Should we try and move from 2 naps to 1??

[littlestressy]

My DS is 11mo and has never been a good napper but got better from about 6mo. His night time sleep is ok ish; he goes to bed about 6.30 and normally sleeps until about 6.00/6.30. Sometimes he wakes in the night and needs a cuddle and some shssing to go back to sleep, sometimes he won't go back to sleep!!

He used to have 1 nap about 2 hours after waking for about 60-90 minutes then another nap about 3 hours after waking again for about 60 minutes. This worked really well for him and us but....

Since starting nursery his daytime sleep has just gone downhill (he's also been suffering with a cold/cough and teething so it's not all nursery), on a good day at nursery he might get a total of about 1 hour sleep but normally it's only 2 x 20 minute naps, now this is happening at home aswell. Today he had 15 minutes in the morning then slept in the car this afternoon for 40 minutes.

I've tried pushing the morning nap a bit later, so about 3 hours after he first wakes but he just doesn't want to go to sleep; lots and lots of crying then very little sleep (and then grumpy tired for the rest of the day). I'm pretty sure there are no more teeth coming through at the minute.

Is 11mo too young to go to one nap a day? Or can I try something else?? And if he won't go to sleep after being up for 3 hours how on earth do I do it?

[mamawharton]

shamelessly bumping...... x

[Madallie]

DD is 11 mo and like you lo wasn't really a good napper. Got into this routine for a while:

6.30/7am wake
9.50 - nap (this was her longest nap 1hr1hr20mins)
3/3,25hrs after waking from this nap - nap 2 (about 1hr)

Problem we had was she stopped wanting to go down for nap 2. Then it was getting so late - some days 3.30 or 4pmish - she was then waking after 40mins but seemed tired still.

I was reluctant to shorten am nap as had tried (briefly) before and didn't seem to make pm nap longer. Also she usually goes down well in am.

Anyway, after speaking to HV (and knowing it myself really) I do realise 1 nap is not enough (for my dd).

Over last few days we seem to have worked out some other kind of routine.

6.30-7am - wake
3.5hrs after waking - nap 1 (we wake her after 45mins)
3hrs 15 mins after waking - nap 2 (she has been sleeping about 1hr15/1hr30)
7.15 - bed

We found she isn't really tired until 3.5hrs after he nights sleep. Then because we shorten am nap she can't last 3.5hrs again so we put her down after 3/3.35hrs.


P.s. we have also has a few phases (a few days to a week or so) where she really resists pm nap) but I have kept consistent and kept persisting in putting her down and she has got back into the swing of it.

We decided to change things this time as it had been going this way on and off for 2+ weeks.


Don't know if any of this helps as I know every baby is different!

[littlestressy]

Thanks Madallie it's good to know I'm not the only one in this situation!
I'm going to try putting him down for his first nap a bit later on than 3 hours. Can I ask though, when you say you kept persisting in putting your DD down what exactly do you mean? Were you doing CC or something??
I'm not judging at all if you say CC btw.

I completely agree that 1 nap at this age is not enough for my DS, he's sooo tired. But why won't he allow himself to sleep??

[Madallie]

I know, it's always nice to know others have similar struggles too!

What I meant was that I still kept putting dd down. Luckily she doesn't really cry, she just wasn't wanting to go down. She'd be up there talking, singing, laying quietly playing with her muslin, maybe grizzling a little for 30mins, 40mins and sometimes an hour. There was only a few times she didn't go off at all, although these naps were getting shorter and obviously very late in the pm.

Don't know about you but I was so worried about an OT baby that I kept to certain awake times, scared to lengthen them. I think she just needed to be awake a little longer, particularly after her night sleep.

Would you be open to cutting am nap a little?

[PoppyWearer]

My DC2 is almost 15mo and for the past 6 weeks he has been doing a bit of both naturally.

So some days he has two shorter naps, but increasingly he will have one big nap in the middle of the day.

The days he opts for one big nap tend to be the ones when he's at nursery or with other children. Then it's a battle to get lunch into him before he passes out from tiredness.

He still goes down fine at night. He still doesn't sleep through, never has, but that's another thread!

I guess the point of my thread is that I have allowed him to develop his own nap schedule and it works for us, I just watch for signs of tiredness such as eye-rubbing and "naughty" behaviour but know roughly when that will be.

Anyway, with DC2 you are less precious about it. Trust me! That he sleeps at all with his big sister around is a miracle.

[littlestressy]

If he would sleep for his am nap I would happily shorten it
but seriously I need to have a good rethink about nap times, what worked a month or so ago obviously isn't working now, probably because he's got older!!!!
I'm going to try keeping him awake a little longer tomorrow and seeing how am nap goes then crossing fingers that he will actually take a pm nap!
Thanks for your help

[Madallie]

littlestressy I think you're right. Sometimes I guess we feel so 'set' on something because finally something is 'working' (I know that's me anyway). I probably just forget how much little ones change and so their sleep (naps) have to be adapted!

It's just sometimes hard to work out what they want and when. My little one's sleepy cues are hard to read and by the time they're apparent she is very tired or overtired!

Good luck.

Feel free to keep us updated!

[hillyhilly]

By her first birthday my dd was as often as not only having the one nap which was late morning.
(By her second birthday she'd given up napping entirely!!!)

[Folicacid]

I have a 12.5 month old. From about 8 until about 11 months he had two naps, first at 9.30am then again at 2.30/3pm. Then suddenly he wouldn't sleep at the afternoon nap time and instead lay singing or chatting. It became really hard work to get him to sleep.

So, he dropped the afternoon nap but continued to sleep one nap of 1.5 hours in morning until he started waking at 5am regularly. We moved the one nap to midday and he now sleeps 2-2.5 hours which he barely did combined before. One nap seems to work for him, was scary moving the nap later though as I wondered if he would get so tired he wouldn't be able to sleep, but is fine.

[Djembe]

My LO is almost 11mo and is up from 7.30 - 7.30. He naps for 1.5 hours late morning, 3 hours after getting up - and that's it.

He'll have 20-30 mins in buggy sometimes late afternoon if we're out but if not, he's fine.

He loves his night sleep, nothing will wake him, but naps have always been a battle! Not now we're down to one

• have been since about ten months.

They're all different, so whatever we say and your HV says, use this and your own instincts to guide you