anyone want to chat about the 2-1 nap switch?

[*Natasha*]

Corrina,

You said you wake her if not awake by 6.30am could you let her sleep a little longer to say 7am?
Then aim for a 5hrs before putting her down for a nap with an early lunch before. You may need to bring bedtime forward a bit for a while until she is able to handle the longer awake time. You will probably find she may sleep in a little longer in the morning when you do the transition.

[corrina01]

As I work 2 days a week I will have to get her up at 6.30am as we have to leave at 7.15am, but the other days I will try 7am.  I think the 2-1 transition is a few months off yet, as I have only extended her awake times once to 3.45hrs. She has reverted back to 3.30hrs again and seems to be happy.

[*Natasha*]

It is fine to do it slowly by extending her awake time that is what i planned to do but decided to try it one day clold turkey and it is working for us. Catherine couldn't handle any longer awake time in the morning than 3-3.5hrs so i didn't know how she would go but she is getting better everyday. She is fine in the afternoon as her awake time use to be 4 hrs and now it is 4.5-5hrs. Does she do 2 naps at daycare as i know by 12months daycare prefer they are on 1 nap?

[Lynette Ng]

Hi Moms,
It was reassuring reading your posts and being reminded again that we all go through these transition periods with our lo!  We're having a really difficult time with the final 2 to 1 transition, and I am writing to ask for help.  Our lo is 16 months and seems ready to drop the AM nap.  Emma wakes at 6:30AM and is usually napping by 10ish.  She started abruptly to cry in her crib when I put her down 10 days ago and this was repeated every day.  I've sinced moved nap time then to 1:30PM hoping for a good single nap, but she wakes up crying and screaming after 45 minutes.  She's then overtired by evening having been up all day except for 45 min (when she's typically napped about 3 hours daily- this has all happened quite suddenly), so we have tried to put her down about an 1-1.5 hours earlier, about 7:30PM instead of 8:30/9PM).  However, instead of quietly and peacefully playing in her crib until she sleeps (which she's done for the past year), she starts screaming and crying hysterically until she throws up.  We've gone in to comfort her- she stops crying- we read to her then try to put her down- and the screaming begins again until she vomits.  We don't want to encourage her to cry harder and harder, expecting us to come get her, especially when we know she should definitely be in bed, but it's incredibly difficult to hear your little baby crying so pitifully.  Tonight, I cried as I listened to her cry and scream for me for 45 minutes before she knocked out.  Please help.  Please let me know if this bedtime behavior is due to Emma being overtired and that if we're patient with the routine, she will make the transition in the days to come, and return to her usual peaceful self?  Is there anything I should know or be doing differently- any thoughts  would be so welcomed and much appreciated.  Thank you in advance.
Lynette

[Gage and Sophie's Mom]

Hi lynette Ng. I just wanted say {{{HUGS}}}. I know it is sooo hard to hear them cry. I know as I just went through the EXACT same bedtime drama for a couple of days. Is there anyway you can put her down for a nap a little earlier than 1:30? I think if you can catch her during her tired window she will take a longer nap thus avoiding being over tired. Also, what about a catnap a few hours before bed if her earlier nap was bad? I have had to do this a few times lately.

[Olivia's Mommy]

I am new to this thread, although I've lurked on and off for a few months as we've yo-yoed back and forth from 2-1 naps. I think we're finally in the midst of transition and I'm desperate!!! I'm trying to catch up and read the last 9 pages, but thought I would post b/c I am desperate for any advice/ideas.

DD had gone to 1 nap before our vacation a few weeks ago. She got so overtired on vacation, we went back to 2 naps a day. When we got home, it took us about a week to get back on track, still taking 2 naps a day, but they started getting shorter. So I started pushing nap #1 back. Today I put her down at noon. She only slept until 1:15, but I assumed it would be the only nap of the day. I just put her down again because she (and I) are so cranky. I've done this the last 2 days also (second nap at 3:30, which is a little late, but we both seem to need it!). However, it seems to be affecting her bedtime. She usually goes to bed at 7:30--just nighttime ritual, put her in bed and leave the room, no problems 95% of the time. Last night I was out, but DH said he put her down about 7:45 and had to stay in there until 8:30 when she finally fell asleep. She did the same thing the night before. I figure I probably should be keeping her up for the rest of the afternoon, even though her 1 nap is only about 1 hr 15 min right now. (Please tell me that will get longer!). But to be honest, I'm not sure how either of us would make it through the afternoon! Any advice?

[lucmom]

Olivia's Mommy,
I had the same thing with my LO -- the one nap wasn't long enough, but if we did a second, it messed up bedtime.  It took about 1 month total to make the transition.  The first two weeks, I tried moving bedtime earlier and doing 2 naps if the nighttime sleep was shortened by a wake up during the night or an early morning wake up.  The third week, we switched up our approach and went back to a consistent bedtime of 7:00 and then stretched him in the afternoon if the nap had been too short by going outside to play or even watching a little baby DVD.  We'd start our whole dinner--bath--bedtime routine early, but stretch them out so bedtime was consistent.  I don't know if this pattern or just being the third week of transition did it, but that was the week the naps got a little longer and everything started to fall into place.  The time for the nap still slides around a bit depending on wakeup time, and we're not quite getting those long naps (2 hours+), but the routine is pretty consistent now.  We still find that sometimes he gets tired around 10 am (his previous am nap time), so we try to do the same kind of activities to get him over that hump on those days and do lunch a little earlier as well.

Corrina,
Just like Natasha, we did a cold turkey jump from 2 to 1, but not until he was doing awake times of 4.5 -5 hours pretty regularly.  The jump to 6 hours wasn't that hard at that point.

[Lynette Ng]

Hi Gage's Mom,
I wanted to say thank you for writing me back.  It's always so nice to get a response, and I appreciate the good advice you gave me, and the HUGS of course!  I will give your suggestions a try- thank you so much again for replying my post.
Best thoughts,
Lynette

[corrina01]

Natasha, she goes to my mums when I am at work and there she still has 2 naps.  When she starts to refuse to take her afternoon nap, then I will go cold turkey with the 1 nap.

[KellyC]

I'm going to give the 1 nap another go starting tomorrow.  Today we went out and Zander slept for half an hour in the car on the way there and then nothing for the rest of the day    My plan is to put him in his cot at his normal morning nap time (which was 20 minutes) and if he's still playing after 20 minutes I'll get him up so at least he's had a bit of a rest and then we'll do an early lunch and a nap straight after.  Wish us luck!  He starts nursery in 3 weeks and it will be much easier if we're only on one nap.

Kelly x

[Olivia's Mommy]

LucMom--thank you so much for the advice! She's not going down until noon now, but still only sleeping a little more than an hour. I've kept her up the last 2 afternoons and bedtime has been better. I guess it just takes awhile to adjust to 1 nap before it gets longer. She has started waking around the 1 hr mark, and if I don't go in right away, she'll go back to sleep for 15-20 min. I'm hoping eventually she'll get past that 1-hr hump and just be able to sleep longer.

Here's another question: Those who have made the transition...what time is your nap time? We're at noon right now, but like I said, she's only sleeping about 1 hr 15-20 min. Do I wait until the naps get longer to push it back to 12:30 or 1:00? Or do they get longer when I push it back? Any ideas? (She usually wakes around 7 or 7:30).

[gcmomma]

hey olivia's mommy - i posted and am getting into a discussion on the length of my ds one nap length too...it is under sleep-naps-extending 14 month old nap if you wanna check it out....he is 15 months now - and i feel your frustration in the short nap!  you know they need a longer one!  i'd love to commisserate with you!

[Olivia's Mommy]

gcmomma--I replied to your post on the discussion you started...hopefully we will get some info. I'm also involved in the chat for Mums of Mar/Apr 05 babies. I've posted the same question there...pop over there and check it out if you'd like. I'll pass along any tips I get from them...most of them have already been through the transition.

[Mom to M&M]

Think I may have to try this one nap thing too. DD has always much preferred a long morning nap but lately started to either refuse the afternoon nap or not fall asleep for it until much too late and then it affects bedtime. I have tried cutting the first nap to 1 hour but it doesn't really help. I think as long as she wakes up at a reasonable time tomorrow morning we may try for one long nap after an early lunch or late brunch... We've done it before but only on days we know we'll be in the car in late afternoon to save us as DD will always take a short car doze. But it's not practical most days as we live in Manhattan and therefore don't use the car much!

[KellyC]

Looking for some advice!  Today I decided that if Zander farted around in his cot for the 20 minutes I usually let him nap for in the mornings that I would get him up and go with one nap - well he did and I did!  He had an early lunch and went down at around 12.15 no problem but woke after 1 hour and just would not go back to sleep.  I can only assume this was caused by over-tiredness as he always has a 2 hour nap after his lunch (although usually later).  Do I do the same tomorrow and will he get used to it or do I go back to 2 naps which is much more difficult for nursery which he starts in a couple of weeks?  I was thinking of doing lunch at 11.30 and offering a top-up bottle of milk before his nap to rule out hunger as a reason for waking (since he's having lunch earlier than usual and may be eating less as he's had less time to get hungry).  Any suggestions?  I may give it a go for a couple of days and see what happens but don't want to ruin his good night-time sleep by pushing it.

Kelly x