1h 20m naps - what do they mean?

[mumofalice]

The title says it all really - can someone please explain them to me as I am clueless. My DS almost never makes it past this nap length and therefore never has a 'restorative' nap - he's just turned one and I think we're probably in the 2-1 (tho as we never had 2 decent naps anyway it's hard to tell if his sleep is wonky  ). Can't imagine ever making it to one nap if he can't take a longer nap . . .

[~*erin*~]

Hi!

I'm no expert, but my youngest, who is 11 months old, went for a while of having the ol' 1h20 nap. For me, if she was happy during her A time and fell asleep relatively "quickly" and without getting upset, I was ok with it (this was also after about 2 months of 35 min naps, so maybe I was just overly excited! haha). I experimented with her A times as well, adjusting by about 10min either way depending on her mood; each adjustment I kept for about 3 days to see if it worked.

As for the one nap, when I moved my oldest to one nap (yes, I had to move her, she was not going to do it willingly - that girl would have napped her life away if given the chance!) we went from 1x1hr & 1x1.5hr naps to a whopping 1x2.5/3hr nap; that stuck around for a couple of months, and then as she got older, it naturally shortened; when she turned 2yrs, we capped it at 1.5hrs (again, would nap all day), and at 2.5yrs capped it at 1hr. Now she's 3, and she naps maybe two or three times a week, sometimes for a full hour, other times for 30min because we set her end-of-nap-time to protect bedtime. Anyway, that's just my experience; and other friends have noted that on 1 nap, it tends to be longer than when they were on 2 naps.

Good luck!

[mumofalice]

Thanks for sharing your experiences Erin

I just feel bad that my DS is one and I still don't *know* him. I've never been able to read his tired cues (if he has any - cos I haven't worked them out yet!) and he just seems to handle whatever A time he has - all depending on what day of the week it is and what running around we're doing with his older sister - his sleep has always been a bit of a nightmare really, but I do think it's because I just haven't had the time to work on it like I did with DD . . .

My DD sounds a lot like your oldest DD - loves her naps, in fact (and I quote) loves her cosy bed and loves sleep! I ended up moving her to one nap too - after a bout of illness when she was sleeping between 13-14hr nights and napping for 2.5-3hrs too  It meant there just wasn't time for 2 naps - but helped the transition too. She's now 5.5 and started full time school last September - up until the day before she was still napping daily (unless we were doing something - and then she'd have an EBT to catch up). And believe it or not still naps at the weekend and pretty much daily in the holidays - we offer her quiet time or a nap and 9/10 she chooses to nap. If she chooses quiet time she will always be asleep when I go to get her.

As you can probably see my experience with DD is not really helping with DS - he's either really LSN or has been OT for a very long time and is just handling it - my DD doesn't handle OT well at all which is why I've spent 5.5yrs preserving her sleep. Poor DS didn't stand a chance really.

[ZacsMumme]

T (5 mths) does 1.10/20 hr naps when a the UT. Try adding on 5/10 mins ...
Or Z (my oldest) did them when in discomfort from 8-18 mths - usually teeth.

[~inbalance~]

Hi Bernie 1hr20min naps are quite normal for us. Why don't you think they are restoratiive? I think they can be and depends a lot on your LOs sleep cycles. That is 2x40 min sleep cycles. DD often has these naps in the afternoon, and while I would like them to be longer, I trust that she is getting what she needs. I also suspect going to one nap will help them lengthen. Hugs!

[ZacsMumme]

Oh and yes, I do agree they are restorative too. T is doing them ATM in the am and if he's had a good nights sleep I don't bother trying to extend. Sometimes I do and this is usually when he needs 2 hrs but he's little still.

[mumofalice]

Hey ladies - thanks for all your replies 

T (5 mths) does 1.10/20 hr naps when a the UT. Try adding on 5/10 mins ...

I think I've pretty much tried every A time under the sun  A couple of times I have managed to get an A time that resulted in 2 consecutive days of decent nap lengths (over 2 hrs) but then then next day nap length would shorten to anywhere btw 45mins and 1hr 20mins - this morning he had nearly 5 hrs of A time (due to yet another EW and other factors) and he still woke up at 1hr 20min - that just doesn't seem enough to me . . . but maybe that's cos I can't help but compare him to my DD - I loved that I could understand her sleep needs.

Or Z (my oldest) did them when in discomfort from 8-18 mths - usually teeth.

I'm kind of hoping that it's teething so that there is a reason that he just doesn't seem to get enough sleep. Is that wrong 

Why don't you think they are restoratiive?

Hi Em  I just *thought* that a restorative nap needed to be at least 1.5hrs. Hadn't really thought that DS's sleep cycles might only be 40mins - can't think at all these days 

I also suspect going to one nap will help them lengthen. Hugs!

I do hope that's the case - but if he's up to what seems to be really long A times (we're over 4 hrs at least now and am aiming for 4.5) and he's still only doing 1hr 20m then I'm beginning to wonder if he'll ever have a decent enough nap to get him through the day. Especially as his nights are short too - sometimes his total sleep in a 24hr period is less than 12 hrs, that seems really low to me.

[~inbalance~]

Do you think he is low sleep needs?  It's so hard figuring it all out, and we always worry they are not getting enough.  I think we have to trust them to sleep when they need it.  What about teething?  My DD is teething something awful and has been for months, and rarely naps longer than 1hr 20 mins.  Occasionally we get 1.5hrs, and if I'm really lucky a 2hr nap, but I know when she does nap longer it is because she needs it.  Otherwise I don't really worry too much about it.  Her night sleep is awful too, so you would think she'd nap a lot but nope.   She is happy as can be though, so I trust she is getting enough sleep.

I hope that going to one nap helps with both our naps!  But it does happen that some LOs don't lengthen right away.  My DS1 would not take a proper nap to save his life for ages, which made it really hard to go to one nap.  He was not properly on one nap until 16 months, and even then it wasn't long until 18 months, but for whatever reason asfter 18 mos he started taking a 2+hr nap every day.  It was frustrating though!  DS2 on the other hand went to one nap at 11 mos no issue, and always napped 2+hrs but he was always a good napper.  Not sure about DD yet....