why why why won't he nap?!?!

[rubber_da_glove]

DS has been heading towards the 2-1 transition for a few weeks but after about 2 weeks of one long nap and a short nap he wanted 2 long naps again. But almost over night he decided he no longer wanted 2 naps.

Our day was going like this
wake/E 6am (yes we get up THIS early
breakfast 7
S 9-10.30
lunch 11
S 1.30-3
E 3
dinner 4
E and bedtime 6

but for 2 days now he has refused to have an AM nap. I put him down at 9 and he played in his cot until 9.30 so I decided to get him up for some more A time and put him down again at 10 but he did the same until 10.30 so I got him up, gave him lunch and put him down (and he eventually went to sleep) at 12  and then slept until 1 .30. Last night I put him to bed at 5.45 and he had one OT NW at about 10pm but and he was on his tummy (which means it might not have been from OT) so I rolled him over and he went back to sleep until 6am.

He is just learning to walk (he's got a push along walker) and when he's awake he wants to be walking about the whole time. He has also learned to stand without holing on and is trying really hard to pull himself up. I don't know if all this is making him not want to nap-too much to do when he's awake? Or has he cold turkey-ed himself to 1 nap? He's 9 1/2 months old

Please help 

[becky1969]

I think the 1 nap is a fluke.  9 1/2 months is REALLY young to transition to 1 nap.  Yes, it can happen this early but it is the exception not the rule.

Instead I see you have lots and lots of A time to extend before your son is truly ready for 1 nap.  We typically find that a child is ready for 1 nap when they can handle 4.5-5 hours of A time.  Right now you're putting him down for nap at 3 hours A time.  There's a BIG difference between 3 hours and 5 hours!  My guess is he's UT at 3 hours so that's why he played.  Then you pushed him too long and so he was OT and then he just collapsed at noon for that longish nap.  That will work 1 or 2 days in a row, but then he'll get in an OT cycle and nights will start to fall apart.

Better to go about this systematically: slowly stretch that first A time until you find where he's comfortable.  We now know 3 hours is too little.  So let's try 3h15 for a day or two, then 3h30, etc. -- stretching by 15 minutes every 2 days until you find where he's able to nap.  At this age, babies on average like about 3.5 hours A time, so sounds like he's right on track! If you try to do 3.5 right from the start chances are it will backfire, so build slowly over the next 4 days and I suspect he'll nap for you at 3.5 hours A time.

This is a VERY common time for naps to start going a bit haywire.  But I think with some patient A time stretching you'll have 2 more naps for at least a few more months! 

[rubber_da_glove]

Thank you very much for your help.

I'm at work for 2 days now and DS will be spending his days with DH so I will leave him with strict instructions Althought he's now very OT (just woke up screaming after being in bed an hour) so I think he will zonk out tomorrow. DH has got to go out tomorrow at his (normal) nap time to take the car in for MOT and he's got to walk back, should take him about 2-3 hours and I am guessing (hoping) DS will sleep most of the way home