Author Topic: Knowing when to switch from 2 to 1 naps  (Read 1459 times)

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Offline Hoofbeat

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Knowing when to switch from 2 to 1 naps
« on: February 12, 2018, 11:37:29 am »
My 13mo is an independent sleeper and his sleeping routine has been:

0700 - WU
1130-1200 Nap (we wake him after 30mins as we found any longer and he wouldn't nap again later)
1600-1730 Nap
1945 - BT


However, the last week we have really been struggling with the afternoon nap. Some days he refuses to nap at all (and is then up until BT) and other days he takes ages to fall asleep and only gets 45mins-1hr nap. The week before he was sleeping perfectly and I could put him down at 1545 and he would be asleep by 1600. Two days a week when he is at nursery, he does only have one nap of between 1.5-2hrs (1230-1330/1400), because they found he was too excited in the late afternoon to nap especially because lots of parents were coming to pick his friends up between 4-5pm.

I was keen to try and keep him on 2 naps/day the other 5 days when he was at home, and it had been working perfectly for some time. However, I'm now wondering if maybe he's ready to go down to just 1 nap? I know that 13months is quite early to drop down to one nap a day, but could he be ready? He's always been slightly ahead on his activity time for his age, but I thought it was going to be another month or two before he was ready for 1 nap.

I can't put him down earlier for the nap in the morning as then he ends up waking up much earlier, and I found when he had a long nap at 1130, he wouldn't nap again in the afternoon, so we purposefully switched so he had a short nap at 1130 so he would still nap well in the afternoon. My worry if I push the afternoon nap later than 4pm is that he will then have a very short A time before bed and I don't think he would cope with a later BT than 1945 as we have to have him awake by 0700.

Any suggestions or advice?

Offline Buntybear

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Re: Knowing when to switch from 2 to 1 naps
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2018, 12:06:14 pm »
Hi - 13 months is fairly average to drop the catnap I think. My LO was 12 months  :)

You could try and cap the 1st nap even shorter to try and get him tired enough for the longer later nap?

Offline Hoofbeat

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Re: Knowing when to switch from 2 to 1 naps
« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2018, 19:12:11 pm »
Hi - 13 months is fairly average to drop the catnap I think. My LO was 12 months
Oh really? I'm sure I read on here that the average is nearer 15 months and I'm sure I read something similar on another site too.

Today for the first time ever he decided he didn't want his nap at 1130, which hasn't happened before. I ended up giving him lunch and then putting him down at 1245 and he fell asleep at 1300, but then only slept 1hr20mins and was up for the rest of the day (have put him to bed earlier but now worried he'll wake earlier tomorrow!).

Offline claredm

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Re: Knowing when to switch from 2 to 1 naps
« Reply #3 on: February 12, 2018, 21:45:04 pm »
When we swtiched to 1 nap, it took several months of shorter 1.5 hour naps before we got the 2-3 hour naps.
We switched properly at 15 months. Its best to delay as along as possible, as you child is more able to last the long stretches of awake time.
Before that we had occasional skipped 2nd naps, or really bad cat naps for a while ....

Offline creations

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Re: Knowing when to switch from 2 to 1 naps
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2018, 09:05:33 am »
Quote from: Buntybear on Yesterday at 12:06:14

    Hi - 13 months is fairly average to drop the catnap I think. My LO was 12 months

Oh really? I'm sure I read on here that the average is nearer 15 months and I'm sure I read something similar on another site too.
Some sites might put an average of 15 months because some LOs will not drop to 1 nap until they are more like 18+ months which will skew the average in the direction of an older age.  Here are a couple of links we have which show that all LOs are different but that 13 months is certainly  not uncommon:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=163278.0
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=130791.0 (a poll amongst BW members showing 13 - 15 months was most common)
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=85130.0

Mine dropped to one nap at 11 months but it took a month or so to settle down.  It was a hard drop for us but it was needed because of the nap refusals.
I agree with claredm about sleep gradually increasing after the switch. My DS's naps went horribly OT short at 20 mins instead of 2hrs so it took some work to get him to take his usual 2hrs again.

I would probably just move to the routine you do on the nursery days, with the 12.30 nap time and whatever EBT you usually use, see how things go and tweak if needed.


Offline Hoofbeat

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Re: Knowing when to switch from 2 to 1 naps
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2018, 16:49:20 pm »
Thanks all.

So today he went down absolutely fine at 1130 but he's still awake now and has been refusing his afternoon nap. He's at nursery tomorrow and Thursday, but will consider switching to 1 nap every day soon after that (he has a hospital check up on Fri at 12pm which is clearly going to mess everything up now).

He's not walking yet either (nor standing unassisted) so part of me is also wondering if maybe he is soon going to start and that is messing up his naps.

Offline Buntybear

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Re: Knowing when to switch from 2 to 1 naps
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2018, 19:38:35 pm »
Yes I guess I don't mean average but as some LOs are much older and pull the average up but it is fairly 'normal'.