2 to 1 nap transition help

[Chocolateyclaire76]

My LO wakes for the day at 6-6.30 and usually has 2 naps at around 9 ish for 1 hour 30 and 2.30 ish for about 1 hour. This has all been working fine - until recently! Occasionally she'll wake at 7-7.30 and then I'm a bit thrown with what to do. My instinct was to put her down at around 9.30-10 and then wake her after 30-40 mins to ensure she'll nap in the afternoon. Each time I have done this she has been super grouchy and overtired but if I leave her to sleep I think she'll probably go to about 11-11.30 meaning her pm nap could be as late as 3.30 and then she won't be tired enough at 7pm for bedtime.

I've read how you should try and put back the morning nap bit by bit so they eventually have 1 long nap slightly later on but my LO is always so tired I don't think she'd last beyond 9.45am.

Any advice would be appreciated!

How old is she? If she is transitioning to 1 nap then you could try just omitting the afternoon nap altogether some days.

My 13mo dropped nap number two at about 11 months. We were finding that he just wasn't tired at bedtime if he had an afternoon nap. At first nap 1 was still at 9:30/10, which did make for difficult afternoons, and he still did have the afternoon nap some days, but within a couple of weeks the timing of nap 1 moved back and he no longer needed a second nap at all.

We mainly followed his cues and he got tired in the morning later and later, and is usually is ok til about 11:30 or so now.

DD is going through this at the moment - she used to nap 30 mins at 9am then 1.5 hrs at 1.30. but it was increasingly a battle trying to get her to sleep at those times.

Instead, I now keep her up as long as possible in the morning, which is till sometime between 11 and 12.30 (depending on when she woke). then she sleeps for 1hr15-2hrs.

If she sleeps at 11 for 1hr 15, she needs a 10/15min top up nap at c3.30pm (to make it through to 7.45 pm bedtime). If she sleeps at 12.30 for 2hrs she doesn't need a second nap. Obviously the latter is more ideal but is only feasible at the moment if she wakes at 6.45 or later...