Moving to 1 nap

JulesDiane · November 2013

For those who moved to 1 nap, I have a few questions. DD's afternoon nap keeps getting later and later in the day.. and seems to be screwing with her bedtime. I am wondering if it is time to start transition to 1 nap. I am reluctant to move to 1 nap because the morning nap is the only time I have to get stuff done alone when DD1 is at school (DD1 does not nap any more). I am also worried about moving to 1 nap, because I will not be able to start it until after 1:30 or so because I need to pick up DD1 from school.

When did you decide it was time to move from 2 naps to 1 nap? How did you do the transition? How easy was the transition?

I found one article that suggested slowly shortening the length of the 1st nap... It sounds like that might be a good way of doing it.

Thanks!

controlledchaos617 · November 2013

I will be following this because I am wondering about this too with my daughter.

Pokedot · November 2013

I am no help but DS naturally vetoed the 2nd nap around 6 months so we went straight to one nap. He decided himself so there was no transition. Now he wakes about 7ish then goes down for a nap about 11/11:30 and is up 1.5-2 hours later. That's his nap for the whole day. I'm slightly jealous of those who have 2 naps!

mamaHippo23 · November 2013

When is bedtime? Maybe you could do the one long nap in the late morning/ early afternoon, from like 10/ 10:30 -1pm (or whenever you go pick up other DD). That should be enough rest to keep her going until bedtime, but if she gets cranky maybe lay her down for a short 20-30 minute rest around 3ish. This would probably only work if her bedtime was earlier, like around 7-8, otherwise it might be pushing your luck.

Another thought is- Could you possibly coordinate a car pool w/ another mom at your DD's school? Then you could do morning drop-offs, and she brings your DD home so you don't have to leave the house.

hmp1 · November 2013

Daycare did it for us with both kids. I never wake from a nap so I would drop the second nap cold turkey and push the first nap back. What time do you have to pick up DD1 from preschool?

linzeek44 · November 2013

Well, he started refusing a second nap at home so he was just taking one long early one.

At daycare, he was hardly sleeping at all. Like 30 minutes all day. So we transitioned to one nap at 12 at home over the long weekend and asked daycare to try that too.

fireflygirl12 · November 2013

I started keeping him up as long as possible in the morning in order to delay what time he went down for his first nap. He always seems to do better for longer when we are really busy with activities in the morning, so we usually try to get out of the house. I also moved his bedtime up by about 30 minutes because he was tired sooner and he sleeps longer at night now that he's down to just 1 nap.

watercolor5 · November 2013

We moved to one nap when DD started refusing to take the second one. She had been taking a nap around 10, and another one at 3, so when she refused the afternoon nap, we went from 10am to 7pm bedtime with no sleep, which made for a very fussy toddler.

All I really had to do to transition her was push the first nap later in the day- after lunch worked perfectly for us. She tends to go down for a nap now around 1, though that gets shifted earlier if she has an earlier wakeup/ earlier lunch.
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She's pretty tired when she goes down, but that makes for a better quality sleep. When we made the transition, she was a little more tired than usual for the first 4 days or so, but adjusted really quickly.

Stasi · November 2013

linzeek44 said:

Well, he started refusing a second nap at home so he was just taking one long early one. At daycare, he was hardly sleeping at all. Like 30 minutes all day. So we transitioned to one nap at 12 at home over the long weekend and asked daycare to try that too.

We are in the same boat on the weekends - sometimes Kate sleeps from 9 until 11 or even almost 12, then goes without for the rest of the day without. She seems to be handling it pretty well.

At her babysitter's she is still doing one nap, but I think she would be ready to take one long one after an early lunch (around 11am) and be good for the day.

elizabethwig · November 2013

We dropped the 2nd nap when she was having trouble going to bed at night. Going down for the naps themselves was never really the issue. We pushed the first nap to just after lunch, around noon. We had a few very sleepy lunch times and still have a couple random days where she'll pass out in the stroller around 11, but it's been fairly easy. Seems to have fixed the bedtime troubles too (knock on wood)

cmarie520 · November 2013

When DS transitioned to the toddler room they made the transition to 1 afternoon nap. After that transition DS had generally been a nightmare in the evenings because he was so tired. We continued to do 2 naps on the weekends which made him much happier. Last weekend DS decided that he only needs 1 nap now as he will go down for the first nap, but not the second. We now are doing one afternoon nap, immediately after lunch. Like hmp, I never wake from a nap so I probably wouldn't shorten a nap time, since DS transitioned himself we are not making any more adjustments other than moving his morning nap back a few hours.

INmommy871278 · November 2013

DS started taking shorter and shorter second naps so I decided to make the transition. Right now DS thinks he does not need a nap and fights it hard so what I have started doing is putting him down and telling him it is quite time and he has to lay in his crib for one hour at the least and walk out. He usually falls a sleep within five minutes. I realize he doesn't understand the quite time meaning, but he is so tired that it works and as he grows he will understand quite time so I am starting it now. If after one hour he is not asleep then he gets up, but like I said he usually falls right asleep. Some days he gets put down for a 15 minute quite time in the morning if he is being extra cranky and that 15 minutes usually satisfies him until nap time. He doesn't fall asleep in the 15 minutes but he does just chill and relax.

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