is he ready for one nap?

[SupermansMama]

My 13 month old DS started EWs at 5.45 the past two days and then had an hour NWing last night, then slept until almost 7.  He goes down for both his naps no problem and I've never had him fuss for naps ever.  They are usually each 45min, with the odd 1.5hr one.  This morning he's been up since 7ish and its 10.30 and he's still going full throttle...no tired signs whatsoever.  I know he'll go to sleep as soon as I put him down, but will I continue to have NWs or EWs if I keep him on these two short naps??? Should I begin switching?  If so, how?  When do I plan the one long nap...if it even becomes a long nap..what if it just becomes a 45min one then thats it for the whole day! I'm scared. Our day is something like this:

6 to 7am wake
AM nap at 9 or 10 for about 45min
lunch around 11
PM nap around 2ish for another 45min, sometimes 1.5hr
Bath at 7 and bed by 7.30

Also, one major reason for me not wanting to switch him yet is because I'm also babysitting a little girl the same age as him who sleeps much longer hours (12 or 13 at night and 3 per day into two naps).  So if I switch him while the girl is still on two naps...I assume I wont have a break ALL day! This will not be good for my sanity....KWIM?

Please help!

[brenda2]

i'm going to pop this over to toddler sleep for you 

[SupermansMama]

stacy:  thats a great idea. i'm definately the type who needs definite time lengths so i dont become so indecisive.
this morning DH is home since its Sat and after another NW around 3am which led us to co-sleep until 6.45, I decided we'd try the one napper today and see.  We kept him up until 12.30 no problems.  he was fine, just a little 'loose', if that makes sense, during lunch and after until he went down.  i was surprised at his smiles until naptime and I think it means we're almost there.

I will play it by ear and I'm praying that we get a smooth nightsleep tonight.  depending on how long he sleeps for his nap, i may have to pull ahead his bedtime.  we are going for dinner at friends place tho and i have to be strict about possibly eating and running since they live 45min away and he may have to be in bed as early as 6.45 if he gets up within the next hour.  so far its been 1 hr. crossing my fingers that he made it thro the 45min mark.

[KellyC]

Hi there

As usual, Stacy's advice is great but just wanted to suggest something - Nate dropped his nap a couple of weeks after his first birthday and he also had no problem going from a morning nap at 9.30ish to staying up until after lunch for his one nap, he did it literally overnight.  I wanted to be sure he wouldn't get overtired though, so for the first week he had one nap only every other day and on the other days he had 2. The second week I gave him more days with only one nap and after that he pretty much refused to nap in the morning at all.  I would say it took a few weeks for him to stop waking at the 45 minute mark but he's always been very good at resettling pretty quickly (a very obvious I'm going back to sleep cry!) by himself so it wasn't an issue.  These days he takes 2-3 hours after lunch everyday whenever that is - some time between 12.30 and 1 usually.

Kelly x

[SupermansMama]

wow i still cant picture him doing 2 or 3 hrs for a nap.  since he's never done more than 2.15 hrs per day with 2 naps, i doubt he'll ever get past the 2 hr mark for one long nap.  today he did a 45min at 9.15 and then 1.5 at 2.  so thats 2.15 total.  he sleeps more or less 11 hrs per night.  I agree that 5 hrs should be max.  if he has a morning where he's super awake again i'm going to time it and put him down for one nap at the 4.5 to 5hr mark from his awake time.  i dont mind him having two naps i but i do mind him having EWs.  i have a new theory which might explain the EWs.  If he has less than 4.5 awake time before bed, we seem to get EWs and NWs.  I dont like fiddling with his bedtime but i should keep a good 4.5 between waking from his Pm nap to bedtime and hopefully thatll solve the EWs and the odd NW.

its hard to time his naps right now since he can stay awake long but needs two naps to get a good 2hrs of day sleep in since hes never had one big long nap before....so if his A times are 3.5 to 4hrs each then his naps are too late in the day to have a bedtime of 7.30 KWIM??? i dont want to put him to bed any later since i like the downtime.

I may have to just do it Kellys way and force him to switch to having one long nap....i'm so scared tho...i've never had him sleep over 1.5 hrs during the day!!! what if i just end up with a kid who sleeps 1.5 for one nap everyday?  if so, then i'll make his bedtime 6.30 instead...but i find that s soooo early...weekends come and we get invited for dinners and we have to eat and run....or not even eat! some ppl dont eat until 6.30!!!

[KellyC]

I forgot to say that the reason I decided to just go for one nap was that Nate was waking at about 6am rather than his usual 7am - the slightly earlier wakings were the only sign but I'm so glad we went for it!

However it works out it'll be fine, what's the worst that could happen?!

Kelly x

[SupermansMama]

sound good.  today was horrible for the little girl i'm babysitting.  she has to be woken up to come here in the morning and she usually naps relatively OK thruout the day.  today tho after being woken at 6.30am she hasnt napped ALL day and its 1.21pm! shes either fighting a cold or teething cuz shes all congested....weird tho that shes totally fine with being up all day....now i think shes ready too for one nap....its better tho since i can switch them together.

this stage is really annoying....and to think i thought switching from 3 to 2 naps was annoying...

i'm going to discuss with her mom about putting them both on a one nap thing for 12.30.

[KellyC]

Ooh, wouldn't that be great for you.  Good luck!

Kelly x

[SupermansMama]

i'm so up and down these days with decisions re: naps.  theyre both not really ready for one nap since they can make do until after lunch but then theyll be zonked well before bedtime i'm sure.  the split of two naps is really nice for me too even tho its not one big break. 

yesterday DS had two 45min naps and bed by 7, woke at 5.45, tried to PUPD with no avail so we cuddled in my bed until 7.  hes down for nap 1 this am at 9.15, he needed it with a wake up of 5.45!

i'm so jealous of the moms who get an LO waking at 7 or later and having 4 hrs of naps per day! WTH!?