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

[Aarismom]

Just jumping in here too to report my progress!

I just decided to bite the bullet and jump straight to one nap Her disposition is such that I knew she could handle it. I know it's not a smart idea to do so, but oddly enough it worked. 2 naps kept her up until 8-8:30 regardless of how long they were (she gets up at 6 am). As soon as I did it, she went to bed at 7 on the button and got up between 6 and 6:30 the next morning! The first night was pretty rocky; she was up 4 hours total, once between 9 and 11 and then between 3:30 and 5:30 am, but fell back to sleep until 8 am. The second night she slept through until 8 am...it was pretty nice. As the first week progressed, she started to get up at her normal time of 6-6:30 am, but still went to sleep at 7.

Nap wise, she's still taking her nap anywhere between 11 and 12:30, depending when she decides to get up in the AM. I'm trying to move it toward 1 PM, but she can't seem to stay up that long. Her nap ends up lasting 1.5-2.5 hours.

I'm just rolling with it right now...hopefully the trend continues!

*HUGS*
Sonya =P

[Gigismom]

isabellas mum-i had a feeling that you had that baby since we haven't seen you around for a while! congrats!!!  i'm glad your labor was quick.  i hope you are adjusting well.  as for how long the transition takes, i guess it is different for every baby.  when gianna tried switching to 1 nap at 14 months, she was so cranky and fussy for 2 weeks.  it's like she got worse every day instead of getting better and more used to it.  so i thought that maybe she wasn't ready and i put her back on 2 naps and she did great.  then she started with trying to switch again about amonth ago.  this switch has gone much smoother.  she was pretty fussy for the first week.  but she is now doing good in the daytime.  we are still having some issues at night, but those are getting better as well (knock on wood).  is it possible your dd will go back to 2 naps? 

[alyssa1]

Hi there,
I looking for a bit of advice on the 2-1 switch.  My son is 16 months old and here is his typical schedule this week:

6am wake
7:30 breakfast
9:30am snack
11am early lunch
11:30/12 - 1/1:30 nap
2pm snack
4:30 dinner
7pm bath/books/bed - usually asleep by 7:30pm or earlier, no later

He has consistently had one nap everyday this week and then the last couple of weeks we have been flipping back and forth based on his tiredness.  My son seems to only want to sleep 11 hours or less a night.  Even when we put him to bed earlier he will be up at the 11hour mark.  This past week we have tried 6:25pm hoping he would sleep in a little more but it backfired and he was up at 5:20am ready to start the day.  He generally wakes up happy but I would really like him to go to bed at 7/7:30 pm and sleep until at least 6:30am - do I just try to keep to that bedtime and hope he will evetually sleep in a little??? 
Yesterday he napped from 11:15am-1pm, went to bed at 7:20pm and was up this morning at 5:45am.  It just doesn't seem like enough night sleep?  But if I put him to bed earlier he is up earlier and then early nap - how do I move past this or will it just take some time?  I want things to move later - do I just push it every couple days until he can manage the afternoon nap later and hence 7pm bedtime and later wake-up??
Any advice or what you have gone through would be great - thanks!

[CanadianMom]

Thanks Lindsey  I think I may try just giving him one nap - he was up at 5:30 this am - and he was up around 6:15 yesterday - he usually sleeps till at least 7, so I am going to try to have just one nap today. I am also going to put up a black out blind in his room this w/e
I do have some errands to do this am, maybe he will get a cat nap in the car that will keep him going......
I was not quite ready for this yet.... the other two were a bit older when they made this transition, and they were at daycare too I think - so I only had to deal at w/e.  The lady that looks after them is amazing btw.
thanks again.
Lisa

[Gigismom]

alyssa-well, i think if your ds seems happy and generallly well rested, then he is getting enough sleep.  the routine you posted actually looked really good to me.  he's getting about 13 hours sleep total,right?  that is exactly what my dd gets.  she gets 11-12 overnight, and then depending on her night sleep she will take a 1-2 hours nap.  yes, he will have a rough patch of several weeks while making the switch while his body sorts it out.  if you think he can handle it, you can try pushing everything later.  but if he is exhausted by naptime, maybe wait a few weeks til he is better adjusted, then try pushing it a bit later.  when we first started the switch, gianna was still waking up in the morning at her usual time of 6 am, which made it hard to keep her up til 12.  but then one day she just started sleeping in.  now i sometimes have to wake her up at 8!  it's awesome!  so maybe your lo will start sleeping in on his own.  but if he seems well rested that is the most important.

[alyssa1]

Thanks for the reply Gigismom.  I must say that he is doing rather well with the transition this week and I am happy with the total sleep so I guess over the next couple weeks hopefully he will just sleep a bit later.  I would love to have to wake him up - that has never happened!  I can't push the nap too too much now as he is dead tired by the time it rolls around at 11:30.  You're right, I guess it will just take some time.
Thanks again.

[nourishdesoul]

CONGRATS iSABELLES MOM. 
WELL, PONO THROUGH ME FOR A LOOP TODAY AND IT IS MAKING ME THINK that (sorry for all the caps) he is not ready for one nap. He slep in until 610am! yes, slept in. He took a nap at 930 for over an hour or so and again at 230ish for over an hour and he went to bed at 7pm. we have really been struggling with the 1 nap and he has just been so so tired. I am wondering if  he is not ready. Awhile back he was ready. He would take 1 nap of 2-3 hours.  Then, that went away and I did 2 naps. He started getting up super early and taking short am...blah blah blah. I guess i am just wondering if he is not ready. SHould I try 2 again?

[Gigismom]

YES try switching him back to 2 naps!!   read below what i wrote a couple posts ago:

when gianna tried switching to 1 nap at 14 months, she was so cranky and fussy for 2 weeks.  it's like she got worse every day instead of getting better and more used to it.  so i thought that maybe she wasn't ready and i put her back on 2 naps and she did great.  then she started with trying to switch again about amonth ago.  this switch has gone much smoother.  she was pretty fussy for the first week.  but she is now doing good in the daytime.  we are still having some issues at night, but those are getting better as well (knock on wood). 

i think that when they are truly ready to switch to one nap a day, the days start getting easier as they get used to it.  however, i think if they are not ready to switch, the days get harder as the overtiredness compounds.  does that make sense?  let us know how it goes.  glad he let you sleep in a bit!

[nourishdesoul]

Thank you mother of Gigi. We are going try 2 naps again and see what happens. I think I was hoping for 1 nap as it would free up my day to do errands and such. OH well, a rested baby is a rested mama. Wish me Luck!

[CanadianMom]

Liam had only one nap yesterday.  Last night he had a terrible sleep, he kept waking up, and decided that 3 am was playtime.  He was screaming the house down.  So we are back to 2 naps today, and hoping for a better night....
L

[Gigismom]

the first few nights after we switched to one nap we had the same scenario happen.  thankfully, the night wakings have decreased, although she is still waking up sometimes.

[nourishdesoul]

everyday is a different day...yesterday he was up at 5am, wouldnt take a nap and went ot be at 6 but thankfully got up at 6am. NOw I am trying to put him down for his 9am nap. He wont do it...again. He seems tyo be going through this extreme seperation anxiety. He will fall asleep in my arms but I put him down and he wont go to sleep. He is clinging to me all day and wanting to bf all day. I am exhausted. ANy suggestions on the seperation anxiety and sleeping?  He is also getting a molar, so maybe thats making him more cranky and unwilling to eat, sleep, chill-out..!

[nourishdesoul]

geez..you can tell how tired I am by the numerous typos in the above post. I can hardly understand what I just wrote. Well, he didnt go down for his am9am nap. it is finally 1030 (up at 6am) and he is down. For a few days he tok a nap at 9 and 2 for a total of alomst 3 hours. PAst couple days he is refusing to sleep and it is making me think that he doing the 1 nap try again.  dont know! So, if went down at 1030, is he going to be able to fit in another nap in the afternoon? GOsh, I hope so.

[Claire Marie's mommy]

Hey ladies, I'm going to jump on in here because we too are having some nap trouble.  Earlier in the week I posted about my DD's naps.  I wasn't sure whether or not to try and go to one nap permanently, but decided to give it a try.  She  has had several 1 nap days that she handled very well, but the past 3 days have been difficult.  I've been putting her down for a midday nap around 11:30 and she has only been sleeping for about an hour.  In the past when we have attempted this, she would sleep for 2+.  Yesterday, I was able to get her back down at about 3:30 for another hour, but  today it doesn't look like she's going to be in the mood.
   I'm getting confused now as to what to do.  Should I try to stick this out for another week or so and see what happens, or should I try going back to 2?  Does anyone know how long it takes them to lengthen the nap?  By the way DD just turned 13 mo.  This all started about a month ago when she started refusing the PM nap.  I cut the AM to one hour and that worked great for a while, but then she started resisiting the PM again, so I decided one day to give 1 a try  and she did great.  We had family in town and other things going on, so it worked out well.  If anyone has any advise, I would greatly appreciate it.  I know she is young, and believe me, I would love to keep doing  two,  but somedays she just refuses.  It breaks my heart to see her crawling around with bags under her eyes and I know she isn't is happy as she should be.  I just want to do whats best for her, but can't make up my mind on the best way. 
Thanks for any help,
Jessica

[Gigismom]

nourishdesoul-mydd has gone through a lot of bouts of sep anxiety where i have to hold her to sleep.  i don't have any advice there.  sorry.  would your lo take an am nap and then sleep for 20-30 mins if you took him in the car on some errands in the afternoon?  i know that worked a while for my dd.  when all else failed i would just take her for a drive.

jessica-i would give it a try for a good couple of weeks (unless she is totally unbearable).  it took my dd about that long to get settled on one nap.  sometimes she only sleeps an hour for the nap, butis surprisingly in a good mood.  if your dd seems to be getting worse though and not better in terms of adjusting, then i would try going back to 2 naps.