Recommended nap length for transition 2 to 1?

[negracr]

So my LO has dropped her morning nap for the second time this week. The first day her afternoon nap  lasted about 1.5hrs but today her afternoon nap lasted 3 hours! 

Will that take away from her night time sleep and cause NW?  How long should this single afternoon nap be ideally? 

Thanks!!

[newkidontheblock]

We were also getting similar lengths - 2.5 to 3 hours when we started this but it did drop over time. I found amount of sleep did not seem to be as important as what time the nap ended and how much of a gap was left till bed

[negracr]

Looks like it did affect her night sleep. She went down at 8pm only to wake up 45min later. It's now 10pm and she's wide awake! Oops.   

[newkidontheblock]

Wakings soon after bed are generally more indicative of OT than UT. Could it have been too long a gap to bed? Despite nap length, it is necessary to sometimes shorten the day to compensate. What time is the nap and what time did she wake? Do you want to post that day's routine?

[negracr]

Sure thing. The day went like this:

WU - 8:20am
E: 9:00am
A: 9:20am to 1:30pm
S: 1:30pm to 4:35pm
E: 5:00pm
A: 5:30pm to 7:00pm
Bath / bottle
BT:8:00pm

She refused to lunch or a bottle before her nap.

[newkidontheblock]

Can I ask, what A could she handle to bed before this transition? I think you are right and she is UT at bed. You might need to start capping already to leave a reasonable A to bed! ;

[negracr]

Well we usually keep it mellow in the evenings, we'll play with her stuffed animals or read a book or take an extra long bath so she can play in the tub, etc. Honestly she turned into a terrible sleeper once we moved her into the nursery at 7 months and we're lucky to get 2 hours of continuous sleep out of her. Especially when teething.

We tried doing the gradual withdrawal for a week or so, but it got to the point we were so tired we'd end up falling asleep on the floor in her room. So big fail there.

I'm hoping that transitioning to 1 nap will help her sleep better at night... plus she starts day care next week from 8am-noon, so lots of play buddies during the day.

[newkidontheblock]

aww.. It does get tough when they start nursery and you don't have much control over sleep there. How are things now?

[negracr]

A bit messy, some days she'll do one nap...but most days she'll do two. Today was first day of daycare, I'm a sad mommy 

We'll see what happens with her naps after this first week and I'll report back.

Cheers