Capping naps?

[Lindsay27]

Jumping to 1 might be a stretch but it is not outside of the realm of possibility.  I think if you go for it, it may work for a few days but OT might catch up.  It might be one of those things where maybe you alternate between 1 nap and 2 nap days to kind of combat OT, which sounds like it may actually work within your playgroup schedule.  Moving to 1 nap can be a lengthy process.  There is a 2-1 thread if you want to check it out

Anyone want to talk about the 2-1 transition #27

[AshleyMegan]

Gosh that seems confusing haha. 
Well today we didn't have a bunch of errands and she started getting really tired at 1215 instead of 1245 so I put her down for a nap then.  But she only napped an hour and woke up screaming again.

So either I put her down at her normal 1115, hope for a nap longer than an hour but expect an hour one and then again at 4pm or try keeping her up until 1245 and pray for a long one?  Ugh so frustrating lol

[Scottishmummy]

I think she's quite young for 1 nap, as Lindsay says, and it sounds like OT is catching up a bit with the shorter nap and upset on waking.

I think LOs at this age can sometimes do an occasional 1 nap day and cope with it but aren't ready for it every day. I think I'd try her back at her usual time for her to catch up then try to push her nap later a bit more gradually if you still want to try for one long one shorter rather than 2 hour long naps (although 2x 1hr long naps sounds ok at this age too)

[AshleyMegan]

Thank you. 
We've been sticking with the 2 naps and she is still hit and miss.  She will sleep for an hour and then wake up, sitting right up, clearly still tired because she more so 'whimpers' and tries to go back to sleep (rolls back onto her stomach, soothing herself with her hand.  She falls back asleep for another 30-60 minutes 50% of the time.

Should I leave the nap time the same at 11:15 and just let her fuss a bit, hoping she goes back to sleep?  She in right in the middle of a developmental leap, also, according to the wonder weeks.

[Lindsay27]

You could try pushing your A slightly longer, but I'm thinking if it were me I'd stick to the same time it is now and if she sleeps an hour then aim for a CN later on.  I think if you push A times more you kind of have to be ready to make the plunge to 1 nap and I'm not quite sure you are there yet yk?   I can see how things are awkward though you are definitely in the beginnings of the 2-1. 

[AshleyMegan]

Thats what I'll do 😊  Thank you.  It really is at an awkward stage, and I'm
Not ready to take the plunge to 1 nap yet.  Haha.  Thanks again 😊

[AshleyMegan]

I'd say about 75% of our morning naps are now down to 40 minutes tops and she wakes up screaming.  Should I attribute this to teething or increase her A time by 15 minutes?  It's been like this the past week.  Thank you.

[Lindsay27]

Can you write out your day hun in EAS just so I can take a look and see where you are at?

[AshleyMegan]

No problem
She wakes between 7:15-7:30.
E- 7:45. (8 oz formula), solids at 9:00-9:30
A-
S-11:15 - ?? Lately has been up by 11:55.  Used to sleep until 12:30 or 1pm.
E. solids lunch around 12:30 or 1, depending on when she wakes.  8 oz of formula at 3pm.
A
S 4:00-5:00pm
E. solids dinner at 5:30
A
8 oz of formula at 7 pm, followed directly by bath and bed.  Sleeps through the night

[Lindsay27]

So as you know, 40min naps are usually the tell-tale sign of UT, so I think you have 2 options - one is to push that first A slightly longer and see what happens, if you get a longer nap. If you do, then you are really pushing into the 2-1 and I would only do a small CN (20-30mins) later on. 

Have you ever thought about doing a short AM/long PM combo?  What you would essentially do is offer a short 30-45min nap after a shorter first A...the A has to be long enough that she'll fall asleep, but not so long that she's a bear when she wakes up, and then do a long PM nap.  I had to do this with my DS at 10 months.  So maybe something like:

WU 7:15
Nap 10:30/45-11:15
Nap 2:15-3:45
BT 7:15/7:30

[AshleyMegan]

That does make sense. 
We have playgroup twice a week, so the pm nap wouldn't be able to start until at least 3:30 if I were to do the short am, long pm.  Do you think that will be an issue, having her sleep from 3:30-5 2 days of the week or will it mess everything up?  I could always change playgroup locations but she made so many friends here lol

[Lindsay27]

Hmmmm I'm not sure to be honest, when we did the short AM/long PM we did it every day, I'm not sure if alternating would confuse her ya know?  You can certainly try!

[AshleyMegan]

That's what I was worried about, too!  On the weekend, we kept her up until 11:30 instead of 11:15, and she slept anywhere from 1.25 hrs to 1.75 hrs.  😊

Now I'm sitting here waiting for her to wake up to go to playgroup lol. 
How will I know when she is ready for one nap instead of 2? 

[Lindsay27]

It is very much a back and forth process, at least it was for us.  You might find you have a few 1 nap days and then you have to go back to 2 for a few days to catch up from OT.  I would say some general signs are refusing the PM nap, too much day sleep resulting in either EWs or a loooong BT.  We went to 1 nap at 12 months when my DS went to daycare, but then did 2 naps on the weekends for probably another 3 months after.

[AshleyMegan]

I think we should probably start trying the short am, long pm.  She seems to wake up after only 1 hr 10 minutes for the am nap now.  I found, however, doing the short am nap (because of dr appts twice), she slept for 1.5 hours For pm naps both days