Switching to one nap

[Ashton & Raine's Mom]

Hi...I have a 9 month old who I think may be beginning to transition to one nap a day.  Although he gets up at 6 am or so he can stay up sometimes until 9:30 am.  Today he slept for 3 hours and then didn't want to go down for his second nap.  It came to bottle time then and he fell asleep drinking it at 3:50.  I decided to wake him up at 4:45.  I'm not sure when I'm going to get him to bed tonight but I know he'll still be up by 6:30 am tomorrow morning.  I guess I'm wondering if I should wake him up eariler from his first nap?  I could give it a try but I'm afraid he'll be super cranky then the whole afternoon - guess I won't know till I try it.  Is that the way to go or should I just keep increasing his activity time until he doesn't need the afternoon nap?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated... and if anyone knows a magic spell to get him to sleep until after 7 that would be great too 

[Colin Macs Mom]

I agree - 9 mo is far too young to go to one nap. You don't want daytime naps to be longer than 2 hours because then it will affect the rest of the day, as you're seeing now.

[Ashton & Raine's Mom]

Thanks!!  He woke up this morning around 6 so I'll try waking him up from his morning nap and see how the day goes 

[Colin Macs Mom]

Let us know!

[Clarepie]

Hi,
My DD is nearly 9 months and she also is staying for a long time too.I agree 9 months has to be too early for going to one nap,but my LO isn't far off I don't think.She can do 4 hrs awake time,this is after 10 1/2 to 11 1/2 hrs sleep and her morning nap of 1-1 1/4 hrs.She then has a pm nap of 1 1/2 hrs,and goes to bed at 7,and wakes between 5:30 and 6:30 am,so she does sleep well.I don't push her to stay awake for longer,she does it on her own,I just read her cues,and not the clock,otherwise it results in short naps of 40 minutes.She has always had long A times for her age,so she could be ready for one nap in a few months possibly?

Clare

[KathrynK]

Hi Clare
the transition often takes up to 6 months from when you first have to start shortening daytime sleep.
Her sleep at the moment is very typical for her age so I don't think you have anything to worry about!

[bennybean]

My son is 14 months old and he is a good napper.  He naps for about 2 hours in the morning and 1.5 hours in the afternoon.  The problem is it is getting really hard to get him to go down for his second nap.  Once he is asleep he naps well.  Could this mean he may only need one nap?  I have been trying to move his morning nap later, but it's really difficult for him to stay up in the morning.  He usually wakes at 6am, and goes naps in the am from 9-11.  I have been waking him at 10:30 so I can get him to sleep in the afternoon, but it is still hard work to get him to sleep in the afternoon, and sometimes I just give up and let him stay up (this makes a very crabby baby by early evening.)  Any suggestions?

[Layla]

He's getting there. I would start with limiting his morning nap to 45mins so that he takes a longer pm nap. If moving the morning nap is getting him overtired then let him have it but a short one. So if he's up at 6am, aim for something like this:

6am - wake
9ish - morning nap (wake at 45mins)
1ish - afternoon nap (should sleep about 1.5hrs)
6ish - bedtime

If he is skipping the pm nap, I would also suggest an earlier bedtime (as early as 5.30pm) to avoid overtiredness,

hth
Layla

[Khyan & Sahria's mum]

We have a similar problem with Sahria being able to stay awake for AGES  this means that I don't notice her being tired and I push her more than I should    she comfortably does only 1 nap around 12.30pm with a 6pm bedtime  yep at almost 9mths      

So I need to encourage her back on to her 2 naps per day however I was thinking of shortening her am nap to only 45 - 60 mins but I'm a little scared that I will be encouraging the 45 min nap monster to rear it's ugly head again and that the pm nap will be a nightmare - does anyone know if waking at the 45min mark will set up for all naps being 45 mins?

TIA

[Khyan & Sahria's mum]

Oops I just realised I'm hijacking your post, I hope you don't mind me asking a couple of questions 

[KathrynK]

Michaela you're the second poster this week to ask that question! I woke Sophie from her am nap after 45 mins from 11mo till 16mo when she finally transitioned to 1 nap- throughout this she always took a good pm nap, it never caused a 45min issue (and she was a champion 45min napper when younger!). It actually made the pm nap longer if anything, as she was clearly catching up from having less morning sleep
hth
K