Need more advice on move from 2 to 1 nap?

[thitz]

Hello, my dd Emily is 11.5 months old.  I think she's on her way to one nap.  But I don't know what to do inbetween the transition.  Here's our routine.  Can you think of a way to still get a short afternoon nap?

6:30 wake and bottle
7:30 breakfast
8:45 snack
9:30 NAP (for 2-2.5 hrs)
11:45 lunch (used to have a bottle at 11:00 but I skip it if she wakes close to lunch time)
12:30 stroll (stays awake)
1:30 bottle (used to have at 3:30 when she woke from second nap)
2:30 refusing NAP
3:30 cookie and milk sippy
5:00 dinner
6:30 yogurt and milk sippy (cause won't drink a bottle here)
6:45 bed

She's was having a good 1.5 to 2hr morning nap and then 45-1hr afternoon naps.  But then her morning naps started going to 45mins and her afternoon naps were staying at 45mins.  I didn't want to loose her ability to nap longer than 45mins so I started stretching the morning A time and have got the 2hr morning nap back but she's refusing the afternoon nap for 2 days now.  Which gives me a cranky baby for most of the afternoon. 

So I don't know what I should do now?  Should I move the bottles around?  Should I move the naps around?  Should I move the stroll? 

I don't understand how she's completely exhausted by 9:30am after sleeping 11hrs at night but can then go for 7hrs (very crankily) in the afternoon.

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks Tarri

[thitz]

Well, just in case someone is also going thru the same thing at 11 months...

Today I decided to wake her from her morning nap after 2hrs.  And I'm just trying for an afternoon nap at 3.5hrs A time.  I'm PRAYING that she'll sleep just a little bit:)

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

How did you get on?

I'm not far off this stage with ds, so am following closely.....

[Tammy: Ethan & Kaden's Mom]

Tarri - you sound like me! 

Ethan's morning naps have gone to a usual length of probably 2 hours, which makes his afternoon nap short.  I don't want to put him down for his pm nap too late, so that he won't be sleepy at bedtime, so I've decided to put him down always at 3 pm (he usually goes down for his am nap around 10 am).  That may only be 2.5 or 3 hours after his morning nap, but otherwise, he's just not sleepy at bedtime.  That means I only get a 30 or 45 minute pm nap out of him, but that's okay.  It just gets him thru to bedtime.

On the days we've had where Ethan's slept 3+ hours on his morning nap, he doesn't get an afternoon nap, persay.  He does get a quick 20 minute catnap though, usually me rocking him for quiet time.  I did the same thing when we went from 3 to 2 naps.  Eventually (obviously), he got over needing that.

Good luck, and know that I'm right there with you!

[LindseysMom]

Hey there. Just wanted to say that this is about the age where Lindsey's naps got so wishy washy.  I would try and keep the 2 naps as long as you can though.  I kept Lindsey on 2 until she was around 13 months I think.  You can shorten the am nap to preserve the afternoon nap.  You may have to shorten the am nap to as little as an hour or hour and a half to keep an afternoon nap.  Another thing my ped said was that even if they don't sleep for both naps offer them both, the down time is helpful too. This is a hard stage so hang in there. 

[thitz]

Hello, well yesterday I was lucky and she slept for 45mins for the afternoon nap. 

Today I wasn't lucky she babbled and flopped around for 30mins and started to cry (this is after 3.5hrs A time and her showing lots of tired signs).  I tried to resettle her but no luck.  (Even though I woke her at 1hr 40mins from her morning).  But, she slept in her stroller at 4:30pm for 30mins this evening.  I think it could become a habit till she transitions, but wouldn't that be a BAD habit?.  Too bad it's -10C here. 

So, Lynne, like you said, I guess I'll try to shorten the am nap again.  Maybe 1.5 hours.  I don't want to shorten it more cause it's very rare that she'll sleep more than 45mins for an afternoon nap no matter how short the morning is.

I keep trying to push the morning A time and today I got 3hrs 20mins which is our max so far.  I know it's a good amount of time cause she still settles easy for the morning nap and wants to sleep a LONG time.

Tammy and Charlies Mommy, let me know how your lo's get on.  We can go thru the transition together   Tarri

[Tammy: Ethan & Kaden's Mom]

Tarri - I plan to transition the am nap to later in the day, and drop the pm nap.  Don't know if that's the "right" thing to do, but that's my plan.  Basically as he is able to stay up longer and longer in the morning, that will become his "big" nap, and the afternoon will turn into the "little" nap.  Right now we're at 4 hours max from wakeup to morning nap.  Sometimes less than that if he's really cranky and acting tired.  But 4 has been our limit so far.

[thitz]

Tammy, I want to do the same thing as you.  We're at 3.5hrs max morning A time.  But I'm trying to continue to extend about 15mins a week.  I got a nice 2.5hr morning nap this morning and have just put her down for afternoon nap at 3.5hrs A time but doesn't sound like it's going to happen.

I gave up on shortening the am to get a pm because it just doesn't work for her.  I tried it again yesterday but no go.

[thitz]

Just in case anyone is following my saga...

For about the last week she was taking good morning naps at 3.5hrs A time and skipping afternoon naps but falling asleep in the car or stroller later in the day.  This was okay as we were both able to survive fairly happily.

The last couple days her morning naps have shortened again and still no afternoon nap but still sometimes falls asleep in the car/stroller in the late afternoon and she's waking earlier.  So we're not so happy but still doing okay.

Today, she was in good spirits, so I stretched her from 6:00am to 10:50am (almost 5hrs) morning A time.  I gave her a bottle before I put her down, hoping she won't wake up hungry, cause she'll be sleeping thru her usual lunch time.  Then we'll do lunch when she wakes.

So far she's been sleeping for 1hr...and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Tarri

[thitz]

It's me again...just in case someone is still reading.

That previous post she slept almost 2 hours and I kept her up till an early bed.  But then she woke at 4:45am and wouldn't go back to sleep.

We just done a few days of two naps again that were fairly easy but then yesterday I had a really hard time with the afternoon nap again.

So today I'm trying a one nap day again.

It's enough to drive you crazy.  But we're surviving.  Tarri