12m old can't do 1 nap but also can't do 2? At a loss.

[Kitcatkor]

Our 12m old started refusing am and pm naps randomly for weeks on end. The nursery said he was ready for 1 so they've got him on 1 a day but he hardly sleeps any time there. We've tried him on 1 at home. He gets up about 6.30 so we put him at 11am but he wakes up after 30 mins which suggests he's overtired as he always wakes after 30 if he's over tired. So by that a wake window of 4.5 hours is too much but I know a ww of 3.5 is too little for him. He goes to bed at 6.30 because if we put him later he still wakes at 6.30 and misses out on more sleep. We can't fit 2 naps in cos his wws must be around 4 hours so he'd have to be awake by 2pm for his 6.30 bedtime which would not work with an 10.30am morning nap to then get him awake for 2pm?!? Please this is doing my absolute head in. He used to nap amazingly and have amazing sleep during the day and now it's not working no matter what we do. What do you do when your baby can't do 1 nap a day but also can't do 2?what do you do? He's home for the holidays and would usually sleep amazingly at home but nothing is working. I thought they consolidated sleep at one nap a day. He used to nap 1-1.5 hours am and pm. Its exhausting us cos we don't get any form of down time in the day to get anything else done and he is exhausted cos he doesn't get the day sleep he needs.

Would he sleep longer than 30 mins if you contact napped? My DS used to only be able to nap with a contact nap. I know it’s not ideal downtime for you but at least you get some rest.

We went down to one nap at 10-11months but the one nap was 12-2pm so a decent amount of day sleep.

Now at 15months he will have anything from no nap-2hrs. Usually about 1.5hrs but 1 or 2 days a week with no nap and 1 or 2 days a week with a long nap.

They don’t have to do the same thing everyday so maybe yours might be able to do 1 nap with an early bedtime some days and then 2 naps with a late bedtime other days, just play it by ear. This is what we needed to do for about a month until he settled into 1 nap.

My kids stopped napping long before this age.

What would happen if you just didn't put him down at all? WOuld he ask to go down at some point? Or go straight through the day?

WHat is the problem with him having a 30 min nap?

Have you tried a power nap in the morning? When we dropped the AM nap we kept shortening until we cut it out completely.

So he would wake at 7am
Power nap of 10 min at 10:30
Longer nap at 13:00 (as long as he wanted, which varied)

at 12 we cut out the morning nap, and lunch nap was at 12:00 (or 11:30 initially). It was some rough going for about a week! Soon enough he did settle into the new routine

I drove myself mad with WW trying to do the math when dropping a nap so get your anxiety. I used to be concerned about overtired but actually turns out my DD wasn't tired enough and once I stretched her more she'd nap longer.

Agree with a PP could he do a mix of 1 and 2 nap days? My DD dropped her second nap at nursery at 13 months, but I kept her on 2 naps at home as she always needed to catch up after a couple of nursery days. She then dropped the second nap completely a month later.

It took a few rocky weeks of a lot of early bedtimes but then it all fell into place. We always kept her nap at 12, no matter what time she woke in the morning and that seemed to work better for her.

No advice here but in the same boat. 12 month old DS went down to one nap a day at 9 months. At 11 months decided he didn't want any naps. Sometimes he naps for 30 minutes to 2 hours in the afternoon but not often. We're just following his lead. Like you, we don't get those windows during the day to tidy or chill but we do give ourselves 30 minutes each evening to get stuff tidied, organised and sorted for the next day. We also try to be in bed as early as possible to relax, watch a movie or read.
If we try to put DS down for a nap he gets so upset and frustrated but if he's playing and crawling around he's perfectly happy. We're just doing what feels easiest. Not sure if it's the right or wrong thing to do but it's working for us at the moment.

I am also having the same issue at the moment. My 11 month old keeps refusing her morning nap. Today I decided to just give her 1 nap but she only slept 50 mins. I appreciate other people here are saying their kids dropped naps completely at this stage but that is incredibly rare and certainly goes against all medical advice. Babies and young children need sleep, they can't do 12 hour days with no rest! I'm not sure what the way forward is but I'll let you know if I find any magic formulas!! Good luck!