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

[debo620]

yes just test it out,
definately I think a 90min am nap can rob your night. what about 4omin in the am and then 3hrs of A time. hopefully he'll be tired enough to sleep well in the pm. I know its a bit scary...

so wake 5:30
nap 9:30-10:15
nap 1:15-3

[KathrynK]

hi there
just wanted to chip in and say don't be surprised if it takes a few days to rearrange his body clock. That is, don't give up if the first couple of days you shorten his am nap and don't see an immediate change to the pm nap. When I have to shorten Sophie's am nap it always takes a few days before the changes make a difference.

[M and N's Mom]

OliverRowland - we haven't had the really early wakings, but my DS would definitely prefer the longer am nap.  We had that problem too but then the 30 min pm nap just wasn't cutting it.  Now we only allow a 30 min am nap and usually get a 1h 20min nap or more in the afternoon.  Every day seems to be a bit different depending on when he wakes and watching his tired signs etc.


We're having trouble with A time.  I'm seeing most lo's here handling 4-5+ hours A time and DS really can't handle that...the most before bed is 3.5h.  I guess we'll just have to stick with the short am nap for a long time    Having the transition done by summer for outings sounds great Deb!  Hope it works for you    We're going to a cottage in August...hope we aren't still trying for a short catnap by then 

[becky1969]

M and Ns Mom - we're the same as you 3.5 hours A time is about it for Owen. We can go 4 hours, but it's really pushing it and asking for trouble! 

I feel so schizophrenic right now b/c I WANT to be doing short AM, longer PM, but we're all on a goofy schedule b/c of the siding. They're supposed to finish Tues/Wed, so I should be able to buckle down and get this stuff figured out. On Saturday, I let him take a 45 minute AM nap, but then he only took a 30 minute PM nap! So we were totally screwed. I'm not sure what went wrong, but feel like I won't figure it out until we can be consistent several days in a row.

I have a question for you guys. I work at home (while Owen sleeps), and so have just started taking him to activities. We haven't done anything to speak of before now (except for the rare one-on-one play dates) b/c he is so sensitive to being OT that I couldn't imagine taking him to a class that coincided with nap time. Now that he's able to do longer A time, we've been spreading our wings. But it is STILL interfering with naps! We've been just doing 1 playgroup a week - i thought that wouldn't be too disruptive. But there's another group I'd like to try - MOPPS. The kids are in a nursery setting while the moms are doing their own thing. I thought it would be good practice for both of us. They only meet twice a month, but I'm wondering if 2 disruptive events in a week is too much?

What do you guys do? The Playgroup meets 9:30-11 am, and MOPPS meets 9:30-11:30. Owen usually naps at around 10/10:30. He can make it to 11:30, but boy is he tired. And it also dooms us to a 1 nap day, b/c by the time we get home and to sleep it's after noon. Any suggestions?

[M and N's Mom]

Thanks Becky...glad to hear we aren't the only ones! 

We try to get our activities in between 3:30-5:30 whenever possible.  Otherwise we only do short outings before/between naps.  Messing with naps here = overtired lo very quickly 

[OliverRowland]

The reason I am asking advice before I get started, is that ds is only 10 months!  I know not many start to drop to one nap this early but I am wondering if he may be one of them.  ds has been on 3.5 hr A time for 2-3 months now.  He had a cold over a week ago now...so not sure how much that has to do with it.  ds is generally pretty adaptable with illness' and travel.  but all of a sudden we are experiening poor naps (usually pm), back to early w/u (5:30 instead of 6-6:30) and what's worse is that he is extremely tough to get to sleep at night!  He used to be asleep within 5-10min once in crib but now it is taking 60 min!!!!!  (he often falls asleep for 5-10min then is awake again!?!?!?).  Has anyone else experienced these things?   Do I need to alter naps to slowly lead up to 2 to 1 shift?

[debo620]

Oliverrowland,
I think we hit the need to cut the am nap at 10months aswell. yet 4months later we are still at a short am /long pm-hes still not ready for one nap. So rest assured, you may find cutting the morning nap is all you need for now. 
I think the difficulty settling at bed time is probably due to overtiredness and the shorter pm nap. cut the am nap and watch the pm nap improve.

[OliverRowland]

Thanks, I have started cutting the am nap.  i woke him after 1hr and 15min this am.  tomorrow i will try 1 hr for a few days.   should i go slower or is this ok?  how quickly did you cut the am nap?

[KathrynK]

just like deb we started cutting the am nap at 10 months. I cut the am nap to 1hr15 to begin with and saw no change after a couple of days so went for 1hr. That worked fine for about 4 weeks, then we had to go to 45 mins and by 13 months we were on 30 mins! It's a really gradual process, it might take a week or so before you find the right combination of nap time and A time for your lo

[samijoe]

i totally agree with kathryn.

u guys need to be much more patient...it does take a few days for them to rearrange those body clocks.  a 30min pm nap may suck really bad one day, but if you keep going it will get better.

also, remember if a pm nap ends up being bad...do not try to keep them up till bedtime.  put to bed early if you have to.

we are in the switch right now.  dd was only sleeping 20mins in the am and 1.5hrs in the pm before we did it.  now she won't even take two naps unless we are in the car.  5hrs A time seems so long, but after a few days she was able to make it there.  but those first one nap days, were some overtired naps.  we also pretty much do a 7pm bedtime now....

hang in there. 
the most logical place to start is to shorten the am nap, and bring the pm nap a bit closer.  if you can do this, then great.  i wasn't able to with my dd as all of her A times were the exact same length to the minute!  the only thing going for us is that my dd tacks missing sleep onto her night sleep.

hth
sami

[OliverRowland]

I agree that I must be patient and tackle this slowly otherwise other things will fall apart.  but it is hard to fit everything in and keep 3.5 hr A time.  He just doesn't sleep well on less A time!
I sometimes struggle in the afternoons if his pm nap sucks cause I worry about getting 2 milk feeds and supper in before an earlier bedtime.

[samijoe]

we were at 3.75hrs A time for months and we just had to make it all fit.

those pm naps should get longer if you keep at it.


sami

[carlson_bb]

So, is it the pm nap that they won't do when they are ready for 1 nap a day?  It seems so counterintuitive, but my daughter is having troubles in her pm nap right this second (and has been for a few days) and I thought it can't be that she needs to go to one nap.  She sleeps fine for the a.m. nap and is asleep when we go get her for lunch.  She just turned one today.  Is it too early for just one nap?

This is her routine:


6:30 wake up

10:00 goes upstairs for nap and in crib by about 10:15

11:30 wake up (but we wake her up and I just moved this from 11:15)

2:45 goes upstairs for nap and in crib by about 3:00

4:30 wake up (I just moved this from 4:15 b/c she has been sleeping late here too after not getting to sleep until late)

7:30 bedtime

What do you all think?

[M and N's Mom]

Happy Birthday to your DD   

Many lo's seem to have a nice long morning nap, and then refuse the afternoon nap or only take a really short afternoon nap leaving them overtired by bedtime.

Most moms on here are trying to shorten the am nap in order to get a longer pm nap.  Your DD is not likely ready to jump to just one nap right away, but is probably starting the transition.

[carlson_bb]

That makes sense.  I will shorten the a.m. nap to one hour and see if that helps the p.m. nap.  She definitely appears to be going through some changes these past few days.  Thank you!