Fights second nap most days

[henrysmomma]

I have an almost one year old (on the 25th) and he has been doing so incredibly well, thanks to you all helping us with his EASY.  We are currently fighting a cold that just won't go away as well as several teeth coming through.  Regardless of how he feels, he always takes his naps and rarely needs help getting back to sleep if he wakes early...

That being said, we are in a really weird place where we are up for 3-3.5 hours after waking in the morning and he either takes a 2-3 hour nap in the morning or just an hour and a half.  It really depends on the day.  Then, we put him down after at least 3 hours of A time and most days he has been fighting the 2nd nap.  Somedays, he is out cold before I can even put him down.  Today, he has been fighting it which makes me believe that it is time to start thinking about the 2-1 transition.  If each day is different, should I just view this as a rough patch because of the cold and teeth?  Or should I start pushing back the morning nap each day like instructed and see what happens? 

To be honest, this kiddo needs to be in bed by 7.  I work from home and use that time at night to get work done.  Plus, he is ALWAYS up at 6:30 which means that if he goes to bed at eight or nine-he doesn't get the sleep he needs.  He never sleeps in. 

What do you recommend?

Bless you!

[*Becky*]

going to pop you over to Toddler Sleep as lo is almost one xx

[nevinsmama]

Hi there! This does sound like the start of the 2-1 transition. If I were you, I wouldn't let that 1st nap go past 2 hours, 3 hour day sleep is a lot for a 1 year old. Might increase the chances of him going for a 2nd nap by keeping that 1st nap shorter. Have you had a look at this link?
10/ 11mo sleep gone wonky? Read this first!

"Most" LO's are doing closer to 4 hours A time at this age so he might manage a bit of a push on his A time. WOuld you like to post an "average" day so we could get a good look at what is going on?
Hope this helps!

[Kirsten~]

It could be a rough patch. We had one like that not too long ago, and I kept suspecting 2-1 transition, but realized she wasn't quite ready (she might now though!).
Do you notice a connection between the length of his AM nap and the PM nap refusal? Like if he takes a 3hr AM nap, are those the days that he refuses the PM nap or does it not seem to matter?

You might not want to dive into a 2-1 transition while he is getting over a cold, just in case that's the issue. He also may go through a period before the 2-1 transition where his days are all over the place for a while (that's what I've heard anyways).

[scruffymax]

Little heads up that capping the morning nap at 40 mins worked really well for us when DD started consistently refusing or playing in the cot for a long time before the pm nap :-)  She also goes to bed at 7pm and wakes around 6:30am.  I think once they get to this age a lot have trouble settling for a pm nap if they've had a good morning nap, but they're not ready for just one nap.

[Haribo2012]

My LO is 11 months and we do 40 min am nap after 3.75- 4 hours A then 3.5 A to pm nap which is normally 1.5-2 hours our day is WU 6.30 ish and BT 7-7.30!
Recently swapped to this nap schedule works much better for us now.

[henrysmomma]

I have found that the longer morning naps equal no nap in the afternoon.  We are now refusing all naps and I am just not sure what to do!  I did notice that he is popping through two molars (one on each side on top) as well as a top eyetooth and a molar on bottom)...it is really weird because he really seems tired right at three hours.  I tried pushing it back by 15 minutes to make his first A time today to 3 hours 15 minutes and he was just a bear!  He fought sleep for a half hour (bouncing in his crib, rolling around, mantra complaining) and eventually fell asleep.  I thought for sure he would sleep for at least two-three hours but nope!  an hour and a half is all that we got.  He finally fell asleep after a half hour of  fighting his second nap...and he was clearly tired as well this time...

If only kids came with a light on their backs that lit up when it was time to put them down...sigh...

To be honest, his routine has been clear cut with a three hour A time with a meal within an hour of each waking.  Like clockwork.  the only snag in the last four months would be when he started to sit up and stand which took three days of laying back down and resettling before he figured out how to do it on his own...not bad!  I am really praying this phase ends quickly as we have company coming end of next week which could add fuel to the fire, if you know what I mean....

Seriously considering just going cold turkey to four hour A times tomorrow just to see how it goes...do I dare?

Thank you to all of your replies!  You are such a blessing to me!

[scruffymax]

Is he still happy to go for his morning nap after 3hrs A time?  If so, and you cap it at 40mins or so, he should then be happy to take a pm nap after 3-3.5hrs.

[henrysmomma]

scruffymax,
  Thank you!  I appreciate the input!  We are now dealing with teething issues and let me tell you-it has NEVER been this bad yet.  We have had three horrific days and I have been in tears all day; so exhausted myself!  He slept barely three hours last night and has absolutely refused every single nap today which as we all know, means another bad night.  How long will this last?!!!!!  He is cutting at least three molars, one tooth right next to the bottom two and the top two next to the middle two. Is it normal for him to be so sleepless?  I've had enough....and of course I am trying to run my business as well as deal with a restless, crabby, teething and overall unhappy almost one year old!  So ready for this to be overwith so we can get back to the issues I've been trying to figure out!

Sigh....

[scruffymax]

Oh no, poor thing!  On the bright side, if he's getting all those teeth at once at least you are getting all the pain over in one go rather than having it spread out over months... I would personally be medicating with ibuprofen regularly and just doing whatever you can to get through this and worry about routine when he is over this patch.  It won't last forever!  He was a good sleeper before and will get back to that once he's past this.  It's so rough but it won't be forever.