Shortening the AM nap during 2-1 Switch

[chinacat]

Hi!  We are in the middle of the dreaded 2-1 nap switch.  I had been trying to just move my son's morning nap back by 15 minutes every few days, but the nap kept just getting shorter and shorter because he was OT.  So, I'm going to try the very short AM nap that it seems like most people on this site have had success with and hope for a long PM nap.  I would love for someone to please look at our routine below and let me know if you think this sounds good.

6:45 Wake up
7 Breakfast
9 Snack
10:30 Morning Nap (Wake him up at 30 minutes)
11:30 Lunch
2:30?  (Not sure about time-- I'll have to look for cues after trying the short AM nap) Afternoon Nap 
5:30 dinner
7 pm Bedtime

Also, I would love some clarification about this strategy:  As he is able to extend his A time in the morning, I'll keep pushing the morning nap back by 15 minutes or so.  Do I also push back the PM nap?  At what point do I stop waking him up early for the AM nap?  At some point, do I just push the nap back longer than 15 minutes to make it after lunch and then hope for the best? 

Thanks in advance for your help! 

[jenniferr]

I think if you're going to use the approach of shortening the AM nap in effort to extend the PM nap, you would eventually just drop the AM all together once A times get long enough and maintain the longer PM nap right after lunch. We're going through the same ting right now. It's tricky isn't it?

[momtonb&ab]

we had tried to shorten and move around that morning nap, but it just never worked for us.   i had my mom around when this was going on and here is what she helped me do.....

First day we skipped the morning nap straight out, but we sat with them from 9:30 onward (cranky time) and distracted and played with them as much as possible.   Snack at 11 am and nap by 11:30.  Lunch when they woke (around 1:30).  Bed early (6pm).

Each day after worked really hard to get a bit further ahead with that naptime.  we have now gotten to lunch at 11:45, nap at 12:15 til 2:30-3ish, then bed by 6:30 or 6:45.   We are slowly working on getting a 2+ hour afternoon nap, and in time will get back to 7pm bed as they get good at this (and STOP freakiin' teething ) .....   

I would never have dreamt just starting by skipping that morning nap, but my Mom encouraged me to do it as long as I was committed to early bedtime to avoid overtired.  It has worked pretty well with some help tweaking the lunch and bedtimes.  (i made the mistake of trying to get too close to 12:30 or 1 for nap time and ended up with  some overtired issues).

Hope this helps a bit. 

[becky1969]

The way this typical plan works is you push your morning nap later and later until your child can make it until around 11-11:30 before going down for a nap.  At that point, you just give them 1 nap at that time (snack before, lunch after).  You're actually getting pretty close to that point.

The PP used the other technique, which is to distract child until they can make it to a decent 1 nap time (again post 11 am, but preferably after 11:30).  This technique is great as long as you don't have a child who's sensitive to being OT.  if you *do* have a child who tends to be sensitive to OT, what happens is they short-nap because too tired at nap time, and then they have NWs and/or EWs because they are too tired by bedtime -- even a 6 pm bedtime because of the short nap in the early afternoon.

You know your child best! My kid is VERY sensitive to being OT, so we did the short AM nap and long PM nap.  But I must tell you that at this age his A times extended lightning fast! So I think we only did the short AM nap for about 2 weeks, and then we were able to move to 1 nap at noon.  Also, when you first move to 1 nap they may short-nap (45-1.5 hours) for the first few days because their body is used to receiving a 2nd nap.  After about 3-7 days, their body clock adjusts and then they start having the 2-2.5 hour naps that are typical at this age.

Good luck!  Oh, and if you start having trouble getting a PM nap, then you can shorten that AM nap to 10-15 minutes if you have to.  Teh purpose of the AM nap is to just give them enough of a 2nd wind that they can make it to nap #2 without being OT.

[chinacat]

Thanks for all of the advice!  I really appreciate it!  My guy can make it until 11 or 11:30 with no problem, but then will only do a 45 minute nap because he's OT, I think.  Then we end up having to do a very late PM nap (4:15-5) which messes up bedtime.  So, we've been trying an earlier morning nap hoping to head off the OT.  Still getting a 45 minute nap, though, so I think we'll try the shortening technique for a week and see how that goes. 

[momtonb&ab]

good luck, keep us posted!

[becky1969]

Yeah, making it but being OT is a definite issue that comes up during the 2-1 nap transition.  After about 9 months old, a babies sleepy signs are harder to read! And they do find it easier to push through. But, they *are* still way too tired.  Sounds like backing off to a slightly earlier and shorter nap will help! You're doing an awesome job of following your baby's signals!