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Author Topic: 12 months - 12 hour night or preserving 2 naps?  (Read 762 times)

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Offline mayasmomma

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12 months - 12 hour night or preserving 2 naps?
« on: February 09, 2009, 17:51:23 pm »
This is my first post.  I have read these boards through my baby's first year and have to thank all of you for your insights...they have helped me develop a nice routine for my baby girl and I have not had many sleep issues until now.  I would really appreciate your thoughts on this one.

My baby is now 12 months and has not really shown any of the classic signs of readiness for the 2-1 switch.  She does not fight either nap and sleeps in the morning and the afternoon for 1.25 to 1.5 hours each with no problem.  She is, however, fighting bedtime horribly now and is not really tired until 8 pm or even 8:30 pm.  Because she wakes early so I can get her off to daycare (6 AM), this is leading to a very short night.  She doesn't really seem to mind, but I can't help but think 9 1/2 to 10 hours is not enough at this age.  I'm wondering if I implement some of the suggestions for shortening one of her naps if this would help her have an earlier bedtime.  Her final A time is definitely her longest.  She can easily go 5 hours for the last A time.

So which is more important?  Getting an 11-12 hour nights or preserving the 2 naps as long as possible?  I don't think I can get both from her anymore at this point.
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Offline kaynay

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Re: 12 months - 12 hour night or preserving 2 naps?
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2009, 21:59:33 pm »
gosh that is a pickle...we rarely get 12 hrs and we are just 11 mts ...when we do get 12 hrs its a growth spurt...also 2.75 or 3 hrs of sleep for us tends to get us an early waking about 30 min...i assume at this age 2 hrs of day sleep at 10-11 at night is fine...esp if yours is ok with a a shorter night...we have started shortening one nap and that is the 2nd nap since that is the one that will phase out eventually...so i let him sleep 1.5 hrs first nap then the second nap is about an hour i have now always started waking him...maybe when yours gets to one nap upcoming in the next few months some say 18 mts some say sooner you will get a fuller night? so long answer short in my opinion cut 2nd nap to 45 mins shave 30 min if she usually sleeps 1.25 and go from there over the course of a few days...
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Offline abaker89

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Re: 12 months - 12 hour night or preserving 2 naps?
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2009, 01:50:20 am »
I'd say that our nights definitely got longer after changing to just one nap, that being said, the change can be a tough couple months.  Especially since she is so young.  Some can handle a quick shift to one nap and others can't so youwon't know till you try.  You oculd just try it an see for a few days though it can be tough to get them to go back to 2 once they like just one.  Good luck!
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Offline Jen+3men

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Re: 12 months - 12 hour night or preserving 2 naps?
« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2009, 02:49:14 am »
I am having the same issues! My little one just turned 12 months on Friday. He is taking two pretty good naps. Wakes for the day at 6am and naps from 9:30-11:00 and 2:30-3:30. He has always gone to bed at 7pm but now when I put him to bed he rolls around until 7:30 or 7:45pm. Also the past couple of days he has been waking at 5:30am and then can't make it until 9:30am for his nap. I am at a loss for how to change his routine to stop the early wakings. I know some have said to shorten one of the naps. For me it would be the afternoon nap but when I shorten it to 45 minutes we get night wakings which I am guessing is from overtiredness between last nap and bed. Just wondering how things were going for you and if you came up with anything that has worked.

Jen   
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Offline mayasmomma

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Re: 12 months - 12 hour night or preserving 2 naps?
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2009, 01:48:43 am »
Thanks so much for all the replies! 

No, I have not come up with anything thats working, but good to know I'm not the only one going through this.  Jen, we also have early wakings, but for us, it has literally been since she was 3 months old.  She's always woken between 5:15-5:45.  I scoured these boards, tried every suggestion, and nothing has ever worked.  I have just accepted it at this point, and go to bed early myself so I'm quite used to it now.  But yes, it makes for very short nights when they fight bedtime and are up that early!

I tried having daycare shorten her AM nap yesterday, but she just made up for it with a long PM nap and bedtime was the same struggle.   The few times we've missed a nap and just done one in the last couple of weeks, she has gone down like a dream at 6:00 and slept for 12 hours.  So tempting to just move to one nap, but I know its advisable to keep 2 as long as possible and as long as they are not fighting them, and she does not fight them.

Still not sure what to do!


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Offline katakow2

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Re: 12 months - 12 hour night or preserving 2 naps?
« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2009, 15:04:16 pm »
My vote would be for the longer night, since that's what sticks around the longest (hopefully forever!). 
That said, I wouldn't just drop to one nap UNLESS you really think your lo can handle that much A time.  I was doing the 30 min AM catnap followed by a shorter A time and a longer PM nap (looong story because we're having EW issues here, but we're back to 2 regular naps at the moment) and it was working pretty well. 

How did your lo do after the shorter AM nap?  Did she then have a shorter A time?  How long was the PM nap? 
I would think that doing the catnap should make the A time longer right before bed and ensure that she's tired enough.  If she wasn't, maybe the A time following the catnap needs to be a little shorter????
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Offline mayasmomma

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Re: 12 months - 12 hour night or preserving 2 naps?
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2009, 16:50:15 pm »
She did have a shorter A time after the morning catnap.  She slept in the morning from 9:35-10:10 (daycare woke her) and then her afternoon nap was 1:15-3:00, so a little over 3 hours when usually its 4 hours or so.  I'm not sure she'd fall asleep with less than 3 hours A time but its worth a try!  I think you are right, she's probably not ready to just drop a nap at this point, especially since she welcomes them.

Last night was interesting.  She took two full naps at daycare, but she went down fairly easily at 7:00!  I decided to get back to basics and extended our wind-down routine, kept it only in her room, and was pretty structured about it.  I know this is such a basic thing!  I think I've gotten a little more lax over the last year with the windown.  We've always done bath, story, nurse, and then bed, but lately if daddy comes home during that time we'll take a break to play with him, or just get distracted by the phone, or whatever.  Last night I kept it all in her room and she seemed to be getting much sleepier.  Such a silly, basic thing, can't believe I hadn't thought of it.  Anyway, worked great but may have backfired on us because we had a nightwaking from 11:30-1:00 and this is unusual for her.

I think at this age its just really difficult to get it right!  Can't wait for one, predictable nap.
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