10 month old - dropping down to one nap?!

[Ilovecake73]

Hello,
I think my DD might be in the process of trying to drop her first nap. She has started to very vocally protest at being popped into her cot for naps. We had a good routine of two naps at 9am and 2pm with a bedtime of 7pm.
This week she has started to flat right refuse her first nap in the cot but come lunchtime she is so tired and crabby... then as a knock on nap two is becoming a battle and equally unpredictable. Is she too young to drop her first nap? I'm happy to experiment with just one nap a day but I now have no clue as to what time to catch her at her happiest and sleepiest?! I also don't want her to start hating her cot so perhaps I should go back to basics and pound the pavements for a while??

Fingers crossed she is currently so tired bedtime is still ok... although I've probably jinxed that by saying that out loud....

[rallytog1]

My dd (now 12mo) was similar. Have you tried putting her down for her lunchtime nap earlier, maybe even as early as 11? My dd just kept bringing hers earlier and now generally goes down for a couple of hours around 11.30. It means we have to be a bit creative with lunchtimes but keeping her up much after noon is just a recipe for an unhappy dd.

[Ilovecake73]

I think I shall try this tomorrow. I've been trying to get her to nap around 10am as she looks shattered but she is having none of it and then gets wired so I think I go with your suggestion tomorrow and see how we get on. Thank you!

[StormyBrid]

My DD also dropped to one nap at ten months. I was horrified initially, because her naps were always no more than forty five minutes long, not long enough but still a much-needed break. We had a week of daily nap refusals before I gave up and dropped a nap. Nowadays we usually go out in the mornings, because then there are interesting things happening to keep her entertained and cheerful, we get home by 11.30, she goes straight in her cot and she's out like a light until 2. And yes, it means we have a very late lunch, but we tried very early lunch and it just didn't work - she was too tired to be very interested in the food, and she just wasn't that hungry yet (late riser so breakfast is usually quite late).

[givemecaffeine21]

My DS is nearly 11 months and has been on and off with his morning nap for a few weeks, sometimes be does and sometimes he doesn't. His routine is to have just 20 mins at 9.30 then 2 hours at 12-12.30. If he's perfectly fine and alert at 9.30am I leave him be, but if he's been unwell or seems crabby I put him down and try it. I'm going to start phasing it out though as my DD was also down to just one nap by this age and he makes such a fuss it's stressful trying to keep DD quiet whilst he drops off, whereas at lunchtime he goes down quite happily. In the long run it will make getting to groups less of a rush as I'm getting him up and trying to get both of them in the pram etc so I'll be pleased when he drops it properly.

[amyboo]

DS1 (now 4) dropped his morning and afternoon nap right after he started creche at 6 months old. He used to eat around 11am, then go down for a nap around 11.45/12 for up to 3 hours. DS2 (15 months) is still firmly set on having a morning nap around 9am for around 45 minutes, then will eat with us around 12, before having a second nap at 12.45/1pm for up to 2 hours. I'd go with whatever your DD wants to do - there's no hard and fast rule. I tried for a few weeks to get DS2 onto the same nap schedule that DS1 had had, but had to give up as DS2 has other ideas...

[SugarPlumpFairy3]

Yes, just take her lead. Dd1 and my twins all went down to one nap at around 10/11 months. That first nap gradually got later and later until it was a bit impractical due to them sleeping through lunchtime. At that point, I strung them out a bit, did an early lunch at 11.15/30 and had them down for a couple of hours.