Transitioning from 2 naps to 1

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putput

Registered User
Can anyone tell me how they went out about this? Also, examples of routines for a 14 month old on one nap would be very useful. Many thanks!
 
when you see your baby is taking a long time to fall asleep in one of the nap, usually the afternoon then you will know that he/she is ready to give up one of the two naps. around 12 months my son gave up his afternoon nap and moved his morning nap from 9.30 to 11.30 and sleep till 2.30-3pm. His bed time is 7.30-8.00 till 7am, occassionaly waking up at 6-630 for milk and i did not let him.

routine for my son at around 14 months:

7-7.30am - milk
8-8.30am - breakfast
8.30-10am - play time example walking at the park, reading, playing balls, go to supermarket get him to look at differentstuff, meet his little friends to play,etc.
10.30-11 - lunch
11-11-30 bath and nap
3-3.30 - snacks like fruit and cheese or crackers and juice/water
4-5.30 - play time usually to the park or club house
5.30-6pm - rest at home
6-7 - lunch and bath
7pm - reading at room
7.30pm - sleep

I only send him to playgroup when he turned 1.5 year old. Until now he is 26 months, he still go to playgroup once a week. we do a lot of reading and playing at home and every evening, run at the park with his little friends. If rain, he said "mommy, it is wet, let us go home". so he is ok with either going out or stay put at home the whole day.
 
This sounds perfect! I guess I may be putting my daughter down to late. Most mornings she's up at 6.00 although sometimes she'll randomly have a lie in till 7.30. I usually put her down at 11.45 if she's been up from 6 but whatever time I put her down she's up crying around 45mins to an hour later. She doesn't even look tired when I take her to her room but she falls asleep so quickly, I know she's definitely worn out. I know she needs a longer nap but can't manage it maybe because she's overtired. She's down at night by 6.45. At the mo, she's cranky and irritable all day long which is so out of character for her, and it's driving me crazy!!! It was taking her up to an hour to nap when she was taking 2 naps so she def only needs one now. It's just getting the timings right and somehow getting her to take longer naps which I seem to be struggling with. I feel so bad for her and guilty at the same time that my once happy girl is so irritable now!
 
My 15month old daughter has a very similar schedule too. She is up about 7am, lunch at about 11.30-12 then sleeps 12-12.30 until 2-2.30 and then bed about 7.

When I changed her to 1 nap a day I did need to bring her lunch forward to 11.30ish as if I waited until after 12 she was too tired and everything became a battle. Equally if I let her nap in the morning she didnt sleep at lunchtime and the afternoons were painful.

Good luck
 
Did your babies adjust to their new routines quite easily? Also, did they start taking long naps straight away?
 
My daughhter was happy with the new routine, as long as I got her to bed early enough at lunch time before she got over tired.
If she was over tired she wouldn't sleep for a longer period and would be grumpy in the afternoon. Now she goes down really easily about 12.15ish and sleeps for at least 2 hours.
 
I'll try putting her down earlier tomorrow and see if that works. I've kinda avoided it because I'm worried that she'll only do 40 mins and then will have to stay up even longer in the afternoon till bed time. Did you adjust bedtime during the transition or did it stay the same?
 
my son is 17 months and still has two naps. we've tried transitioning him to just one, but falls apart by 10am. i think it's also due to the fact that he's an early riser - up at 5:45-6:15am. When he wakes up, he's usually jumping in his crib, babbling and playing.

Anyone have any suggestions of how to get him down to just 1 nap? His day looks like this:

6am: wake up
8:30am to 9:30am: nap 1
noon: lunch
1pm-3pm: nap 2
5:30/6pm: dinner
7pm: dinner

We;ve tried putting him to bed later, but he still wakes up the same time.
 
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I kept the same bedtime routine and with mine just ensured there was at least 3-4 hours up before night bedtime...
 
my two year old only switched to one nap a day when she was 19 months... maybe your little one still needs a short catnap sometime during the afternoon.
 
carang, good to know i'm not the only one whose child who is over 1 still has two naps!

i finger my son will let me know when he's ready to drop one and it will just happen naturally.
 
it might have even been later than 19 months... i honestly can't remember.

also, i like it when they nap. my son(4 yrs), i pretty much force into a nap on sundays just so i can have one, too.


isn't it funny... most kids you have to tie down in order for them to sleep, but most adults i know would kill to be able to nap in the afternoon!
 
My 10 months' old baby girl has had 2 naps (1 hour nap around 10 am and another 30 - 45 mins nap around 3 pm) for many months. I wish she could sleep a bit longer in the afternoon. The nanny also told me that after she is 1 year old or more, we should consider trying to adjust her schedule to reduce to only 1 nap a day. I don't mind that but am not so sure if we go down to only 1 nap, will the girl be sleeping longer (say 1.5 - 2 hours)?? If yes, then I think 1 nap is perfectly ok. But if not, then I prefer 2 naps so the aggregate time would be at least 1.5 hour.
 
carang said:
it might have even been later than 19 months... i honestly can't remember.

also, i like it when they nap. my son(4 yrs), i pretty much force into a nap on sundays just so i can have one, too.


isn't it funny... most kids you have to tie down in order for them to sleep, but most adults i know would kill to be able to nap in the afternoon!
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Couldn't agree with you more!
 
Southside852, your son's schedule is the same as my 15 month old daughter's. She wakes up around 5:30- 6am and after 2 hours of play she sleeps for an hour or more. Then again around 1pm she sleeps for another 2 hours. On some days when she wakes around 7am she takes just one nap around 10 or 11am. I think its alright for a child to take 2 naps as long as they wish, even if its for a short duration.
 
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i find the transition tough. my eldest was 18months old and still taking two 1.5hr naps. waking at 7am, nap from 9.30 til 11am then another nap at 2 til 3 - 3.30 then bed at 7pm. i felt like there was never any time in the day to do anything. in the end i forced the drop of the morning nap and pushed him out til 11am. it took a while to get used to it - maybe 5 days or so then his day looked as follows:-
7am wake
8ish breakfast
10ish snack - fruit, crackers etc
11 - 1 / 1.30 nap
1.30 lunch
...etc...
bed at 7pm.

my youngest is different. he has been dropping to one nap since 10months old. currently naps for 15min at 9.45 - I wake him - then has his proper sleep at 12.45 for 2-2.5hrs.
i would love for him to drop the morning nap but he's not ready and i like that his long nap is at the same time as my other son!! (otherwise i'd probably cut it and move the 1 nap to 11am or something)

good luck! once they are on 1 nap i find life seems much easier to organise!!
 
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My friend's and I gave birth on the same day to a boy too. His son is now 2+ and still take 2 naps - one short and one long. It really is every kid is different. His parents got use to him having 2 naps to get things done in the house so they never want him to have one nap per day.
 
we are getting ready to fly home to the States next week and I plan to push out the morning nap either there (we're home for 6 weeks) or when we retturn end of July. I bet life is soo much easier with just 1 nap a day!
 
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