13 month old and naps

[mosser]

Hi up to now my 13 month old has had 2 naps a day and if at home has had these in her cot. I would just lie her down and she would drop off no problems. We are now transitioning to 1 nap a day but when i try to put her in her cot she cries, stands up and doesnt allow herself to nod off even though she is really tireds. I then put her in her pushchair and rocked her off to sleep and the other day she fell asleep on husband's lap. I feel this is a big setp backwards. How do i persist with her napping in her cot without her getting too upset?

I tried a 2-4-8-16 thing with my little one as she was only falling asleep in our arms or after milk.
I put her down in her cot with blanket, and left her there for 2 minutes, then went back in put her back down on her back with a blanket and left her for 4 minutes telling her it was time to sleep. Then 4 minutes later went back and same again. Then 8 minutes, then 16. If she was really really upset I would pick her up until she was calmer but not until she was asleep. I guess it's kind of like controlled crying, but I never had to use the 16 minutes. It took me 2 days. You know your child best, and this isn't for everyone, it's pretty hard, and I couldn't have done it before I did as I wasn't strong enough. Our little one was 15 months.
Good luck however you go about it.

Why do you think she needs to drop to one nap?

Some children will quite happily have two naps up to aged two. If she is having a hard time falling asleep after previously been ok at falling asleep she may be over tired and that may be preventing her from dropping off as easily.

Yes, why are you dropping the nap? It sounds as though she's overtired from missing the first one. The average to drop to one nap is 16 months - DD was 22 months and still sleeping well twice a day.

I agree - Sounds like she may be overtired, and not ready to go to one nap. I only put my 13 month old down to sleep in his cot so he gets as much sleep as he needs without being woken up. Sometimes he sleeps for 1.5 hours in morning, and sometimes 2, and 2-3hours in afternoon. He then goes to bed at 8 pm and wakes at 8 am. Lately he has been protesting against going to sleep too and has been screaming angrily when put in his cot, at first we pandered to him and went in to see if he was ok. He seemed tired but wanted to play, when we left the room he'd scream again. We started to ignore this and after a few mins he'd realise we weren't going to come in and play and tonight he screamed for 30 secs and went to sleep straight after. Maybe you could try putting her in her cot for naps, and if you know she's crying bc she's tired or angry then let her cry it out.

are you transitioning or is your LO? My DS went to one nap a day at that age, 12-13m, but it was his 'decision' if you know what I mean :) he wouldn't sleep at his usual morning nap time at all and was obviously not needing it so we stopped putting him down for it after a week or so of noticing that he didn't 'want' it any more and then we comfortably would put him in the cot for about 1pm after lunch and he'd sleep an hour, maybe hour and a half and this has been a very happy year from that. If she's not ready/asking for this transition then she be overtired which will make the day worse for all of you - some kids do still have 2 naps as others have suggested; we only went to one as he would only sleep in the afternoon naturally - and now he's 2 and trying to drop the afternoon one as well,the alert little monkey little darling...

We are transitioning to 1 nap too, my dd is the same age. Most resources on sleep suggest 13.5-14hours sleep in 24 hours. I noticed dd was sleeping longer at night (12 instead of 11 hours) and would resist going down in the morning, so I brought lunch forward and get her down as soon after as possible (asleep by 12:30) and she sleeps at least 2 hours. Some mornings she seems tired, we are normally out and I just let her have a doze to revive her (10-15 mins) much more she'll go down too late and it will push bedtime late (I have to get her up for 7 for to bf before I go to work so she needs an early bedtime)

If she's resisting a nap, I put her down and start doing some hoovering and chores nearby and keep popping in telling her its sleepy time. I won't let her get really upset. Hope this helps a bit.

I'd be EXTREMELY wary of what 'sleep resources' say about how much sleep children should be having. Children vary wildly not just between each other but from day to day/ week to week about how much sleep they need. My dd sometimes sleeps for 90 minutes after lunch, sometimes 3 hours. Developmental bursts, growth spurts - all sorts of things affect how much sleep they need. If your decision is based solely on what a 'sleep resource' says your not-at-all average child should be having per day, I'd ignore it. Do what your child needs.

Oh thanks Octavia. Funnily enough it does seem to be what she consistently needs and correlates with guidelines in the NCSS for this age, of course not a rule for all but interesting to me nonetheless as this is my first baby so I perhaps do take more interest in such info than perhaps a more experienced mum might, just to have a point of reference as I find my way.

I just thought the OP might be interested in what another mum with same age baby had observed in case it sounded familiar e.g. sleeping more at night more recently and needing less in the day but overall still 14 hours much as before. Helping me to judge what she might need re naps in a day as it is varying a little more than before as she makes a transition with her routine.