1 nap, but it's always 1 hour 15 mins

[DavidsMomma]

My DD is 14 months today.  I have been working on the 2-1 switch slowly for a while now.  Every day now we are trying for 1 nap, I am always getting 1 hour 15 mins, not nearly enough for the whole day, and it is leading to a lot of OT.  We did have a wake up time of about 7 and shooting for a nap starting about 4.5 hours after that.  Since I have been getting 1 hour 15 mins consistently I have been trying for a bit longer and shorter A times trying to get a longer nap, nope.  When I tried for just after 5 hours  of A time I get 40 min naps.  I am not sure how to go about this?  Is she just not ready?  Any help would be appreciated.  I am getting so frustrated.

TIA - Kris

[*Natasha*]

What was her routine when she was doing 2 naps?

[DavidsMomma]

Her routine was:

Wake 7 and breastfeed
E 8ish have breakfast
A
S 10, it was around 10, but several days a week before summer I was taking my son to preschool and DD would sleep in the car, whenever we got in the car.  I started limiting the nap time to 30 mins, once she started having trouble with both. Breastfeed when woke.
E 11:30 had lunch
A
S 2ish, it depended on when she took the first nap and when she woke. The nap was typically towards the end about 50 mins, sometimes an hour.  Woke and BF.
E Snack about 4 to hold her over to dinner
   5 Dinner
A
S 6:30-7 BF and off to bed.  Now up until recently she was having 1-2 BF in the night.  I worked on cutting those out and did a bit of sleep training after some illness and she is now doing great at night. 

I just am not sure how to keep her from OT during the day with this shorter nap.  Sometimes I wonder if she needs less sleep than most, but she is obviously tired and not able to make it that long in the day.  Plus, she still will fall asleep in the car on a regular basis.

Thank you!

[skatty]

We had a very similar problem when dd transitioned but were lucky she would sleep a long night, have you tried that? The thing is if that first A time is only 4½ hours and they short nap you only have 2 options and they are an extremely early bedtime or a late afternoon catnap. If you go for the catnap it is best to be out and about in the car or walking with the pushchair so you don't get nap refusal and limit it to just 20 mins, enough time for dinner and the bedtime routine, we did this for about the first month of transitioning but then dd started waking later in the mornings and we would let her sleep until she woke up herself and put her down 4½ hours later, she would sleep 1-1hr15 and then would be in bed 4½ hours later, this doesn't work for everyone but she could do 14+ hours a night. Has your dd ever taken long naps? Mine never had so this was great for us, she did eventually at the age of 2 start taking longer naps finally  If your dd used to be a long napper then maybe you could try extending with W2S. At the end f the day though it sounds like she is not quite ready for one nap but 2 is too much which is the problem most have with this transition, I'd really try for the catnap if I was you 

[DavidsMomma]

Today I actually got a good nap out of her, but that was only b/c she fell asleep BF when she woke after an hour and then I was able to lay her back down without her waking.  I guess I will just keep trying and hope that we will eventually get there?

Skatty, DD has also never been a great napper.  I have actually been trying for the catnap in the afternoon some, but maybe b/c she is already OT she isn't going for it.  I have mostly been trying in the car, which is a big shocker, b/c she will fall asleep in the car most days after only being awake for an hour!   I need to try a stroller and see if that will work.  Oh, it would be nice if I could get her to sleep in some mornings.  I have to make sure to avoid that OT monster...

Thank you!

[skatty]

Sleep in vibes to you, a lot of los do sleep later after going to one nap, my dd went from a 6ish (sometimes earlier1) to 8am  We eventually started waking her at 7am everyday just to get our routine consistant when she finally increased that morning A time which if I remember right was near 20 months. Perhaps you could try an earlier car ride? If you do the stoller have you somewhere quiet and boring to walk? Even now if I just walk around our country lanes really slowly, no talking if my dd has skipped a nap she will drop off usually. You are doing the right thing avoiding OT as best as pos, coming from a horrendous year of naps I managed a very smooth switch without any OT, for the first time I was happy with naps even though they were short! Have you triued a very early bedtime? She may well surprise you and do a marathon night and if not and wakes early you can go for a 2 nap day and she should be tired enough to go for it. Good luck 

[abaker89]

My lo is also a poor napper and did 1 hr 15 min naps for a long time when she switched to one nap around 15 mths.  Her night sleep was always long 12-12.5 hrs.  She also had a very short A time in the morning, usually 4-4.5 hrs and then a longer A time after nap which she seemed to handle better.  Then around 21 mths, she started doing better, many days at 1.5 hrs and even some 2 hr naps, maybe 1-2 times per week.  Her A time at 21 mths was 5 hrs and now at 27 mths is 5.5 hrs.  She has never been great at napping though and still occasionally has short naps.  I think some kids are just destined to be bad nappers but the good thing is that they are usually great at night!

I guess I just never worried so much about the longer A time after the nap but we never had any NW or EW from it.  So at your lo's age, our schedule was wake at 7:30, nap at 11:30-12:45, bed at 7.  Also, I started leaving her in there for as long as I could and now she stays in there for at least 30 min after she wakes and sometimes tells me to "go away" and says "stay in crib", lol!

I wonder where they all get that 1 hr 15 min length??

Aileen

[DavidsMomma]

Aileen, it's funny, isn't it!?  It is almost an hour 15 to the min.  DD also seems to handle a longer A time after nap. 

Skatty, of course hadn't been able to try the stroller, rain. Yesterday, she woke even earlier, I think I overshot or didn't realize when she had actually woke, but since it wasn't a full 1 hour 15min, I tried WI/WO and it worked!  It had worked so well for night sleeps when we were correcting after illness I just thought I would see.  She was still tired when she woke though, so the OT carried over.  You know early bedtimes always scare me, I have gone earlier, but probably should go into the 5 o'clock hour.  She is hard to read on sleep cues, always has been, has made me miss some opportunities, I am sure...  Still hoping for later AM sleeps and while I am hoping, longer naps too.

Thank you!