extend the duration of nap

[gingerfeet]

thought i have so mewhat seen something similar in the forum, couldn't find it.  sorry about that.  I have just recently did a transition from 2 naps to 1 about a week ago.  Everything is great but her nap only lasts 1hour.  I noticed most of your lo goes down between 1-2 hrs    - just wondering whether is there a way to extend my lo's nap.  she wakes up around 7 - 7.30am and her nap is around noon.  Because dd naps only lasted an hour.. dd starts getting restless by 3pm.  Or is there a time when they will automatically naps longer?

[imsmum]

Sometimes they only nap for a short while at first because they are overtired and can't get past the 1 hour mark on their naps. You can try going in and resettling--use whatever method that you would use for a night waking etc.  You might also want to try a super early bedtime so that she is well rested and not overtired for her nap.  What time does she normally go down at night?

[gingerfeet]

yes you are right definitely is overtired.  DD goes to bed at 7.30pm and wakes up around 7-7-30am.  I would not want to put her to bed anytime earlier than that just in case she wakes up earlier.

[imsmum]

Does she fall asleep at 7:30 and does she sleep through?  I would try both moving her bedtime earlier by just 1/2 hour if you  are nervous about it--she may surprise you and sleep a bit later. But even if she doesn't she'll be getting that extra 1/2 hour sleep.  I think it is important when yu do the transition to one nap to have a temporarily super early bedtime because otherwise she is awake 6.5 hours after her nap which is an awfully long time at this stage--most lo's can only do about 5 hours of awake time after nap.  Once she starts napping longer you can work on moving the bedtime and likely the naptime back abit. 

[mom2william]

We are having the same issues trying to move my DS to 1 nap.  He, though, wakes up quite a bit earlier around 6:15 so I'm trying to get him to 11:00am but he's only sleeping to like 12:30!  It is so tough and sometimes he sleeps only an hour like gingerfeet said.  I have tried going in and resettling but it hasn't worked.  A lot of times he is waking up very distressed and crying and I can tell he's still quite tired!  I am thinking about W2S although I've never really tried this.  It's a MAJOR stretch to bedtime if my DS only sleeps 'til 12:30.  I am putting him to bed at like 6-6:30pm.  I have wondered if I should try 5:30pm??  He is a great night sleeper and doesn't wake in the night even though I can tell he's not getting enough during the day. 

Any advice ladies?

Suzanne
___________
William born 3/23/05

[imsmum]

Sure try the earlier bedtime for a few days.  As long as his wakeups aren't any earlier then he will be gaining sleep.  I would only move it earlier temporarily though with the idea of getting him more rest  so that you can push the nap back and increase the time before morning nap to closer to 6 hours.