Short am long pm transition to one nap

[Kfro]

Hi,

My ds2 is in the 2-1 transition and I'm struggling to work out the best way forward. My ds1 did kind am short pm and the second nap disappeared by itself as his first a time was pushed but I can't see the same thing happening with the long nap being in the afternoon ( ww are doing it this way out of necessity as it fits with ds1's routine and nursery drop offs). I get that the first nap gets shorter and the a time following it also gets shorter but what happens once that first nap is only ten minutes? Do you then just bring the long nap much earlier and hope for the best? Ds2 is pretty low sleep needs and always wants a full a time even after a 30 minute cat nap so I have no idea how much to shorten the a time by as the cat nap is reduced. Can anyone share their experiences with the transition when following a short am long pm routine? Do most people end up swapping to long am short pm before finally being on one nap? I'm worried he won't do a long first nap as he always wakes himself after 40 minutes.

[Lindsay27]

We are in the transition too, and what I do is usually allow a first A time of somewhere between 3-3.5hrs (it has to be enough so that she'll fall asleep), and then I cap the AM nap at 30-45mins, and then the long PM nap is roughly 3hrs later.  So for example:

WU 6:30
Nap 10-10:45
Nap 2-3:30/4
BT 7

My DD is probably on the higher end of sleep needs, many LOs would need a shorter first nap or a longer A time in between, and possibly even a longer A to BT.  This is just a rough guide, I use her cues to also help me. 

I get that the first nap gets shorter and the a time following it also gets shorter but what happens once that first nap is only ten minutes?

I think with my DS once the morning nap was 20mins we just dropped it and pulled the PM nap earlier, to around noon/12:30 and then pulled BT forward also.

[SarahE]

Hi Kfro,

I don't have any answers but came looking with the same question! How old is your Lo? We are doing the short am long pm transition to fit with daycare - currently going 2 days a week but will be going 5 days in a few months. I've been wondering how the first nap disappears. 

My guess is that when it goes the arvo one gets brought quite a bit earlier and bedtime would follow. I'll be interested in your replies!

[SarahE]

Hi Lindsay27, how old was you lb when transition started and how old when he dropped yo one nap?

[Lindsay27]

My DS was 13 months, he was definitely on the lower side of sleep needs, but more than that he started full time daycare and he refused the morning nap completely there.  So Mon-Fri he did 1 nap but there were occasional times on the weekends at home he would need/revert back to 2 naps to catch up, but for the most part on 1 nap at 13 months.

My DD will be 13 months in a few days and she's also starting full time daycare in a little over a week.  Again we will try to keep the short morning nap, but I fear it will be gone at daycare as well.  She is much higher sleep needs so not entirely sure how it's going to go...probably lots of EBTs and likely revert to 2 naps on weekends as well.

[Kfro]

We are doing a very similar routine to yours at the moment Lyndsey. How do you know what a time to shoot for in the morning once that first cat nap disappears? Do you just go for roughly five hours and hope for the best? At the moment he does 3-3.5 before and after cat nap and then 3 hours before bed. It's a bit crazy that he needs his shortest a time after his long nap but any longer and we get waking a in the first few hours of the night.

[Lindsay27]

Yes when the first nap disappears I generally just try to stretch until 12:30 so that the nap doesn't end too early in the afternoon.  My DD also likes a short A before bed, she just has no capacity to be awake after 7pm lol.