Nap "training"?

ilovedesi

I think my DD still really needs two naps.  Right now she takes a nap around 11:30 and sleep until about 12:45-1.  She gets very tired around 3 again and then struggles to go down for a second nap even though she is tired and cranky and all around difficult until bedtime which is around 7:30. 

My question is kind of two-fold, 1) if she is transitioning down to one nap, how do I get her to sleep longer for her first nap (maybe if she did she wouldn't be in such need for the 2nd nap 2) if she is still in need of the 2nd nap how do you "train" your kid to put themselves to sleep on their own.

I should add a) she's 15 months old b) I do rock her to sleep for her first nap (guilty) c) I do nurse at night before bed but put her in the crib awake and she never has trouble falling asleep at night and sleeping through the night d) we have a routine for all sleep times which includes a diaper change and book reading in a very dim room.

hilsy85

This is basically our EXACT situation as well for my 16 month old (except I don't rock to sleep at all). What I have found is that some days he needs 2 naps, and some days he can do 1...I thought I could transition cold turkey to 1 nap, but that just resulted in a REALLY over tired toddler. So I follow his cues. WHen he was on 2 solid naps, he would nap at 9 and 2, so now if he seems tired around 830/9, I"ll put him down for a nap, and then try again around 230 or so. It worked day before yesterday, but didn't work today--he just refused that 2nd nap, so he went to bed really early, at 6. I think the 2-1 transition can be really painful (it has been for us). On days that he does 1 nap from 11-1230 or so, I will also TRY to have him in bed by 630, and if he is REALLY cranky, I might take him out for a stroller walk around 3 or so to see if I can get him to nap there. Does your LO sleep in the stroller? I think trying to nap train now for the 2nd nap would probably not work, since she's in the process of dropping it...

I would definitely move up her bedtime first thing though--730 is way too late if she's only taking one early, short nap. 

ilovedesi

@hilsy85 No, she will not sleep in the stroller. 
But I will take your suggestion about moving bedtime up.  Maybe we will do that tonight since she is not taking nap #2.

oliversmommy32912

Nap transitions are hard. We went through something similar. It sounds like LO is ready for one nap. I second PP's suggestion of making the nap a little later. We had to change our whole routine when he went down to one nap. We were doing a snack before nap and then lunch when he woke up when we were doing two naps. Now we do lunch, nap, snack. It took at least a week on the new schedule before he figured out what to do. He started sleeping in a little later in the morning, too, which was a bonus.

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ilovedesi

Thanks for the input!  I am going to try to push the nap back a little each day and see if that helps bring it to a nice balance where we don't have so much of the day left after the nap.