2-1 Transition Nap Help

[AshleyMegan]

I think I will give that a go. 

Should I still continue the morning nap at 11:30, and cap it by noon?  If that's the case, when should I put her down for her long pm nap?

Or should I move the am nap earlier, capping it, then put her down for her pm nap earlier?

[creations]

I would try keeping the nap start at the same time as she does appear to go down at that time. Wake her earlier making a shorter nap. Leave the second nap at it's current time meaning the A time is that 20 mins longer and in addition she is also more tired having had a 20 min nap rather than 40.
It's somewhere to start.

[AshleyMegan]

How long of capping the am nap would you start moving the pm nap earlier?

[AshleyMegan]

I've been capping the am nap, and she seems great after that, and we've been continuing our pm nap at 3...but she sleeps for an hour for the pm nap and wakes up screaming. 

[creations]

Are you doing a 30 min morning nap?  So it is 11.30 - 12 and followed by a 3hr A time before the second nap?
Is her mood throughout the A time is ok?
Is she happy to go down for the 3pm nap or any fussing or refusal?

Are you suspecting OT on the second nap? It sounds on the UT side to me.

[AshleyMegan]

I am doing a 30 minute morning nap.  She is as happy as a clam throughout the A time.
The thing is, with her, 99% of the time, she's happy to go down for a nap, lol.  Honestly, if I were to try to put her down at 10:30am instead of 11:30 am, I'm sure she'd sleep. 
I am also suspecting UT on the 2nd nap, But i don't really want to delay her nap even more.

[creations]

If you think she'd go down earlier for the first nap and it not cause any EW then perhaps this is the way to increase that A time between naps1 and 2?  What do you think?
If she's happy it sounds like the two nap routine is helping.

[AshleyMegan]

So this is how our schedule has been lately  (I just saw your response about an earlier am nap)...
She goes down for a nap at 11:30, but even without me waking her up, it is only 10 minutes.  I put her down for another nap at 3:00-3:15 and I have to wake her up by 5  (the still does wake 40 minutes into that nap, but puts herself back to sleep shortly thereafter)...

I don't know if I messed it up- I thought after a few days of that, she'd be good on one nap.  So today, I put her down at 1:00 pm  (as she wasn't showing signs of tiredness before), and her nap isn't going that great.  She is still in there, but she cried after about 15 minutes for a few seconds, which is unlike her...then again at 40 minutes, and now at 1 hour 10 minutes.  She keeps trying to put herself back to sleep, and does, but it's clearly not as peaceful as it should be.

So, my question (again), lol...

1)  Should I continue with this 1 nap thing and hope she gets used to it?
2)  Continue with the 2 naps (the 1 short nap at 11:30 then a long one from 3:00-5:00, give or take)?
3)  Keep both naps and attempt to move them earlier?

Thanks!
Ashley

[AshleyMegan]

Oi I think I answered my own question.  Clearly she gets overtired on one nap. (She woke up screaming at 1:20 after putting her down at 1pm)...so the questions change haha.


Should I try just a 1 nap day (earlier than 1pm)?
Keep on 2 naps (at 11:30-11:45 and 3-5)?
Keep on 2 naps (attempting to make both earlier)?

[Lindsay27]

We've made the final push to 1 nap and we do it sometime between 12/12:30, so I'm winding that if like you say you do 1 nap but keep it earlier.

If we do 2 naps the first is 9:30ish and the afternoon is 3.5hrs later.  My DD is an early riser though so that's why we can do the morning nap that early (I was hoping the EWs would disappear after we were solidly in 1 nap, but it's yet to happen )

[creations]

I would suggest keeping the 2 naps for now, the 11.30 for 10 mins or capping it at 20min, the reason I'm saying leave it at 11.30 is it seems she goes down willingly at this time, if she will go down earlier then fine move it earlier but watch out for it causing EW as mentioned before.  If you try earlier and she fights though or it causes EW I'd move it back to 11.30 pretty soon yk?

And yes keep the long second nap.  At this point I don't think you can move it earlier as you don't want her UT for it resulting in a shorter nap really.

She might continue like this with the 2 naps for ages...or she might not.
If one day you get total nap refusal at 11.30 I'd go for one nap at 12.30pm or 1pm.  Ultimately if she was on 1 nap you could try it at 12pm instead but 12pm isn't going to work if you are already in her room trying to get her to nap for the 11.30 and she is just refusing, so you'd have to bring her out of the room, do a bit of A and then go back to try again - it automatically makes it later for that one nap.  If this happens I'd be tempted to leave her to go to sleep grab a cuppa and go back to her room to camp out and see her through that nap in an attempt to avoid short napping and OT.
If she refuses the 11.30 nap for several days running I'd probably go for the drop to 1nap then and make it more like 12/12.30pm.
Often EBT is needed with the drop to one nap too.

[AshleyMegan]

So in the past 4 days, she started refusing the 11:30 nap, and things seem to have improved.  She wakes about 40 minutes in (still!)  but puts herself back to sleep immediately (woo hoo!).  The first 2 days I put her down at 1 pm, she would wake up periodically throughout the 2 hour window (maybe she was overtired?  I'm not sure) but would fall back asleep then wake up and play on her own in her crib until 2:30ish.  Lately it has been 12:45...She is getting about 1 hr 20 minutes of sleep total right now  (but wakes up happy, hooray!).  She can never seem to make it past the 1 hr 20 minute mark ( 2 sleep cycles ).  If I keep her up until 1, I find her sleep isn't very solid.  Her 12:45 nap today, she woke up 40 minutes in, let out a whimper and put herself back to sleep.  1 hr 20 minutes in, she woke up, stood up, started singing to herself and laid back down.  I'm thinking she is trying to go back to sleep.  Will these naps tend to get longer and more solid on their own?

[creations]

It sounds like an improvement

That nap might settle and extend.  You might try just an extra 5 mins A time to give her a tiny bit more A time and see if it brings another sleep cycle as she seems to be trying to go back to sleep.  Perhaps see how the next several days go and then consider the additional 5 mins?

Are you also doing an earlier BT to allow for the move to one nap?

[AshleyMegan]

She's been in bed 15-30 minutes earlier, depending on how tired she is 😊

[creations]

Do you find the 15-30 min EBT is enough?  Many people do much earlier BT when the nap drops.  Depends what suits your LO of course.