10mo never sleeps more than 12 hours in one day - is considering 1 nap silly?

[Noelie]

Hi,

DD is just shy of 10 months, she was never a great sleeper (can't lie down, needs to be moving all the time). Since she was a month old, she has been sleeping an average of 12 hours in 24h (max 14h, sometimes as little as 10h).

Her A times are now between 4 and 5 hours, meaning that she's up sometimes as late as 10pm with WU around 7am. Her naps are shortening (from a fairly reliable 1.5hhx2 to 30min to 1 hour), she's very active during A times. She is always happy and full of energy. We've had the occasional days on one nap only.

My question is: is it too young to consider trying the switch to 1 nap? I'm a bit worried as she is very difficult to handle if she gets OT.

Thanks

[lauradj]

Nope!  You could totally do it.  Heidi, another mom here, has three little girls and her third was down to one nap at 8 months!  If she's happy and doing one nap is the best way to get a good solid rest out of her, go for it!

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

^^^yup that is right...and my older two were around 10/11 months (they got more sleep overall than DD3 but were fine with switching cold turkey to one nap). Mine are all spirited too but they deal with ot okay. We did one nap once they were able to do 4/4.5 hrs A time so I would for sure go for it in your case so that late bedtime does not become a habit (unless you like it that way, personally I like my evening Y time ).

My DD3 kind of maxed out at 12 hr total sleep around 6 months and now at just over 2 yrs old we are averaging 11/11.5 hrs (all at night we had to drop the nap at 22 months) but it suits her fine.

[Noelie]

Thank you! Will defo give it a go when she's over her cold. I do want my evening back

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Yup I hear you, my evening time is my only Y time now!

[Shiv52]

Mine didn't go quite so early as 10 months but were both solidly on one nap by 12 months and it was so much better for us.
Dd1 did 13 hour day with a 2.5/3 hour nap. Dd2 did 12 hour day with 2 hour nap.

[Noelie]

It's all gone horribly wrong... If I try 2 naps and a decent BT, she screams and fights, but one nap is not working either, as it's too early and early BT doesn't seem to work for her and result in very early WU. She always wakes up between 5am and 5.30am for a feed, sometimes she goes back to sleep, sometimes not.

The last couple of weeks have been a mix of one and two naps days, with one nap becoming more frequent but it's all over the place with lots of NW.

Friday:
7am WU
7.00 A (4h40)
11.40 nap (1h50)
13.30 A  (4h40)
18.10 BT

Saturday
7am WU
7.00 A (5h)
12.00 nap (1h)
13.00 A (5h)
6pm BT

Sunday
5.30 WU
5.30 A (4h)
9.30 Nap (2h20 when she has hardly ever done more than 1.5h)
11.50 A (2h50)
14.40 Nap (50min)
15.30 A (4h20)
19.50 BT

Today Monday
5.15 WU
5.15 b/feed for 1h30: ONE HOUR AND THIRTY MIN ON THE BREAST
6.45 Sleep (1h10)
8.00 A (4h)
12.00 Nap extended with B/F til 13.35
13.35 A (4h40)
18.15 BT she woke up after 35 min, and screamed for 40 min, B/F for 10min back to sleep with another 10min of scream.

This is killing me. Naps and BT are always a struggle.
I am thinking maybe I should stick with 2 naps and 9pm BT for a bit longer, nights were better then

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

If two naps and a later night work for you that is certainly a possible routine as well until one nap becomes more solid. I like my evening Y time so opted to cut the nap!

[Noelie]

Just giving an update. In short, we've reached 2h nap land 

After my last post, little one got ill, which explains some of the difficult time she was having. She is now fine and well.

Following a month of trial and error, some OT, and ENW, it looks like we got to a good routine. She prefers a longer morning A time, otherwise, we end up with a short nap and an OT baby. This is the 3rd day in a row on one nap without drama, and we managed to push BT to a pleasant 7.30. Today went like this:

WU:6.30
A: 6.30 (6.15h)
S:12.45 (2 h)
A:14.50 (4.40h)
BT: 7.30

She still wakes up during the night to b/f but let's hope she gives us an extra hour tomorrow morning, I could do with a lie-in.

Thanks for the support, and giving me the confidence to go for it.

[lauradj]

That's wonderful news!  I hope it continues on for you