If your DC takes 1 nap...

What time is it?
How long is it?
How did it happen? Did you push it off or not put them down for a 2nd nap? Or did they just transition by themselves?

I'm so scared to push off his morning nap. I'm nervous he'll be overtired and miserable and not nap at all, all day. I dont know if I'm supposed to be doing something here. His morning nap is so early that he's so tired in the afternoon. Sometimes he sleeps again, sometimes he doesnt. Do you think I should change something here?

This is his schedule, he's 14m.

7/8am wake up

9:30/10:30 nap (1-3 hours)

12/1 lunch

3/4 nap (1-1.5 hours)

7/8pm bed

I'm also starting a new bedtime routine with him tonight, no bottle, no rocking. Just bath, sippy, and reading books and in the crib awake I think changing his daytime schedule will help him at night too...I hope.

Re: If your DC takes 1 nap...

Ds went to one nap at 14 months. His morning nap kept going later and later, thus pushing his pm nap too late and his bedtime too late. It was at the point where we were only letting him sleep for 45 min max and then we were waking him up so it didn't interfere with his bedtime so we knew that it was time to transition him to one nap. So, we started by pushing his morning nap later (he did fine) to 11am and his bedtime a little earlier (7). Now at 16. 5 months he naps at 12:30 ish for 2 hours (or more sometimes) and goes to bed at 730 ish.

I would suggest maybe pushing his am nap a little later like maybe 1030 at first and see how he does. Then just keep pushing it later and later and you will see that he won't be tired at all in the pm and won't want to nap.

FYI... His one nap is longer than his two naps were combined most days!

Re: If your DC takes 1 nap...

Ok thank you!! Today he woke up at 8 so I put him in at 10:45 and he slept for 2.5 hours. He didnt nap in the afternoon even though he was very tired. I'll trying to push it off 15 mins every few days. He still gets so tired after being awake for only 2.5 hours in the morning. Maybe it will be fine if I gradually push it off.

Re: If your DC takes 1 nap...

DD had a hard time with the 2 to 1 nap transition. She started around 14 months (2 naps too many- 1 nap usually not enough). We just got into a good routine with it and she's almost 18 months . I just kept pushing her morning nap later and now she goes down around 11:30/12 for her 1 nap (1.5-2 hours). It helps if she gets out in the AM. She has breakfast and a snack before nap, lunch after. By bedtime she is exhausted. Bedtime is between 6-6:30. Good luck! It will prob take some time, but much easier once they are good with the 1 nap.

Re: If your DC takes 1 nap...

DS is now 18 months & there are days where 1 nap is ok but right around 5pm, he is a beast. Like right now, he is exhausted bc his nap was at 11 until 12:30 & he was up for the day at 6:15. He will be in bed within the next 45 minutes or so.

We still have days in which he will get 2 naps. I usually judge his day around 3 & if he is a cranky mess, he will be put in around 3:30 & sleep 1-1.5 hours.

He never sleeps more then 1.5 hours regardless of how many naps he is getting or his wakeup time

Re: If your DC takes 1 nap...

DD wakes between 5:30-6:30 every day so lately she has been napping from 10-12ish.
Her old naps were 9-10 and 2-3 but I pushed it back later in an effort to try to get one longer nap.
Some days, its 10-11, some days 11-12 and sometimes only a half hour in the morning, depending if we have company or whatnot. Like PP said, sometimes she is wrecked by 3 (those half hour days) so she will take a short second nap- maybe a half hour or hour- but is ALWAYS in bed by 7ish. I know she is an early riser so I have to get her to bed early.

Message edited 3/15/2011 6:35:54 PM.

Re: If your DC takes 1 nap...

Great post! My DS is 15 months and in the midst of transitioning. I have no clue what I should be doing with naps or bedtime or daytime activities. Thanks so much.

Re: If your DC takes 1 nap...

Charlie wakes up around 9. If G doesnt have school, she'll sleep until 9:30-10 (we usually wake her up with our noise since our house is so small)

She used to nap around 1, lately she's been going down MUCH earlier, like 11:30! So she's only awake for a very short time before her nap.

She usually naps an average of 2 hours. Then she has lunch and she doesnt stop going until about 10 or 11.

And she NEEDS her nap or she goes crazy. Yesterday, she skipped her nap, but slept for about 10 minutes in the car on our way somewhere. On our way home at about 8, she fell asleep. So I put her to bed thinking she would sleep all night, but she was up at 4 - WIDE AWAKE! Our whole day today has been crazy bc she threw her schedule off!

And she will nap in her stroller - she slept for more than half of her party

Re: If your DC takes 1 nap...

Re: If your DC takes 1 nap...

Bobby has weeks that he doesn't take his morning nap...then goes back to wanting it. I found it to be sooo much easier when he only took one long nap in the afternoon. When he gets tired, he gets super energized first. He'll just want to play with everything, he'll sing super loud...so I know when he's tired but trying to push it off. When I saw him like this in the mornings, I just let him push it off till I saw a ton of eye rubbing... then he would go down a little after lunch...about 1pm. He would sleep till about 4ish. I would be able to get soo much done! LOL. then He'll go to bed about 8ish.

On the times he doesn't want to stay awake in the morning...like when he starts getting super cranky and whining about everything...then I just put him to bed and he's out like a light. When he takes a morning nap plus an afternoon nap, it's more like this. Morning nap at 10ish....only for about an hour...an hour and a half TOPS! Then about 2ish he'll want another nap, and he'll sleep for about 2 hours.

But then today, he had a 25 min nap as I was driving somewhere...when he woke up he was good to go for the day. Going on just a 25 min nap for the day, but he's fine. 45 more mins and off to bed LOL.

Good luck on changing the bedtime routine.

Re: If your DC takes 1 nap...

DD went to one nap i would say 12-13 months old.. there are some days though she will nap 2x and other days she wont nap at all (which seems to be the norm now) she is 20 months old.

she was never a good napper. if she naps its between 45m - 3h.