Trans to 1 nap = early morning wakings???

[Bella & Abby's Mummy]

Over the past 3 weeks DD (16 months) has completed the transition to one nap and at first seemed to be coping well. However we now seem to be dealing with am wake up times that are a direct reflection of how long her nap lasts.

eg:
- Nap for 1hr 45mins = 6.00am wake up
- Nap for 2 hrs = 6.15am wake up
- Nap for 2hrs 45 mins = 7.15 - 7.30am wake up

The third scenario is obviously our ideal and these days (only about one in every 4 days) are also her happiest, she eats better, plays better and whines a lot less! But what can I do about the other days? When she wakes from naps (whatever length) she seems WIDE awake, happy and I have no chance of her going back to sleep. In the early mornings I have been going in as if it is the middle of the night, whispering, no eye contact and just saying 'its bedtime back to sleep' then we leave her until 7am. She doesn't cry just talks loudly, plays and sings and a couple of times has gone back to sleep.

Any suggestions on what else I could do? Do I need to do anything? Does she just need less sleep now? I feel like she does need more sleep as she is so much happier when she has the longer nap days. When she had 2 naps a day (from 6months - 14 months) she had two 1.5 hour naps plus slept a consistent 12 hours at night.

Any advice or similar experience would be much appreciated...

[LindseysMom]

Hello.  On the days that she has a shorter nap I would try and move her bedtime earlier a bit.  That way she can catch up on the sleep she missed at night.  What time does she go to bed now?  I would think you could move it at least an hour early if she has a short nap day.

[jessica and emilys mummy]

I would offer the same advise as Lynne.
Sometimes even 10 minutes earlier to be can help.
You don't have a heating system that comes on at that time in the morning do you?If so could this be waking her?
Only ask because after months of dd waking we final;y realised it was the boiler :oops:

[Bella & Abby's Mummy]

Thanks for the suggestions, I do think it's a good idea to bring forward her bedtime on the early wake/short nap days. Her bedtime is usually 7pm...

Today (before reading your replies) I kind of cracked as she was just so tired so I actually put her to bed for a nap at 9.30am and woke her after 1 hour. We then carried on with her day routine as normal and she then had a 2 hour PM nap (1-3pm). Is it bad to do this - will it confuse her? I will be interested to see if she sleeps longer tomorrow morning as she is well rested today.

Will let you know.

PS: We don't have a heating system that could wake her. There are lots of birds chirping in the trees outside the house from like 5am, but this has never been a problem before...

[LindseysMom]

I don't think there is anything wrong with giving her 2 naps if she does better with 2.  What made you want to transition to 1 nap?  I think the average age to go to one nap is 18 months so she may not be quite ready yet.  What time were you offering the one nap?  I hope she sleeps in a bit later for you.

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

Hi,
Nothing wrong with 2 naps if the first one is short. DD has been on one nap for almost 6 weeks now but last week she was so cranky and tired after being up 2 hours that I put her down for a nap and she did sleep. I kept it to 45 mins including time to fall asleep then put her down half an hour later for her afternoon nap and only let her sleep 2 hours. It takes them a while to transition to 1 nap only. When she naps less I would go for the earlier bed time, 15 mins makes a huge difference and I noticed when I do it dd sleeps better and later.

[Bella & Abby's Mummy]

Well, yesterday she did so well on sleep catch up with the 2 naps that she slept until 7.30am this morning! This meant that today she was so well rested she got through no problems to her one nap and slept for 3 hours - great!

Hopefully we are back on target and when we do have the early-wake days I will watch her carefully and decided if a short AM nap is required or an early bedtime if she has one nap but it's short.

We felt she was ready to trans to one nap at 15 months as she was taking longer and longer to go to sleep for both naps - just talking and playing and not being tired and the PM nap was getting too close to bedtime. It felt like I had her in bed trying to sleep all day! When she sleeps 12 hours at night and has one 2.5hrs+ nap she does great.

Thank you all so much for your replies.