8-9month old refusing second nap... help please!

[RAB2020]

Hello! Any help greatly appreciated-

My little boys schedule seems to be changing, in general- he goes down around 7pm each night, wakes some time between 7-8am (still on two nightly feeds but that’s for another day!), has a good first nap around 10-11am for 1-2hours but then the last few days won’t have his second nap! I try to get him to sleep around 3pm for it but he seems so wide awake and is generally on good form then and goes to sleep ok at 7pm. I just worry that a 7hour stretch is far too long for a 9month old! Has anybody else found their baby does this?! Any tips for getting him to have two naps? On the occasion when his first nap is short (under 1 hour) he has sometimes then napped a second time but never for over an hour so I’ve been reluctant to wake him up early from his first.

Thank you for any tips in advance!

[Katet]

It's rare, but not unknown for some babies to drop to one nap as young as 7/8months old & some (like my niece) drop naps completely before 18months old.

Rather than look at age and textbook routine, look at how well your baby is coping. It may be a blip that improves in a week or so with some new skills learnt in the awake time, or it may be that with 12+ hours at night and a 2-hour nap in the day, it's enough for your baby to be a happy healthy child. 

It might be worth moving the first nap to around 4+ hours from wake up time and see if you get one longer nap.

Just remember a baby who is happy tends to be doing what it right for them!  no matter what the routines in books say.