Later bedtime prior to transition to 1 nap

[ODog]

Hi, I have a 12mo DS who has never been a great sleeper but certainly not the worse. Until recently he would have 2 naps, both for around an hour. The first nap has started to get a bit shorter (anywhere from 20-45mins) and the afternoon nap has started to get later, but still around an hour in length, however, he also seems to struggle to fall asleep at his usual bedtime of around 7pm. We ended up bringing him back downstairs to play a little longer as he just seemed upset when he realised we were putting him to bed and has only just dropped off now at 8.20pm which has been happenibg for a few days now. I don't want to sleep train and am happy to go with his own rhythm, but just wanted to seek some experience of other mums to see if this is part of the normal transition to one nap. Hope this makes sense and TIA x

[FATEdestiny]

Is he waking up later in the morning as a result of the later bedtime?

If he is shifting his whole night sleep and waking later, then I would just follow his lead with his natural rhythm. The later waking will probably assist the shift to one nap because it'll mean he can stay awake longer in the morning and so push his morning sleep closer to lunchtime (so in turn drop the second nap).

However, if the later bedtime is resulting in less night time sleep because wake up time is the same - then I would take this as a sign he needs some help to re-set his sleep patterns.

Children still need 11-12 hours sleep at night, so you don't want this reducing as a result of the late night.

I would start taking him out every morning and doing something engaging with him (like a toddler group, or swimming etc) to keep him awake. Try to keep him going so that he misses the 20-45 minute nap in the morning completely and just has one later morning nap. This might be 11.00am or 11.30am at first (so lunchtime has to be jiggled around) but eventually you should be able to push it later, after lunchtime.

[ODog]

Thanks FATE yes, he is waking later in the morning (around 6.30 as opposed to 5am which was more normal as he has always been an early riser). I think I may just enjoy the lay in while they last!