Naps for a 16.5mths old help for

[Poppy & Lily]

a friend!

Hello lovely ladies, wondered if you could help my friend out with her 16.5mths old naps! basically she is not sure how her naps should be now and she is getting into a bit of a pickle, so i said i would post on here on her behalf.

Her DD for the last 2 weeks has been waking up at 5am and she is also taking up to 45-1hr to fall asleep at bedtime, she is also sometimes taking up to 45mins to fall asleep for her lunchtime nap!

Her sleep routine is

5amwake (but will be settled back till about 6.15am)

9.15/9.30am-1st nap-1hr (she can sometimes take up to 30mins to fall asleep)
but she always wakes her up no later then 10.30am

1.30pm-pm nap-can take a while to fall asleep, wakes her up no later then 3pm

Bedtime 6.45/7pm-takes a while to fall asleep unless she has had a short pm nap

My first thought was that maybe she is ready to go to 1 nap but i wanted to ask the professionals also it seems she still has her awake time as 3hrs this seems a bit short for a 16mth old!

Anyway would really appreciate it if you could outline what her dd routine should look like and hopefully she can stop the 5am wake ups and playing around at bedtimes!

much appreciated!

xxxx

[momofclaire]

Hi Poppy,

It is possible that she is ready for one nap. If your friend isn't sure about that I would try a very short am nap and a longer pm nap.  You are right that 3 hours of A time isn't enough.  She probably just isn't tired enough.

I would try something like
6:15 wake
10:15 very short nap (like 20-30 min)
1:00 nap (1.5-2 hours)
6:15/30 bedtime

or if she wants to try one nap I would do this
6:15 wake
11:45 nap (1.5-3 hours)
6:15/30 bedtime. 

If she goes the one nap route I would suggest that she REALLY pay attention to tired cues and be ready to put her to bed early if the one nap isn't long enough.
I hope this helps.
Myia

[Poppy & Lily]

Hi Myia,

Thanks for getting back to me

I'll print this out and give it to her! how long would she keep the short am nap for before she dropped it all togeather? also if he DD starts sleeping later in the morning say till 7am would her AM nap always be after 4 hrs of A time?

Thanks
xxxxx

[momofclaire]

I would keep the short nap until she starts to fight it.  It is important to watch for cues during the transition to one nap.  Generally you would keep pushing back the short am nap until you were at about 5.5 hours of A time and then try for one loooonnnnnggg nap. There are some babies who do fine with one nap for a couple of days and then need two one day.  I never went back and forth like that because Claire and I do better with consistancy.  Ok, maybe it's just me. 

I hope this helps her.
Myia