Moving nap to later in the day

[{{{Angela}}}]

Xavier used to nap around 11:30 am (waking 6-7 am) and sleep for about 2 hours.  Lately, he hasn't fallen asleep until 12:15 pm or later; he spends a lot of time thumping around his crib.  He also has been waking a little later (7:15-7:30 am), so I am thinking of moving his nap to after lunch.  Right now, he has lunch around 2 pm, but as his nap gets later, lunch ends up being around 2:30 or later.

So I think if he has breakfast at 8, snack at 10 and lunch at 12 pm, he can nap at 12:30 or 12:45 pm.  The thing I'm worried about is that he won't be tired enough for bedtime (which is 7:45-8pm).  Has anyone experienced this before (i.e. moving a nap) and were there any problems with bedtime?

[Carmela's Mom]

I am currently having this problem.  My 17 month old daughter wakes up between 6-6:30....she naps at 12 and if she naps for 2 hours or more, then she gives me a problem for her 7 p.m. bedtime.  So with the time change at the end of the month, I am going to try for 11 a.m. nap time and keep bedtime at 7.  I like the early bedtime, but if she goes to sleep later than 7, she wakes earlier in the morning and is so so so overtired.  So we are going to try this for a change in a few weeks.

[Laura~Cooper's Mom]

We have been working through this too Angela.  Seems like I am always right behind you.    Coop has been going down at 1 and sleeping until 3 or even 4 and goes to sleep at 7:30 without a problem.  Somedays he goes down at 12:30 but it seems if I hold him off until 1, he naps better and sleeps from 7:30 -7:00ish.  The noon nap time was too early and he would wake after an hour.  HTH. 

[{{{Angela}}}]

I'm wondering how daylight savings time will affect him.  What if he sticks to this schedule and wakes at 7:30ish (which will be 6:30ish once the time changes)?  Then if he's up at 6:30am, then he should nap before lunch.  I am confused! LOL  Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

[{{{Angela}}}]

Well, so far so good.

Xavier woke at 7:30am today, had breakfast around 8, a little pot of yogurt at 9:30 and lunch at 11:45am.  Put him down for nap at 12:30pm (about 45 minutes later than usual) and he fell asleep no problem after a few minutes.  It's now 2:30 and he's still asleep.  Yaaaay!  I'll wake him so he doesn't sleep after 3pm and give him a bigger afternoon snack.  I have class tonight so DH has to put him to bed, so we'll see how that goes, heh heh.   :wink:

[Laura~Cooper's Mom]

I am dreading daylight savings time but am going to try and stick with the after lunch nap so we can stay with our routine.  So glad it went well today.  Cooper went down at 1:15 and is still asleep (it's 3:15 now).  It is such a pleasure to have all morning to be out and doing things, then the afternoon to chill out.  Keep me posted. Hope your dh can get him down tonight.  I always think about what the BW book says about kids who nap better during the day sleep better at night. 

[Stacie:Emma&Josh Mom]

I wouldn't worry too much about the time change until it becomes a  problem.  Most kids will adjust after a few days or so.  My dd is trying to adjust already I think!  Staying up later and sleeping in later.  But I know it'll sort itself out later.  I would keep going for a nap after lunch.  It seems like a long time for him to go from an early nap to bedtime and I'm impressed he's been making it this long!  This might actually help things, but you never know until you try.  Good luck to your dh tonight!      Let us know how it all works out for you.  My dd has always napped around 1 pm since she went to 1 nap and does fine going to bed at night (except when she takes an extremely long nap which is pretty rare).  Good luck!

[{{{Angela}}}]

Well, I'm back from class, and DH said ds went to bed with no problem!  Yaaaay!  So hopefully tomorrow will go just as well.  I'm going to have to get used to doing stuff in the morning and taking it easy in the afternoons.