Hey guys
I just wondered if I could ask for advice about something that seems generic but I guess there's probably a bit of an adoption element to it. Basically I adopted my little boy who is now 17.5 months when he was 13 months. Apart from when he's ill he's a pretty good sleeper. Will generally sleep right through about 11.5 hours and for as long as we've had him he's had 2 x naps during day, usually about 45 mins in length. He's never been one for napping for a long time unless unwell as he sleeps well at night and quite active during day.
The nap thing isn't really an issue for us but I have become increasingly aware that "conventional" wisdom on general baby websites etc is that by 18 months they are expected to have dropped down to one long mid day nap of around 2-3 hours and I have to say I'm getting quote conscious of the fact that he's the only baby I know of his age in my circle who didn't drop down to one nap some time ago.
For some context although he is a good sleeper we have had to do a lot of work on trying to get him to be better at self soothing as he was brought up by foster carers to be dependent on falling asleep on them, being rocked, having a special blanket etc, and even at one stage he was dependent on falling asleep to a TV programme. We've made big shifts with these things so don't generally have too much performance to get him off to sleep for either naps or night time now but he is still to me not showing any signs of wanting just one nap.
I'm really confused by advice. My health visitor and some ppl I talk to imply this is something that naturally happens (although I don't really understand how it does without some kind of intervention?) But a lot of online resources seem to suggest that you need to train them into it. I've tried both letting things take their course and trying to get by on one later nap but neither really works. I have noticed he is getting better at being able to tolerate being awake for longer (when first with us was more like a 3 hour window he can stretch to about 4 hours now but by 4.5 will be really grunpy) but he seems noticeably tired for 2 naps still and when I've tried to string it out it's just turned into a nightmare. He has the occasional day when because of circumstances he will fight a nap and we get by but always feels stressful when he doesn't. Finally he had quite an early bed time (around 6.30)
I guess my Qa are how does this compare to your little ones? How concerned should I be that he doesn't seem to be shifting to one nap? Why is it considered the thing to do? And do I really need to step in and train him in to it?
Thanks xxx
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Advice re naps
10 replies
veejayteekay · 25/03/2020 11:14
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