Transitioning to one nap?

NDarya · June 2014

I know this topic was discussed here like thousand times but I'm still clueless. LO is a little shy of 14 mo and is sleep trained so he STTN. Until recently he used to take two naps a day without any fuss. Starting about a week ago he is refusing the second nap. He would go down easily in the morning but afternoon nap is a nightmare. Rocking, singing, patting back, crying - nothing helps. I'm worried that DS is still too young to drop his second nap but I'm exhausted to fight for this nap. Is this just a phase and I have to be more patient or is it ok to drop to one nap at this age? WWYD?

TIA

loeroam · June 2014

My son dropped himself to one nap at about 13.5 - 14 months. In his case, he dropped the am nap and kept the pm nap. If he is sleeping well at night and still taking his am nap, I wouldn't worry.

ashiscute · June 2014

My DD dropped to 1 nap per day around 13 months. It was very similar for us. She would take her morning nap and then refuse her afternoon. And her morning nap was going longer most days. We just slowly pushed her morning nap back from 9a till 1230 or so a little at a time. It was a week or two of hit or miss but she actually did much better on 1 nap and started sleeping 2.5- 3 hours each afternoon. Good luck!

dkny155 · June 2014

My dd dropped to one nap at 13mths. Usually around 1130-1230 and she usually naps at least 2-3hrs.

LSU628 · June 2014

My DS also started refusing the afternoon nap. I've slowly been pushing back the morning nap. Right now during the summer he's waking up around 7:30 and going down for his nap around 11. He sleeps about 3 hours then goes back down around 7 and STTN.

pb_bride · June 2014

DS had several weeklong episodes between 13m-18m when he acted like he was going to drop to 1 nap. Each time it turned out to be teething. Once the discomfort was gone, he went back to 2 naps.

I did try to switch him to 1 nap when he was 15.5m as I thought he was showing all the signs of dropping his nap. It was a disaster and we went back to 2 naps.

He finally transitioned to 1 nap right at 18m. I know you'll get lots of anecdotal answers here, but most books & experts say the "average" age of dropping to 1 nap is 15-18m.

Also, as DS was getting older, I found that he needed a longer time of activity between the 2 naps, so his 2nd nap was actually getting later and later. Luckily, that didn't really affect his bedtime (I did have to wake him up at 5pm the latest; he goes to bed at 8pm).

jlpev · June 2014

ashiscute said:
My DD dropped to 1 nap per day around 13 months. It was very similar for us. She would take her morning nap and then refuse her afternoon. And her morning nap was going longer most days. We just slowly pushed her morning nap back from 9a till 1230 or so a little at a time. It was a week or two of hit or miss but she actually did much better on 1 nap and started sleeping 2.5- 3 hours each afternoon. Good luck!

This

honeydew01 · June 2014

We're in the middle of this transition as well and it's been harder than going from 3-2 naps for sure. She did go back and forth between struggling to take 2 naps to easily taking 2 naps for a few weeks and now we are back at not wanting to take 2 naps again. I have to say I really miss the predictability of her 2 nap schedule. I feel like now I can't make any plans as I don't have a clue when she is going to be up/eating, etc. I just canceled her photo shoot appointment because for the last 3 days she has been a grumpy mess by 4 pm.

I tried cutting the morning nap to 1 hour for a few weeks so we could still have the afternoon nap and it worked for a little while but then it stopped working and she was struggling with both naps.

For those of you that said you pushed back the morning nap slowly did they then not take the second nap at all during the transition? We are pushing our DD's am nap from 9 and currently we are at 9:30 although she has been taking half an hour to 45 min to fall sleep so she sleeps from 10ish to 11:30ish and then refusing the pm nap. I still put her in the crib at 2:45 in hopes that she'd get some rest but she is not going down and is terribly grumpy by 4:00..

I feel like we are stuck in this transition. Am I better off to push her am back faster, (go from putting her down at 9:30 to 11) suddenly so we have a better balance of awake time in the AM and PM?

kjsmith9 · June 2014

DD dropped to 1 nap daily at daycare at 13 months (same as PP said, she switched rooms and that was the schedule). She was always a terrible napper at daycare though, so it seemed fine there. She still did 2 naps a day on weekends until around 14 months, then dropped the afternoon one. Gradually over 3-4 months the one nap moved itself back to after lunch on weekends (which is when they nap at daycare too).

NDarya · June 2014

Thank you everybody for your responses! We'll see how it goes. Unpredictability is so frustrating, oh well. Motherhood is all about patience.

MomIn2013 · June 2014

DS dropped to one nap a long time ago, like around 9 or 10 months. He just started staying up a bit longer in the morning - now he goes down around 11:00, sleeps until 12:30, and that's it! Goes to bed at around 7:00-7:30.

Crequito · June 2014

The past 2 days DD has dropped to 1 nap - starting with her first day at daycare on Tuesday. She's 14.5 months. She has been taking 2-3 naps a day for the past 2 months so I didn't think she'd drop to 1 so soon but it could have something to do with the schedule at DC. Her normal bedtime is 7-8pm and wake up is 6am every day - I don't even need my alarm. As long as your LO doesn't seem overtired in the afternoons you should be ok.

taraleanne · June 2014

DS is a year old and some days plays through his naps! I have heard from other moms that the 2-1 transition is a BEAST and you never know what to do. My DCP suggested the best thing to do is keep offering 2 naps and eventually drop the morning one, not push it back but drop it all together because the most restorative sleep is in the PM. She says she wakes babies from their morning naps so that they are ready for their PM nap. I support this because I know from my own experience this is what works best for my baby too. If I let him sleep too long in the morning, he doesn't sleep at all in the afternoon and then he's a bear at dinner and has to go to bed at 6pm cause he's exhausted. If I make sure his PM nap is solid, then bedtime can be at the usual 7pm. I also read this recently on a sleep website and it makes total sense tome!

The majority of babies will transition to one nap somewhere during this time. In the earlier months (13-15), you may have to play around with their routines quite a bit as they continue to move toward the transition, but it is usually better than going cold turkey to one nap. We also see a lot of variance in routine during this time-sometimes your child will willingly take two naps, other days they won’t seem to be tired until late morning. Some children take 2 long naps right up until transition and others start to shorten one or both by themselves. Some prefer a short morning/long afternoon nap and for others, it is reversed. It can become a struggle to fit everything in and the days can get long.

It depends on your personal situation, but the best way to make it through this transition period is to hang on to two naps for as long as you can and to keep bedtime early, especially on one nap days!

honeydew01 · June 2014

I cannot wait until DD is on a solid one nap! This transition is absolutely terrible for us. I have a very cranky, overtired DD whose usual eating/sleeping routine has been all over the place and we are both miserable..

NDarya · June 2014

Looks like we are back to two naps for now and it was just a phase when DS refused his PM nap. I also try to "wear him out" between two naps. He is pretty miserable on just one nap a day so I'm glad DS doesn't fight me anymore. At least for now.

Transitioning to one nap?

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