Baby starting to refuse 2nd nap

[DisneyGirl2387]

My DS has just turned 1. Recently he has started refusing his afternoon nap. So in the past week he has probably refused his afternoon nap 3/7 days. So this morning he woke at 5am, napped 9 until 11.30am. Was showing tired signs around 3ish so took him out in the pram, walked for an hour but he wouldn't fall sleep (he has always had his 2nd nap in the pram or car depending on what we are doing). So then obviously he is tired grouchy, wouldn't each much tea and then asleep at 6.30pm. So he is having a 7 hour awake window which is far too long. He has only recently just started sleeping through the night (which is amazing!!!). I'm just a bit worried that he is too little to be dropping his second nap. Obviously if I knew he wasn't having his second nap I would try and keep him up longer in the morning. But as he is up so early he is tired by 9ish and falls asleep so easily. First time Mum here so just after some tips/advice really. Shall I just follow his lead? Or enforce a 1 nap day by keeping him up as long as possible in the morning? Still aim for 2 naps a day and just put him to bed early? I'm just a little unsure about what to do for the best x

I would follow his lead.

Maybe see how it goes over the next couple of weeks - see if he continues to want/need just the one nap. If he does then I would go with your idea of trying to push the nap a bit later.

My 2 both dropped their 2nd sleep by 14 months old. I was gutted 😂.

The way we kept going with 2 naps for longer was by reducing the length of the morning nap. By the end, the morning nap was 30 mins (something like 9:30-10) and then a longer nap in the afternoon (13:30-3ish).

I have to say though, I think we clung on to two naps for too long. When we dropped to one, it took barely a week for the 5am wakes to become more like 6:30. There is a school of thought that a longer morning nap can cause an early wake, as well.

Each child is individual, my eldest dropped all naps at 13 months!

I have to say though, I think we clung on to two naps for too long. When we dropped to one, it took barely a week for the 5am wakes to become more like 6:30. There is a school of thought that a longer morning nap can cause an early wake, as well

This the 5am wake up is the root of the problem here. Either push the 1st nap to 11ish (10 mins a day) or wake after 30/45 mins so he is ready to go down again at 1:30/2.

Good luck

Definitely need to reduce morning nap. My daughter usually has 45 min morning nap and 2 hours afternoon nap until she dropped her morning nap then afternoon nap moved forward to 12ish for 2.5 hours.

Time to consolidate the naps into one. By then I think my son had got to 12-2ish, which later shifted slightly to 1-3ish.

Mine had one longer nap at this age. Just follow their lead I think.

My DD done the same just after she turned 1. I just followed her lead but still tried for both naps, after a couple of weeks she was napping twice again happily. She eventually dropped the 2nd nap around 15 months - but she was still having it in the morning 10/10:30 - 12/12:30 then I eventually moved it to after lunch.

Mine were on 1 nap by 1 year. I would push the nap back further so it is closer to 12 than 9.

My little one did the same at around the same time. I remember being worried too that she wasn't getting enough sleep.

But seriously, just follow his lead. Trying to enforce naps is just hellish and stressful for both of you. Some kids just drop second nap early. I'm now wondering if this means they will drop naps altogether early too!!

Ditto above reduce the morning nap and eventually you'll end up with one long one, it'll mean an early lunch about 11ish and a mid afternoon snack, or a morning snack and later lunch about 1-1:30ish. Hopefully will be a later wake up in the mornings once established.

Thank you so much everyone! We had a rocky night last night 1 til 3am which resulted in a 6am wake up this morning. Great tips and advice. Will read and digest all of your comments x

Me again! DS is definitely refusing 2nd nap. Since I last posted he hasn't had it once. Today woke at 6.30am. Slept 9.50 until 11.20am and then would not have afternoon nap. Last Thursday, I tried limiting the morning nap (and woke him after 45 mins) so he would nap earlier/easier in the afternoon and it didn't work! He still didn't afternoon nap which meant he only had 45 mins sleep all day! This evening he was in bed by 6.30pm asleep but it was a tough afternoon. Shall I try and move morning nap later then as afternoon nap clearly not working! Any help greatly received! Thank you x

Both of mine dropped second naps around 12 months. I pushed the morning nap back to 12/1 by just keeping them really busy / occupied in the morning and not anywhere they could easily fall asleep like pram / car seat for a few days until they settled in to the new routine, along with a slightly earlier bedtime

We also tried to keep two naps going for too long, and all it got us was a lot of time trying to persuade a not-tired baby to sleep. So yes, I'd try to gradually push the 'morning' nap back, keep him busy in the morning to help keep him going a bit longer, and be prepared for early bedtimes for a bit if he crashes.

If he's ready to drop it, I think you'll probably find the new routine is pretty much sorted within about a week, although it might take a little longer to get the one nap all the way to 12 or 1 – but 11.30 is hardly the end of the world, just means an early lunch.

Mine all shifted to one nap around one year old. Their second nap was always a pushchair one as they took their longer one in the morning. It started getting harder to achieve, took them longer to fall asleep and then we didn’t want to be asleep for too long because it impacted on bedtime. So I would start experimenting with one nap. Sometimes they went down late morning after a big snack and then ate something when they woke up, or sometimes I felt they could go a bit longer and have an early lunch first. But it was a matter of a month or so before they shifted happily to one solid nap after lunch.

Doesn’t sound that unusual to me. We went down to 1 nap at 10 months and dropped completely at 19 months. Led by her. She just wasn’t going to sleep and I wasn’t stressing myself out forcing her! When we dropped to no naps we had to bring bedtime forward (and avoid car journeys after 4pm for a bit ) but it settled down.

in my experience do not wake a sleeping baby. I let my sleep as he wants to (but I am also struggling wit timings so mind I am not the best advisor on this). I would keep offering 2nd nap, if not put to bed at 6pm and see how you go. I find it's such trial/error thing. If bedtime too early, kid wakes up at crack of dawn. If bedtime too late, he sleeps till 8am and I feel bad waking him up BUT then he won't go to bed before 9pm. Honestly - keep trying what works with your lifestyle and remember kids need 12-14 hours of sleep in 24 hours, if they get much less, over time they develop into grouchy grumpy unmanageable spawns of...you get the gist. I find well fed well slept toddler is much more survivable.

Our first was only on one nap a day by one year.

He’s coming up 18 months now and still on one nap. Unless he sleeps in the car on the way somewhere 😂 then it’s two shorter ones or what ever I can scrape from the shit show that is afternoon naps.