When night sleep finally lengthens does that mean naps should shorten?

[newmom11]

i have a 12 month old who has slept thru the night w/o nightwakings since he was 3 months old, however he's always ever done 10 or 10.5 hours at night.  we are down to 1 nap a day and have been since he was 11.5 months old.  due to an earlier bedtime, he has finally started sleeping about 11 + hours at night, but I've noticed that his naps have shortened from about 2 hours to 1.5 hours.  is it normal for day sleep to shorten once night sleep lengthens or am i doing something wrong since he is taking shorter naps?

[emmas]

What time is he going down for his nap?  My ds is 13 months and does a 12 hour night and a 2 - 3.5 hour nap (which I think is alot but not complaining!!!) Maybe you need to adjust the nap time a little?

[newmom11]

when he was waking at 6 or 6:15, he was napping from 12:45 - 2:45 or 3pm, now that he's up at 7am, I've been putting him down about 1:15 or so.  I feel like he needs the same A time so when he wakes later in the mornings, i have to move his nap back right?  also, my ds has always been on the low side of sleep needs. 

[emmas]

I would maybe try him a little earlier see if that makes the difference - ds went down to 1.5 hour naps and I just put him down a little earlier and his naps lengthened again - maybe worth a try?

[newmom11]

I'll try the earlier nap times.  Have you found that a lot of their nap lengths depend on how active they are in the mornings?  If we are in the car running errands, it's like he's not tired enough to take a long nap, but if I wear him out at the park, then he'll take longer naps.  But I hate having to be so active in order for him to take a good nap.  Do you find that varying activity levels help lengthen naps too?  today we were at the park w/ a friend all morning and he took a 2 hour nap and i think the amount of running around helped that at all. 

[emmas]

Hi - Yes I find activity makes the difference too.  DS can't walk by himself yet but loves walkng holding my hand so I try to take him for a long walk (well long for him!) to wear him out.  I think one of my greatest investments was an inflatable car which is filled with balls - he loves going crazy in there so that wears him out too.

Hope the earlier nap helped!