15 month old - one nap and timings

[Jsnb9319]

Hello

My 15 month only does one nap a day but this nap still ends up being mid-morning meaning he wakes up in time for lunch and then that's it until an early bed, usually 5pm because he is very tired by then.

My DH won't stop going on and on that I either need to give him a 15 minute nap early in the morning or push his only nap back so he naps in the middle of the day to stop the early bed time which means early morning starts.

He sleeps through most nights over 11 hours but even the days we do get him down later he still wakes early.

I just wondered what people's experiences were of the timing of their baby only taking one nap?

He just can't last that long in a morning to go to the middle of a day but can go 4-5 hours. And to do a 15 min nap early enough pushes the day out much longer by the time a second nap is in it sometimes ends up too close to bed.

I'm at my wits end with my DH because I do all of the childcare as a SAHP and I think DS is perfectly happy with the current sleeping arrangements, he isn't overly cranky you just know when he is tired so I don't see the need to force him to sleep at different times to suit my DH.

Thank you

What are the implications of him having an early bedtime? Does it impact on your time together as a family? Does it mean your dh doesn't see him in the evenings?

I think 5pm is a ridiculously early bedtime for a 15 month old. Sometimes mine would nap at that time and then still go to bed at 8pm as normal. I was only picking mine up from nursery then.

I have to say that I'm in the forced sleep to fit family life camp. I'd find a way to make him sleep so that you can get an extra break in the afternoon and also have him fit better into your routines. I'm assuming you and dh aren't having dinner at 4pm? I would say he does probably need a nap in the afternoon and then can be awake to have dinner with one or both of you and then go to bed a bit later. I know as someone who works, I'd be really sad if my dc were in bed before I got home when they could probably be awake a bit longer so I could spend time with them. Ideally, then you could also get some free time to yourself.

If he sleeps 11 hours, he must get up very early (4am?). Changing his bedtime may not make a difference to start, but I bet over time it would help shift the timings.

Why not try taking him out and about and doing really active things in the morning for a few days to push his morning nap time back? Toddlers and babies are adaptable generally, why not give it a go? On the whole though, if he’s sleeping 11 hours overnight, he’s doing really well!

Dd has had 1 nap since 6 months old!! She hates sleep....

Our nap has always been straight after lunch, usually at about 12:30 until 3. This is also what most of her peers do at nursery. I agree with something exciting in the morning, usually out with a snack at 10ish and a decent lunch

I've got 17 month old and sometimes by 5pm she's knackered but I wouldn't let her go to sleep it's way too early. When I'm working I don't pick her up until back of 5pm so for us her bed time has to be later. We also try and bath 4yr old at same time.

We usually get up about 8ish which means she's slept about 12+ hrs. Her nap time is annoyingly early. She basically goes down about 11.30am and sleeps for an hour. I would prefer the nap to be about 1pm after lunch but she starts getting grumpy if she doesn't get it at her usual time.

She has snacks usually about 3/4pm and dinner about 6pm. She def gets a wee boost once she's been fed which keeps her going until bath time. Bath time is about 7/7.15 and she's in bed by about 7.30-7.45.

It's not easy once they are in a routine but I agree with ur dh. I would try my best to change it a little bit everyday. It might not work but I cld not be dealing with very early morning starts!

My other daughter at this age napped about 2pm and some days not at all. She was never in a regular nap routine was a nightmare to get her to nap but she slept brilliant at night 12-14hrs.

Thats really early, why don't you do another nap at 3ish for anhour, then bedtime between 7/8?

Bed at 5pm and sleeps 11 hours means up at 4??!

I think you just have to steel yourself and push through a few days/week of tired baby to get them to a later nap & bedtime which should mean a later get up eventually.

At that age we had get up around 6am, nap 11-1pm then bed at 7pm. DS is an early bird so the latest we've ever got was around 7am but it's an improvement on the time he woke at 4.30am for weeks.

Mine is 16 months and we had a few months where it felt like he needed one and a half naps. At the moment he has one long nap, which is around 1230-1430 at the childminder‘s, but can be as early as 1030-1200 (falls asleep in car on way home from swimming) or as late as 1315-1445. It depends on how tired he is. He is a second child so has had to fit in with family life, in particular the school run for DC1.

He doesn’t sleep as well as yours does at night - goes to bed at 1900 and is ready to start his day between 0600 and 0700 but that’s including at least one wake-up.

If yours sleeps 1700-0400, I would be doing whatever I could to gradually push that to 1900-0600. We have always treated pre-0600 wakes as nighttime and don’t go downstairs before 0600. I’m not surprised he can’t last to midday!

In your shoes, I would try a short nap around 0800/0900 for 30 minutes, then a longer nap from, say, 1300, waking at 1500 if necessary to have him ready for bed between 1900 and 2000. But if your routine suits you and your DC, then maybe you don’t need to change anything! I do sympathise as my older one would never be “nudged” and wakes reliably between 0600 and 0630 regardless of when he goes to bed.

Thanks all. We've both been at home the entirety of his life so we both help with dinner and bed and then we have an early night. He has always been an early riser his whole life, but both of us are too.

Have tried afternoon naps, even in the car and it always ends in a screaming match so I've given up with a nap any later than 1pm, he just won't sleep if he's already had a nap.

I'll have a try of a shorter morning nap and see what I can do after lunch time for a longer nap, but I know keeping him distracted can get him to go for longer so perhaps getting out also a good option.

5pm bed currently works for our family but I know it's not ideal for us to be getting up between 4am and 5am.

Mine woke around 8am and napped after lunch. They went to bed around 8.30pm. Changing sleep and wake times is best done in 30 minute intervals and consistent

Nap at 11ish then lunch 2pm, tea at 6 bed at 7 and awake at 7 that's how my daughter goes!

If you want to move the nap why not just do it by 5 minutes a day. Toddler won’t notice but you might be able to gradually lengthen the day so he goes to bed later. With the timings you mention it sounds like he is currently up for the say at 4am. This might work at the moment but if life goes back to normal and you want to stay over with friends or family it might not work as well.

You do end up with lunch stupidly early some days! Mine often has lunch around 1130, which seems mad - but it works in terms of pushing him on to maybe 1215 for a nap.

Ultimately, it’s whatever works for you. If you don’t need to use childcare, and his schedule suits you all, that’s great.

I've had my 18mo in the same routine since she was 12mo. Lunch at 11am then nap between 11:30-12noon and I don't let her sleep past 1.30pm. She always sleeps well at night - 7 till 7. I think the hardest thing dropping to 1 nap was pushing the wake windows. Try to keep your LO awake as long as possible in the morning stretch but don't feel like you have to make him last until 1pm or anything. I always think the main thing is sleeping through the night. I know many mums who let their LOs nap for 2-3 hours and they are up umpteen times during the night. Do what works for you and your LO and try not to let your OH opinion cloud your judgement. You know best!

@Mamabear04

I've had my 18mo in the same routine since she was 12mo. Lunch at 11am then nap between 11:30-12noon and I don't let her sleep past 1.30pm. She always sleeps well at night - 7 till 7. I think the hardest thing dropping to 1 nap was pushing the wake windows. Try to keep your LO awake as long as possible in the morning stretch but don't feel like you have to make him last until 1pm or anything. I always think the main thing is sleeping through the night. I know many mums who let their LOs nap for 2-3 hours and they are up umpteen times during the night. Do what works for you and your LO and try not to let your OH opinion cloud your judgement. You know best!

This is exactly our routine too and has been since 12 months (DS is 21 months now). It's also the same routine they have at nursery. I do have some hilarious videos of DS falling asleep mid-lunch in the first few weeks but it didn't take long for him to adjust.

Hi OP. I have a 14 month old. He still has 2 naps a day. A morning one from around 9 until 1030, then another in the afternoon from 2-3. I dont let him sleep past 3pm. Bedtime is 7pm and he generally sleeps for 11ish hours. Im aware that the afternoon nap will probably drop off soon as he stays awake for longer in the morning, but even then I think ill give him a really short cat nap in the pushchair in the afternoon to see him through until bedtime. Theres no way id even consider putting him to bed at 5pm.

I think you have 2 options. You can either cut your childs morning nap short, therefore inviting a second nap in the afternoon and push bedtime back by a few hours.

Or you can keep them up until later in the morning and hope the nap will be a couple of hours long.

I personally like the first option because it means you probably wont have such a grumpy baby in the day time.

It sounds like maybe you should push your LO to stay awake, miss out the morning nap and put him down slightly later. Why not try an early lunch and put him down so that he doesn't fall asleep before 11:30am? Try to keep him distracted until then and snacks can help to give them the energy to stay awake. If you stick with it for around 2 weeks and are consistent with the routine it should work. I always focus on the wake windows so awake at 7am, awake for 4.5 hours then nap. It's worth saying that I decided to put my LO into a one nap routine because she would sleep well in the morning but wasn't going to sleep till very late for her afternoon nap so I changed her to 1 nap overnight and she slept better and went to sleep at bedtime better. It did take about 2 weeks for her to adjust though.