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

[*Natasha*]

Oliva's Mum i put my DD down at 12pm and generally sleeps 2-2.5hrs.
Kelly some babies take a while to get use to the 1 nap and at the beginning will olny do a shorter nap i am guessing from being a little overtired. The best thing to do is to go for a early bedtime. I agree give him a couple of days to see how he does,perhaps he isn't quiet ready for the change 
Karen good luck with the transition let us know how you go.

[Mom to M&M]

No switch yet - DD woke at 5:40 am today (ugh) with a dirty diaper and wouldn't go back to sleep!

[KellyC]

They like to mess up our plans for them like that don't they Karen?!

Zander was awake at 5.50am today so I gave him half his morning bf and put him back down and he slept until 7.45am so definitely thought I was onto a winner with one nap today.  The problem is that both DS and I have bad colds so he's been a right grouch all morning and I know he's been tired because there's been lots of eye rubbing but he definitely wasn't up for taking a nap.  I gave him his lunch at 11.30am and a 3oz top-up of cow's milk just before I put him down at 12 and he was so sleepy.  Actually it was quite nice, all cuddly like he is at bedtime but not usually at naptime!  I'm hoping the full tummy will help him to stay asleep if he stirs due to overtiredness.

Kelly x

[KellyC]

Me again, I hope I'm not boring you too much 

It's 2pm and Zander is still asleep - yay!  He has stirred a couple of times but nothing I'd be able to hear if my monitor wasn't sat next to me!

Kelly x

[Mom to M&M]

Great going Kelly!

Looks like we're going to try one nap today as DD woke up 5 minutes before 7. I think will do breakfast around 7:15 and then at 10 when she's starting to get tired/cranky we can go outside to her favorite park and have brunch (grilled cheese sandwich, her favorite) and play outside and try to hold her off until at least 11:30 or 11:45 for a nap? I figure I can do the grilled cheese as brunch and a small lunch of apple/sweet potato puree after the nap and dinner as usual. Fingers crossed - if it doesn't work we may have to take an emergency car ride later today!

[KellyC]

Good luck Karen, let us know how it goes!

Zander ended up sleeping 2 hrs 25 mins yesterday, went to bed at 6.50 and woke at just gone 7 this morning    It was a struggle getting him through this morning though as he got really tired at around 11am and I was still cooking his lunch.  He didn't eat much but had a 4oz top-up of milk before he went to sleep at 12 so hopefully that will do the trick again.  I'm going to give this 5 days or so and if he's still really tired during the morning I might re-think it.

Kelly x

[Mom to M&M]

Sounds great with yesterday Kelly and hope it works well today. I know that will be our hurdle - Marisa will likely be too tired to eat much - but am hoping being outside helps that... I can still get her to take two naps but they both become so short that she's cranky from them and I selfishly can't get anything done! So we'll see - maybe we'll go back and forth for a bit...

[Mom to M&M]

We may not be ready for this... at 3 hours and 10 minutes up (about her normal nap time) Marisa had a mini tantrum in the stroller. She calmed right down though and ate about half her normal lunch in the stroller at the Park. But then another small tantrum but then some fun at the playground. Then another small tantrum during diaper change and had to let her watch Sesame Street for 30 minutes to stretch her out (she normally watches 45 minutes or so a day). She'll hopefully/likely take a nice long nap but still have too long a stretch this afternoon.

I guess I'll have to instead go the route of limiting the morning nap to 45-60 minutes (had been limiting it to 60-90 minutes). Problem is that is her favorite/best nap. But if it goes past 11 or 11:15 latest, she falls asleep way too late for the afternoon nap. She seems to need about 3.25 hours AM and 3.75-4 hours PM and 3.5 hours before bed...

[KellyC]

Hi Karen

I was wondering how it went for you today, sorry it wasn't so good.  For quite a while now I've been limiting Zander's morning nap to 20 minutes at 9.30/10 and then putting him down for 2 hours at 12.30/1.  You could try really limiting her morning nap in this way and then dropping it once she starts refusing it - your afternoon nap will already be in more or less the right place and the right length.

Zander went down at 11.55 and woke at 2.20 having whinged for a few minutes at around 1.45.  He went to bed at the same time tonight, 6.50, so hopefully he'll sleep as well tonight.  He's been incredibly grouchy today but has a cold and is cutting 4 or 5 teeth so it could be more related to that.

Kelly x

[Mom to M&M]

Marisa ended up sleeping for 2 hours, which is good but nap ended at 1:50. And she normally gets 2.5-3 hours day sleep so afternoon will be long and cranky but we'll do lots of stroller action and an early bedtime. I don't think we can limit morning nap shorter than 45 minutes yet (shortest it's been in ages is 1.25) but will keep that in mind!

Kelly - sounds like teeth to me - ouch! Hope he sleeps well for you tonight.

[Gage and Sophie's Mom]

hiya ladies! I am sorry that some of you are having a rough time with this whole 1 nap thing. I am going buggy myself! I know Gage is still young for one nap, but he just wont listen to me

Here is what I am doing. It is not a miracle or anything, but it is kind of getting us by. Tell me what you think.

Gage has been ditching his afternoon nap, and I think it is because he is sleeping anywhere from an hour to 1.5 hr. I have tried shortening this nap and it ALWAYS backfires on me so I have been just letting him be. To encourage longer A times and longer nap I have been increasing his A time by 15 min. He has been sleeping the same amount though Hopefully this will change. Anyway, I have been trying for a catnap in the evening around 4pm if crabby britches should emerge(which is most of thhe time). To my amazement he still falls asleep at bedtime and sleeps until 7am. If I dont give him a catnap he wakes an hour after bedtime and  is up for another hour due to being overtired.   

[KellyC]

Sounds good Alice - I think the main thing is to avoid over-tiredness at bedtime which is where the catnap comes in.  I wish Zander would take a catnap some days!  I love your avatar too!

[Gage and Sophie's Mom]

hi kelly! Zander has sure grown up. It is hard to believe that these babies are almost a year old! If Zander doesnt take a catnap how early is his bedtime? I am totally unsure as to what Gage's A times are anymore... sometimes 4hrs... sometimes 5hrs in the afternoon.

[KellyC]

I can't believe they're nearly 1 either  and 

Luckily Zander has had 1.5-2.5 hours after lunch consistently for quite some time.  There have been the odd days when it's all gone wrong and I've aimed for bed at 6.30 but it's really difficult to get him to take his bedtime milk with an early bedtime so it usually ends up being close to 7 which is his usual bedtime anyway!

[KellyC]

This morning Zander was up at 6 but I went with the same plan as the past few days.  I decided that after his snack at 10 we would go for a walk because he never falls asleep in his pushchair .... only to look down and see his head slumped on his chest 15 minutes into our walk    So my little man ended up sleeping for 30 minutes at 11am and I put him down at 1pm and he's still asleep now at 2.15pm so all is well!

Part of my issue is that nursery put the babies his age down for their long nap after lunch (which is at 12pm).  So I think I'm going to do this - 15 minutes catnap at around 10am, long nap at 1pm and bed at 7.30pm (half an hour later than usual).  I'm hoping that the catnap will see him through to the long nap and the later long nap will see him through to a later bedtime which will compensate for the extra morning nap which he doesn't need except to get him through the morning.  I also imagine if I'm finding it difficult to get him through until after lunch just chilling out at home that he'll definitely need a break when he's at nursery!

K x