J has pretty much gone back to self capping his nap at around 50 minutes. I've capped at 1hr 5 once (in the car - and he woke up laughing ). This week we've consistently had 11hr + nights so I think around 1hrs day sleep is what he needs.

Thanks for sharing,  you two.  It's always reassuring to know there are other LOs around who aren't doing 2hr plus naps at this age! NNDs next?!   

[TB9]

Lol, actually cant wait for no nap days!  At least she will be in bed before 8:30pm!

She is now down to 45min nap, with up to 7hr morning A and about 5.5hr pm A.  So I am sure J won't be sticking with 1hr naps for long 

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Actually, he's done 45 minute naps the past 2 days...... I'm looking forward to being done with naps too, or at least at the point where he's ok with half an hour now and then.  I hate naps really,  they're just a faff and a restriction.  Looks like jack thinks the same though And yes, the shorter days will be nice too!

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I look forward to NNDs too! Now we have daycare in the mix (she is a bit more tired there but one day they let her nap so much she had an 8 hr night!!!) and we are doing 1.5/2 hr long park trips right before bed to wear her out. They wont be pleased when I tell them to drop her nap.

[LovelyLilyandJack]

We have that with daycare too.  Jack gets more tired there and sleeps longer which he's ok with if it's just for a bit longer but we've also had days of 1hr 45 / 2hr naps and a 5am start the next day!  I've just started asking them to cap at 1hr 15, and we're capping at 1hr at home and that's working well so far.