Time to transition to 1 nap?

[LillyMac500]

Hello, hoping someone can help. My 12 month old has never been the best sleeper, although must say not the worst and I know I’m lucky. Lately, she’s taking longer to settle at night and most nights will wake, sometimes for 5 minutes but mostly for an hour, or like last night, 2 hours.
She generally gets up for the day between 630-715, depending on how she slept through the night. She’s been having a morning nap around 930/10 for 30-45 mins. I’ve recently tried cutting this to 30 mins to see if that helps. She also has an afternoon nap around 2pm for about 1hr15m. I’ve tried lots of variations with her naps - longer/shorter, not letting her sleep past 330 etc, but nothing stops the long nightly wake ups. She sleeps no bother when put down for her naps.
When she wakes in the night (can be anytime between 1am and 4am), I’ve tried leaving her to cry, but that doesn’t help. We gave milk a few times, but have stopped that as she doesn’t really want it. She’s definitely still tired as when we do pick her up, she snuggles in and goes to sleep but will wake when we put her back in the cot. If we take her to our room, she thinks it’s play time.

Sorry for the long winded way of asking if I should transition to 1 nap, and if so how? I didn’t really want to be doing it this early 😭

Thanks x

[LillyMac500]

P.S she has been able to self settle for a good while now and goes down awake

[LillyMac500]

Bumping this to see if anyone has any tips. I tried one nap on Monday (12-3) and she slept well that night but was up at 6 on Tuesday and Wednesday so couldn’t make it passed the time for her first nap 😩

[UncleBunclesHouse]

I had similar and working towards 1 nap has helped massively and soon became the norm most days with night time sleep improved x

[CoffeeCheeseandCupcakes]

What time does she go down for the night?

[Darkestseasonofall]

My son wakes up in the night and will only fall asleep if brought into bed. I don't know whether he's scared / lonely or whatever, but if I do2bring him in he's awake for hours.
I don't think it's anything to do with naps with him, he just wakes naturally in the night and can't settle himself back down. I don't sweat it, he won't be doing it when he's 18 I'm sure.

[LillyMac500]

@UncleBunclesHouse thanks, that’s good to know. How long did it take for the transition?
@CoffeeCheeseandCupcakes she goes down at 7 mostly, though tonight and last night she fought it a bit until 730/745ish. We did try a later bed time but it made no difference.
Thanks @Darkestseasonofall I’d happily take her in our bed at least the odd night, but she thinks it’s playtime in our bed

[CoffeeCheeseandCupcakes]

Around that age bringing DS into our bed worked for a bit - but then one day it did become playtime rather than comforting!

Sounds like going to 1 nap could help, just slowly push the morning nap back. If she does go for a 2nd nap, I wouldn't let her go past 3pm

[Daisyflower12345]

@LillyMac500 Heyy
Jus here for the advice too lol. I have DD who is 16months. currently napping once in the day 12-2pm. Has been waking in the night and won't go back down in the cot but when put in bed will fall asleep just fine.

[PearlHeart3]

Hey, my little one is a similar age and similar sleeping pattern. Around 12 months of age he started waking in the night anywhere from 12am til 4am and although was tired, would cry when we put him down. He was having 2 naps a day then. One at about 9:30am and one at about 1:30pm.

I switched him to one nap a day and he's slept through again without waking. He's 14 months old now and this routine still works for him.

Wake: 6:30am/7:00am
Nap: 12:30pm/1:00pm
Wake: 2:30pm/3:00pm
Bed: 7:00pm

At first he was rubbing his eyes when he normally had his first nap in the morning but I make sure he's kept busy during that time. We often go out for a walk, him in the pushchair (he still can't walk yet) or I take him out in the garden for some fresh air whilst I sweep some leaves. He doesn't miss the first nap now and his sleep throughout the night has gone back to normal since the drop.

Hope that's helpful.

[UncleBunclesHouse]

It took several weeks with 1 step forward, two steps back to be honest, then got a cold and went back to 2 sleeps as not feeling well! But it sort of worked out after a while with a bit of management

[LillyMac500]

@CoffeeCheeseandCupcakes I’ve started capping her 2nd nap by 3ish, so if I’m down to 1 we’ll definitely cap by 3pm.
@PearlHeart3 thank you, that’s really helpful and sounds fab...!!
@Daisyflower12345 hope you get some good advice too. Maybe your little one needs less than 2hrs during the day. Although my sisters kids definitely still had 2 hours until well after their 2nd birthday!
@UncleBunclesHouse we’ve just had the cold in this house which resulted in 3 naps one day! Definitely regretted that in the middle of the night!!

[CoffeeCheeseandCupcakes]

Just also to say - it could just be a weird phase that will pass even with 2 naps.

Occasionally my DS will still wake in the night and if I go to him he's just awake staring at me, trying to play. If DH goes in, he can give DS a cuddle and just lay him back down and he's asleep within minutes. Kids a weird!

[LillyMac500]

@CoffeeCheeseandCupcakes lol’ing at the “staring at me” and kids being weird - mine is too
Last night was ok, but she was waking and grumbling a few times, not enough to go in, but enough to wake me We’re trying for a single nap today, but she’s at my MIL’s as I’m working, so she’ll probably let her do what she wants. She’s in the “babies will sleep when they’re tired” camp. Which is ironic when she tells me my husband was a rubbish sleeper - and still is!! X

[LillyMac500]

I’m resurrecting my own post as I’m still in the same position 9 weeks later 😭😭😭

Anyone else have an unbelievably Sh*t time trying to transition to 1 nap? My DD is so all over the place with wake ups that I’m finding it really difficult, particularly the now 2-3hr (instead of 1-2) wake ups in the night. We’ve had less than a handful of nights without the long wakes, which are usually replaced by an extremely early wake and when that happens, she’s too tired to make it to the one lunchtime nap.
What on earth do I do? Longer naps in the day seem to result in longer wakes in the night.
The last two days went like this:
31st Dec - one 2.5hr nap, awake 230pm
Bed and asleep by 645 (moving it a bit earlier has resulted SOMETIMES in less fighting at bedtime).
Awake at 120am until 350am, then up at 730
That day (1st Jan) she had a 20min morning nap as she was so tired. Then a 1hr 40min nap in the afternoon. Refused/fought bedtime til 730pm. Slept through til 440am so we took her in with us. Played around then had a 20-30 min nap at 630am 😕
She’s currently fighting with hubby for bed, had a 2hr 10 min nap today, finishing at 240pm.
I feel like we need to reset but really not sure where to start. Any ideas?
Thanks if you’ve read on this long 🙈🙈

[MyCatShopsAtAldi]

No bright ideas but was about to post as we have an identical issue with a long wake-up! Our 11 month old is awake for anything up to two hours in the middle of the night at the moment, he’s never been a brilliant sleeper but nothing is getting him back down, not milk, co-sleeping, nothing. I am broken.

We have been thinking one nap is the way to go for a while but yesterday was a one nap day and he then slept six hours, was awake for two, and slept for 3.5.....

[LillyMac500]

@MyCatShopsAtAldi sounds like our DD. I hope you can solve it quicker than we have. Heading into month 3 😭
Just bought the Just Chill Mama sleep guide, that’s how desperate I am!! Good luck xx

[MyCatShopsAtAldi]

Three months?! No! Don’t say that! Fingers crossed the guide works for you. I am praying ours was teething-related (despite no obvious signs of pain or discomfort) as we had a much better night last night after a two-nap day. This makes me wonder if it is worth sticking with two naps for the time being. Today was a two nap day too so let’s see...