How would you do the 2-1 transition

[momma.bear]

I have a 17 month old who is having EWings and I think it's time for the 2-1 transition. But I'm not sure how to get there. Most mornings he needs to be resettled between 4:30-5:30am, and then is often up by 6/6:30am. Our routine looks like this on most days:

6/6:30am wake up
10:11:15/11:30 nap
2:30-3:45 nap
7pm bed time

I think I should start by capping one nap, but don't know if it's better to do the morning one or afternoon one. My DD sleeps from 1-3pm, so I'd love for their naps to align asap, but not sure what the best way to get him there is. If I let him sleep as long as he wants in the morning, do I just try to stretch his A time every couple days so it's closer to 12pm when he's taking that nap? Or I could cap the morning nap to 30/45 mins, but just not sure how to go about getting rid of the capped nap to get to one nap a day.

[BeeAnn]

I am by no means an expert as my first DD (14.5 months) is going through the 2-1 transition now but thought I would let you know what I have done.

Our naps were fairly similar to yours and then we capped her morning nap to 45 mins with an afternoon nap of 1.5 hours about 3 or 3.5 hours after she woke from her morning nap.

Then when she started having early wakings again I cut the morning nap to 30 mins (after nearly 4 hours A time) and then an afternoon nap of 1.5 hours after 3.5 hours A time.

We have recently just cut the morning nap again to 20 mins (but brought it earlier so A time is about 3 hours in the morning) with an afternoon nap of 2 hours after another 3 hours A time - this falls at 1pm which I think is what your DD naps.

Not too sure on what we will do next but am thinking that I probably need to just go cold turkey and get rid of the morning nap and try one nap at 12pm or so!

Hope that helps!

[jenn1975]

You could also drop the second nap and just start to slowly make the am later by 15-30 min every few days and make BT earlier by an hour or so. That's what we did. After a mônth or so as the nap got later, we were able to move BT later too.

[ZacsMumme]

At 17 months if probably just go ct and do a set nap. In a week or twe things will have ironed out.
Something like
5 hrs A
Nap 2-3 hrs
5 hrs A
BT
(Maybe an 11.30am nap to start with then move to 12)

I'd try to resettle an yew before 6/6.30am and treat as a nw. Also resettle any OT mid nap wakings till things settle.
I didn't do this with my boys but they were early to transition! 

[momma.bear]

Okay, so here's how our days went on Friday and Saturday with capped naps:

Friday
7:30 wake up (fussed on and off from 6am on but self-settled)
10:30-11:15 capped nap
2:00-4:15 nap
7:30 bed time

Saturday
6:30 wake up
10:00-10:45 nap
1:30-3:45 nap
7:30 bed time

*He woke up this morning around 6am fussing on and off, but slept til 7am.

I'm super happy with the way things are going, just need to start pushing his afternoon nap closer to noon so that his bed time can be moved back to the usual 7pm

[Me.and.my.two.boys]

Is he settling ok at bt? His A's are quite short for his age. My DS transitioned early as well but turned 17mo yesterday and our day looks like this:

WU: 7.30
S: 12.30-2.30 (usually have to cap at 2hr and wake him)
BT: 7/7.30 (bt usually at 7 but asleep for 7.30)

I'm not saying every LO will follow the same pattern of routine but if you could push his first A out you could probably eliminate that first nap and bring the second back to around 11.30/12 depending on WU? If he could only make it to 10.30/11 then you could try that and cap at 2.5 if he would sleep that long and bt slightly earlier?

[ZacsMumme]

I agree with pp

Well done so far Hun!

[momma.bear]

Totally agree that I need to increase his A time, but my DD naps from 1-3pm so I'm able to get a nap in myself... I just don't want to have one kid awake all day right now, not ready for that! As soon as the nice weather comes I think I'll tackle that, but it's hard being stuck inside all day with this crazy cold weather. It feels like -28 celcius right now
Yesterday O had a morning nap from 10:45-11:30, and then again from 2:00-3:30. He slept 11.5 hours last night. Still pretty good I think!

[momma.bear]

Ok, so capping the morning nap is no longer working. Yesterday went like this:

6:30 wake up
10:15-11:00 capped nap
2:00-2:50 nap, had to re-settle him a few times and then he slept till 3:45
7:00pm bed time

Today:
5:50 wake up, cried on and off until 6:20 at which point I got him up
9:45-10:30 capped nap
1:30-2:30 nap, wouldn't resettle

Next week is the time change, so I'm not sure what to do next... any advice?

[Me.and.my.two.boys]

Would you consider trying a 1 nap day? Our usual day looks something like this (my 17mo)

WU 7.30
S 12.30 - 2.30 (I cap this, he would probably sleep another 30mins)
BT 7

Your LO's A is very short and I wonder if pushing it out will help with the EW's ?