14m old, 2-1 nap transition help

[Erica_a80]

Hi there.
I posted on here a week or so ago but my thread disappeared, I am guessing when the server was changed, so I thought I would repost.
So my 14 month old had started to be reluctant to take his afternoon nap, and he has been sleeping for a max of 10 hours a night, all signs that he is in the transition I believe.
So his day used to look like:
WU: 5:30
S: 9:35 (1HR)
S: 2:25 (1HR)
BED: 7:25 and he would usually sleep through for 10 hours.

So for the past week or so, we have been reducing his morning nap and bringing the next nap forward which has been making him sleep for longer.
So now his day looks like this:
WU: 5:30
S:9:35 (we wake him after 45m)
S: 2 (for as long as he likes, sometimes he has slept for almost 2hrs)
Bed: 4hrs after waking.

Since doing this we have been getting 9-9.5 hour nights.

In a few days time I will reduce the morning nap to 30 mins and again move that afternoon one forward by 15mins.
Am I doing all of this right? At the moment I cannot see how I am going to ever be able to completely drop that morning nap and shift the afternoon nap to midday, I dont think he will be able to stay awake that long from a 5:30 wake up.
I would be grateful of any help.

Thank you x

[Haribo2012]

Hi there, sorry about your post vanishing.

Your on the right track, have you tried longer am nap and shorter pm one as some little ones work better transitioning that way, so you could try a couple of things...
WU 5.30
Nap 9.30 max 30 mins
Nap 1pm hopefully 1.5-2 hours
BT 6.30

Or
WU 5.30
Nap 10 am 1.5-2 hours
Nap 2.30/3pm max 30 mins
BT 6.30

You might find the EW is from OT from day being too long as most need 13 hour day or could be that nap just needs pushing out a bit.

As a comparison my DS is 14.5 months and does either CN 9.40 for 20 mins then nap 12.45/1pm for 1.5 hours BT 7pm or nap 12.15/2.15 ish.
WU varies from 6-6.30 but I keep naps and BT set give or take 15 mins x

[Erica_a80]

Thank you for your quick reply.
I will try one of the easy's like you have suggested.
My worry is that we might get an undertired nap, as the other day I reduced his awake time from his morning to afternoon to 3h30 and I got a much shorter nap. Although I do think you are right that his days probably need to be shorter.
What does DS mean? I have seen it lots before, and I know you are referring to your child, but I didn't know what it stood for.
X

[Buntybear]

Hello,

DS stands for Darling/Dear Son 

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=163278.0

Have you seen this FAQ - I have just found this quote from it for you;

"If your lo is a habitual early waker, then as well as shortening the am nap, you need to move it slightly later, perhaps by 20- 30 minutes. This will encourage your lo to start sleeping longer at night so they can’t “catch up” that lost night sleep so quickly. "

Not sure if Zoe would agree with this if you went for the short AM nap option? We always went long AM nap and and APOP'd a CN so I am not good at the reverse EASY!

[Erica_a80]

Thank you, that makes sense! Yes I have seen that, well I will try the shirt AM nap, long PM nap for a week or so and see if it helps him at all. If not I will reverse it and do it the other way round.
Another worry I have is if I put him to bed at 6:30, we could be looking at a 4-4:30am wake up 
X

[Buntybear]

Well yes- the day can get long when you are nap dropping as you try to fit 2 naps in - often you get 13/14 hour days and short nights. The earlier the BT then often the earlier the WU. You would probably need to try and extend some A times at some point to get a later BT.

[Haribo2012]

Yes we've moved am CN nap earlier and cut it shorter.

We do it this way as fits better with school run but my DS1 preferred longer am nap then afternoon CN, as pp said the days can get long with 2 naps until you then have 1 nap and a shorter day x

[Erica_a80]

Thank you for your replies.
On Tuesday he slept almost 11 hours at night, I think that was by me allowing him to sleep longer in the afternoon and bringing bedtime sooner.
Yesterday, the day was pretty long, he woke at 5:45 and went to bed at 7:40, he had a 40min catnap in the morning, and a 2hour nap in the afternoon.
And he woke this morning at 4:55, I was unable to get him back to sleep.
Today I am going to wake him after 1h40 in the afternoon, to try and get bedtime at a reasonable time so his day isn't as long.
Do I need to start moving the AM catnap back at all to eventually merge it into one long nap, or just stick with it as it is for now?
x

[Erica_a80]

So yesterday didn't go too well at all.
He woke at 4:55, first nap at 9:10 for 30 mins, 2nd nap 1:25pm until 2:45. We attempted bedtime at 6:30 but he is teething at the moment and cried in pain until 7:20.
He has been awake since 4:25 this morning, his dad managed to get him back to sleep for around 15 mins until 5:30 at which point they got up.
What do I do in terms of naps today? Do I push the morning one out? We are going to have a long day again and potentially an early wake up tomorrow if he only sleeps 10 hours.
Thanks x

[Haribo2012]

Sorry haven't been on, how did the day go?x

[Erica_a80]

Sorry Zoe I also haven't been on.
I can't remember exactly how that day went in terms of naps but he went to bed at 7 and he woke around 5.
By reducing his day to make it a 13-13.5 hour day we have been getting 10.5-11 hour nights.
My worry is that the middle awake time (after his AM catnap) and the PM awake time I have shortened to 3h40. By doing this he sleeps much better but I don't know if this will help or hinder the situation when he is eventually on one nap and his awake times need to be 5hrs plus. Does that make sense?
I know you said your LO has an AM catnap and a long afternoon nap, will you do that indefinitely?
Erica.

[Haribo2012]

The A time will be shorter on the CN but the idea being it gets them to a nice middle of the day nap. I do a mixture really if he's had a good night and decent WU I push to 12 for 1 nap if like today he's a grump he's having a CN lol.
I just reduce it down by 10 mins every so often so at min he's on 20 min CN and 12.30 nap x