2-1 Transition question

[Gabi1023]

I know there are so many pages of information already on the 2-1 transition, but it is so hard to find the answer to my question by searching the entire thread, hoping to get a quick answer here...

When beginning the 2-1 transition and start moving AM nap later and later, what happens to the PM nap?  I see nothing mentioned about that.  When moving AM nap later, that leaves less A time between AM and PM nap, so how is LO supposed to take a PM nap if the A time is getting shorter?  Also it says on one page that the transition can take months, but on another page it says to move the AM nap back 15-30 minutes every 3 days.  It will only take a couple weeks before the AM nap and PM nap are right up against eachother, so how does this work? 

Thank you

[Layla]

Hi Gabi,

The reason why there is no straight forward answer is because babies are all different and some can take a couple of weeks to transition and others months .

Not sure if you have seen this link From 2 to 1 nap transition (10-12m and older) - it explains that if you are going down the long am/short pm nap, you still offer the pm nap but it would be a catnap, so you shorten it to preserve bedtime.

Eventually, as you're pushing the morning A time and the morning nap is somewhere around 4-4.5hrs A time and it is say 2-2.5hrs long, you probably won't have time for a CN, so in that case you would offer an earlier bedtime . Whereas if your morning nap is around 1.5hrs long and there is enough time to squeeze in a catnap, you would try for the pm nap catnap. Some will deliberately shorten the morning nap to 1.5hrs to ensure there is enough time for the pm nap/catnap... it really all depends on how old your LO is, how much A time they can do, what time they wake up, etc... which is why it can be such a complicated transition  .

HTH

[Gabi1023]

Hi,

I have been trying to figure out this transition based on the information provided but I am seriously lost!  I understand that I should leave the AM nap where it is but shorten it by 15 min at a time and move the PM nap up by the same increment.  I did the math and that doesn't seem to work, so I am missing something...

Example:

Wake 7am
Sleep 1030am (AM Nap)
Wake 1130am
Sleep 300pm (PM Nap)

would eventually become...

Wake 7am
Sleep 2pm (PM Nap)

So I am confused as to what to do once the AM nap is shortened to 0...Where would the day's only nap be moved to? 

[Layla]

Gabi, I only got down to 30min catnap as I found any less was defeating the purpose of "tying over till next sleep period", a sleep period of any less than 30mins didn't really help them until the next sleep period and we just went to 1 nap. So for example, this was our schedule for a long time (approximate and give or take 15-30mins):

6am - wake
9-9:45am - morning nap
1-2.30/3pm - afternoon nap
6.30 - bedtime

And then when the girls would refuse the pm nap on a 45min am nap, I reduced it to 30mins and our schedule was:
6am - wake
9.30-10am - morning nap
12.30-2 - afternoon nap
6-6.30pm - bedtime

And once they refused a pm nap on a 30min am nap, I went to 1 nap but offered the nap around 11am and started slowly pushing it until it was closer to 12pm.

When they were down to 1 nap, that nap was in the middle of the day and our A time was approx 5hrs in the morning and 4.5-5hrs before bedtime.

There is no right or wrong and there were many times I would offer a morning nap and they would just play and that would be our 1 nap day. I didn't take missing a morning nap as a sign that I had to go to "all or nothing" approach and just go to 1 nap. In fact, I did try that and it lead to some major overtiredness. Of course, it does work for some but didn't for us

How old is your LO and what is she doing at the moment?

[Gabi1023]

Hi, Thank you for your reply.  That was kind of what I was looking for, I appreciate you sharing your routine with me... My LO is 11 1/2 months old... You ask what is she doing at the moment?  I assume you are referring to her routine?

She wakes up between 6-7am each day.
3.5 hours A
AM nap - 1 hr
3.5 hours A
PM nap - sometimes refused but could last 45 min - 2 hours
3.5 hours A
Bedtime routine / Bedtime
wake around 2a-3a to breastfeed

Thank you

[Layla]

I am pretty sure by this stage/age we were doing 45 min morning nap...so if she's taking a short pm nap or refusing it you could try and shorten the am nap by another 15 mins.