Time for 2-1 transition?

[Irish0028]

Hi,
 My son is almost 11 months old. He has had the following routine for the past couple of months:

7am- wake
7:30- breakfast
10:30-12 nap 1
12- lunch
3:30-5 nap 2
6:00 - dinner
8:30 sleep

As you can see, his naps are pretty late- with the 2nd one ending at 5. The 8:30 bedtime has been nice for us this summer, especially since my husband doesn't get home until 6ish.

This past week we were on vacation and there were a lot of NWs. I guessed that it had to do with the new environment but it didn't get better as the week went on. We returned home last night and there were 2 NWs and an EW of 6:30.

With this said, do you think I should try the 2-1 transition right about now or wait a few days and see if things go back to normal post vaca? The other thing I was thinking about is shortening the 1st nap to maybe 45 mins to see if that would help, or if I should just try the 2-1.

Thanks,
Bridget

[Shiv52]

I would leave it a few days now you are home and stick to your routine and see does being back help him get back on track.  If not you could well be in 2-1 transition territory! 

TBH I would cut down nap 2 (as it is 2.5 hours) even to 2 hours.  Would he manage 4 hours A time do you think?

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.msg476652#msg476652
11 - 12 months 3.5 -4.5 hours. Some are getting more if moved early to 1 nap

He is on the lower end of typical A time for his age and it could be hard to do the reduction in naps until he is managing slightly longer A times. 

Make sense?

[Irish0028]

Thanks for the response, that makes sense.
Well, today we ran some errands and they ran a little late and we didn't get home until close to 11 and he was fine but he fell alseep as soon as I brought him up to his room. So, that was 4 hours of A time. I will try to keep doing that for a while.

As for the 2nd nap, it's really only 1 1/2 hours- not 2.5. So, is that still ok? BOth naps are about 1.5 hours and some days they are a tad shorter in order to squeeze them in with the longer A time and still get to sleep before 9pm!

So, let me know if the naps are still good at 1-1.5 hours and then I can see over the next week if he is ready to move towards 1. If 4 is his new A time does that make for a two nap day still? What A time do they need to have for one nap to work and a bedtime that is not like before 6! (between 7-8 is great for us but obviously we will do what is best for DS!)

Thanks,
Bridget

[Shiv52]

Sorry totally read that wrong!  Two 1.5 hour naps is totally fine especially with the longer day.  Keep an eye his naps stay 1.5 hours with the longer A time just in case a bit of OT creeps in! 

This is an awkward age for fitting everything in and you do end up with a longer day.   But once you get the A times up a bit you will prob have to cut one of the naps to 1 hour to get a decent bedtime. 

What A time do they need to have for one nap to work and a bedtime that is not like before 6! (between 7-8 is great for us but obviously we will do what is best for DS!)

Generally you're looking at 4.5-5 hours.  A lot of LOs don't move to one nap until 16-18 months but some start the switch around this age and it just takes a while to get to the stage where they can manage one nap IYKWIM.   We started getting a lot of pm nap refusal about 11 months and on the days she was napping bedtime was really late as she wasn't tired enough.  We switched to 1 nap at 1 year cold turkey (not all LOs would cope with it though but I knew my DD would manage the A times ok).    Our routine was:

8am Wake up
1pm  Nap (2.5-3 hours)...it was 1.5 hours for the first two weeks so I AP'd a CN every 4/5 days to keep OT at bay
       but it did extend then! 
3.30/4pm Wake up
8.30/8.45pm  Bedtime

We do later start and bedtime due to DH's work so he gets a chance to see her and so we can all have dinner together etc (and I can get some help and a break too!). 

[Irish0028]

Great, thanks for sharing your EASY for your one hour nap. I like that routine a lot- as we too would love a bedtime like that so we can eat together and have a little play time together at night as well (or break for me- ha!)

I will see what the next few days brings and maybe try to bring one nap down to one hour so I can fit another good 1.5 in there later. Today he slept until 8am (due to a long NW lastnight) so his morning nap was only 45 mins. I am hoping for a 1.5-2 hour today to get him the normal day sleep he needs. If the NWs don't stop in the next few nights maybe I try to move to one nap but I will keep testing the 4 hour A time before I try that.
Thanks again, and if you think of anything else that I am missing let me know!

[Shiv52]

You sound good to go!  Let me know how you get on after a few days!

[Irish0028]

So, it has been 8 nights since we have been home from vaca- and he is still having NWs. Lastnight it was for one hour- he flips around in his crib trying to go back to sleep but is so restless. He throws his lovey all around the crib and seems wide awake- and of course he cries if I leave the room so I am up for the entire hour too.

I have played around with his naps over the past week- making the first one a bit shorter (45 mins or 1 hour) and then keeping the afternoon 1.5. He still is having the NWs. The A time I have been using is 4 hours.

Shall I try to move to 4.5 hours or try the one nap? He does seem tired by about 11 am - 4 hours of A time. I am just not sure what to do about the LONG NWs. I think I am scared to try the one nap and go cold turkey, but like you said- I could always give a AP CN if it's not long enough to make it to bedtime. Thoughts on going to one nap at this point now that I have tried to shorten the morning nap?