14mth old going from 2 to 1 - what have I done wrong!!!

[Jenna's Mum]

Hello all, I've been reading through your threads as I'm having trouble with the 2-1 nap transition with my 16 month old dd.  Rinajack we do the lunch 1 and lunch 2 thing too, here is our routine at the moment:

7am wake
7:30am milk and oatmeal
9:30am milk and snack
11:30am lunch 1 (cheese, toast, ham)
12:30 - 2:30pm nap
3pm milk and snack
5:30pm dinner
6pm bath
6:30pm milk
7-7:30pm bed

DD sleeps through the night so I have no complaints there, but since trying to go to one nap she's started having 45 mins nap.  I am trying to get her used to being in her crib for the full two hours so when she wakes up (upset) I go in and lay her back down and tell her it's still sleepy time.  Sometimes she'll lay there quietly for a while and others she'll just keep standing up upset.  Do you think she's still trying to get used to the fact that she's only taking one nap?  Will this eventually work itself out if I remain consistant?  Any advice is much appreciated, thanks.

[rinajack]

Try doing that the nap earlier, 11:30, or 12.  then an earlier bedtime if need be.  She may be overtired by the nap time you have.

Otherwise, you could try riding it out since nights are unaffected- but watch very careflly for NW or early waking....

[Jenna's Mum]

Thanks but I neglected to mention that we were doing the nap at 11:30am for a couple of weeks, then noon, and now this week we're moving to 12:30pm.  I suddenly realized maybe if the nap is too early she could possibly subconsciously think it's the first nap of two and maybe that is fooling her into shortening it... thinking she's getting another one in the afternoon?  Anyway, so today she had about an hour and 5 mins, woke up immediately upset but I gave her a few mins to calm down and she did.  She dozed off for about another 15 mins and then woke totally happy.  We're not quite at the two hour mark yet but hopefully we're getting there.  Thanks!

[rinajack]

It is quite common for them to not nap long enough until they adjust....and eventually learn to nap longer...45 mins is a short starting point, but if she is coping, then persevere.

[anne2007]

Hi
JUst thought I would come back and update how things are - we reverted back to 2 naps and our days and nights are much better.  No early wakings - more between 6am and 6.30am which is the norm for us.  Today is the first day for a while where LO refuses to go down for AM nap, so will just have one nap now.  OUr problem with the one nap thing was she wasnt extending her sleep at all and then overtiredness impacted on the night and wake time in the morning.  So we will keep rolling as we are for now. Thank you for all the replies, much appreciated!

[rinajack]

It could go back and forth for a while.  Just keep watching her cues, and her nights...and adapt accordingly.  Hugs

[samijoe]

Hi, just wanted to chime in,

I think that since she is waking so early, you really need two naps, but make the first short.
so lets say
asleep 7pm
wakes at 5am (leave in crib til desired time 6/6:30)
do 30min nap 4.5hrs later 9:30-10
long nap at 1pm til 2:30/3

hopefully once you get out of the OT phase
you can have something more like:
wake 6:30/7
nap 5.5hrs later 12/12:30-2/2:30
bed 7:30

HTH

I ENTIRELY AGREE WITH THIS ADVICE!

This way works well too...because you can let lo decrease the am nap (so the shorter sleep will make lo want to sleep earlier for nap2).  Once 30mins stops working, you can try 20mins....

Eventually nap1 and nap2 occur at the same time as one nap.

I really would go back to two naps for awhile, or you will never get out of this overtired rut.  That's only my opinion though....


hth
sami

[Silas Mum]

'Just wanted to attest to the fact that keeping the morning nap is what works for us.  We were doing the 30 minute am nap, but LO started having early wake ups, so we cut down the am to 20 minutes and make sure that he wakes by 345pm in the pm (any longer and the early wake up starts again)

So, our day looks something like this :

730am - wake
745am - 8oz. milk
900am - breakfast
1030am - 20 minute nap
1200pm - lunch
130pm - 5oz. milk
200pm - nap, wake no later than 345pm
500pm - supper
630pm - 8oz. milk
730pm - bed

IMO, don't be too quick to go to 1 nap.  If 2 naps are working great for you, as they are for me at this time, why would you change it until you see more solid cues that LO is ready for 1, kwim?  Going back and forth between 1 and 2 naps, I think, is very confusing for the LO and promotes overtiredness.  The idea of one nap is not that it starts out short and progressively gets longer ... that just means you'll have one overtired LO.

HTH,
Allison
xx

[AJs Mom]

I'll chime in with my two bits too.

On a personal note, here's what worked for us.

I tried AJ on one nap when I thought he was showing me was ready, but it wasn't good.  He was taking a long time to settle (overtired), and he was only sleeping 40 min to 60 min instead of about two hours. 

So I went back to two naps.  It was a little hard because his A times were constantly getting longer and it was pushing his afternoon nap later and later, so much so, that it was interferring with bedtime.

My only option was to keep the morning shorter, like 30 min.  (It varied based on his wake time, but...
It looked something like this...
7:30am wake
10:45 - 11:15 nap
2:30 - 3:30 or 4:00 (whenever he woke)
bedtime 8:00pm

A couple weeks later, he was refusing to go down for the afternoon nap as his awake time just kept getting longer and longer and longer and uggg, longer.  That's when I thought to try the 1 nap again.

It worked.

Now, I find that regardless of his wake time, he's ready for a nap at 12:30pm every day, and naps until 2:30 or so.  I'll wake him if it's 3:00pm, because if he gets more sleep than that, it interrupts his night sleep.

I always think of him as so easy going, but then again, he's kind of particular about his sleep.

Good luck with whichever method you choose.

Do what works best for your LO.

I did.

Sonja C

[samijoe]

Yep, there is one right way for your lo....

you'll find it!

Just takes a bit of experimenting is all!   


sami