One nap advice

[Kori]

We recently went from 2 to 1 nap. We are having issues with it though ad could use some advice. My dd gets up around 6-6:30 and goes down around 10, but can sometimes make it later. It is all just depends. The problem lies that I can barely get her to sleep an hour and a half. So we were going one nap a few days and then two, but now I can't get her to do two at all. We moved up her bedtime from 7:30-7 with this transition. My question is how long did it take to get your baby to nap longer? Am I doing something wrong? Just a month or so ago she was two naps at 2 hours each!! Please advise, my angel baby is becoming a serious grump!

[Lana]

If I remember correctly it took Ewan a couple of weeks to get used to the one nap and for it to lengthen.  I would maybe move her bedtime up to 6:30 until she does it on her own.

HTH

[zayandme]

my little one is still taking two naps, but just an observation- have you tried to go with the earlier morning nap (10) and then have your lo do a 45 minute one in the afternoon for a couple weeks? Worth a try.

[Kori]

Thank you Sarah, but I tried that today and yesterday. She just won't go down earlier now. Yesterday I did get her down at 9:45 but we had a serious night waking though. I think my dd might be teething really bad. She is getting back to back molars. Could that contribute? Honestly, the crankiness is so bad I have considered going to the doctors.

[Lilah'sMommy]

I know how frustrating this is!  We just transitioned fully to one nap.  What really helped us was to keep the morning nap very short (about 45 minutes, absolutely no longer than an hour), then don't put your dd down again for at least 3 hours, 3.5 if she can make it.  Make sure her tummy's full.  Let her nap as long as she will sleep for that second nap.  Our original problem was that Lilah was dropping the afternoon nap after one longish (1.5 to 2 hour) morning nap, then staying awake from 11:30 or so until 7:30 at night!  So not fun for any of us.  When we shortened the morning nap, she slept well for the morning cat nap, then usually slept well again for the afternoon nap.  Then one day she refused the moring nap.  So much easier to drop that one; I just put her down earlier for the afternoon nap.  We had a couple weeks of sometimes one nap, sometimes two (I just followed her cues), but now are on one nap.  It is usually 2-3 hours, but sometimes we get a short one (only one hour--not good).  It's much better than that transition time, though.  She goes down right after lunch, between 12:00 and 12:30.

HTH!

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

Hi There,
Did the same as Lilahs Mummy as my dd was taking longer to settle in the afternoon. Morning nap was 45 mins and I gradually reduced it to 30 at which stage she dropped it herself. Now she goes down at 1.00ish and does about 2 hours, somedays less but as they say it takes a while I think she is still working on it. She gets up at 8 am so thats 5 hours in the morning which on days like today can be hard  :cry:  and about 4.5 in the afternoon. As she starts to get used to the longer nap I may move it foward to about 12.45 but this is a bit near lunch time as she eats at 12.00.