I need help with the 2-1 transition!

[jed235]

About 2/3 weeks ago my 17 month old has just started to transition from 2 naps to 1 and it is not going well!  A month ago he was going 2 great 1 1/2 hour naps, with the odd day of only having one longer nap if we were out, etc, but then he decided he didn't want the AM nap anymore - which I knew was coming, but I had no idea how hard the transition would be!  We've had to completely change his day and move lunch time earlier to accomodate the one nap, but he won't seem to sleep past 1 1/2 hour mark - and that's on a good day!  Some days we only get 35 min sleep and one day last week we had NO SLEEP!  When he gets 1 1/2 hour sleep he wakes up in a good mood, but then it is far too long of a stretch till bedtime and he gets very OT and grumpy.  Dare I say it, but luckily his nights haven't been too bad even with many OT days - we mostly get between 11 - 12 hours every night.  Am I just hoping for too much during the day or is 1 1/2 hour all he needs?  I wouldn't mind if that was he all needed, but he is so grumpy that I find it hard to believe.  I've tried putting him down for a catnap in the PM, but he won't have it.  Also, I'm 34 weeks pregnant so I used to rely on his day sleeps to have a sleep myself or at least get some rest and I'm desperate to get us back onto some sort of schedule, or to at least have this sorted before the new baby arrives!
Our typical day looks something like this:
Wake - 7:15
Breakfast - 8am
Snack/lunch - 11:15
Nap - 11:30 - 1pm
Snack/lunch - 2pm
Snack - 4pm
Dinner - 5:30
Bed - 7:30
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Roseii]

Hi there, yep these transitions suck!! I think you have 2 options, and could even alternate. Is an ap'd catnap an option at all? What I sometimes do with dd2 (15m) is a quick drive in the morning so she gets around 20 mins, then a proper PM nap:
A 7
S 10-10.20
S 1.30-3

Or have you tried pushing nap out a bit? You can try doing it in 15 min increments and he might naturally elongate it. What do you think?

X

[jed235]

Hi!  Thanks for your suggestions.  I've thought about going out for a drive just to get him a bit more sleep, but haven't actually done it yet.  Do you think I should do it in the morning and then put him down for his nap later or go out for a catnap drive in the afternoon when he starts to get tired again (usually around 4/4:30)?  What do you mean by pushing out the nap?  I've tried many times, but have always been unsuccessful in extending his naps (ever since he was a baby I was never able to do it!).   And how long should it take them to adjust?  I'm not sure I can take many more weeks of this - I miss our old routine!