1 nap a day 9 month old

[Firstpregnancy12]

My baby girl is 9 months old and has always been a cat napper. She sleeps great at night, will do 12 hours from whatever time I put her to bed and over the past couple of months we have been in a great routine of 2 naps a day. Over the past 2 weeks she has started sleeping for longer during her first nap which has been great! However, the past couple of days she has been sleeping longer for her first nap and then has been refusing her second nap. As her second nap is at about 4pm once it gets to 5 and she hasn’t slept I have to skip it altogether as she then won’t go down for bedtime. Is it time to cut down to one nap a day? I feel bad that she is so young but also don’t want to force her to sleep when she clearly doesn’t need it.

How long is her first nap? Could you shorten it? I gather it is very unusual to drop to one nap before about 13 months or so but there must be the occasional anomaly low sleep need baby out there i guess!

As PP said I would try capping the length of the first nap to start with so there is time for a 2nd nap x

Dd tried to drop her 2nd nap at this age and I was not having any of it because she was a terror if she didn’t sleep enough.

I jiggled her routine around slightly, so I woke her up earlier, had breakfast and a play, then first nap was 9-11. Then up for lunch and we usually went out to a group or shopping in the afternoon and got back for 3 when she’d nap until 4 and then dinner, play and then bathtime, story and bf then into bed.

What time is her morning nap and how long is it? Can you get up her slightly earlier so you can move naps about a bit? 4 seems a bit late for the afternoon nap unless she goes to bed quite late.

Thanks for all the advice! So she usually wakes at 8am so then nap time is 11ish, sleeps until 1pm then that would mean her next nap is 4pm. If I woke her at 7 then she would nap at 10am then I’m guessing 3pm. I just feel terrible waking her when she’s in a deep sleep.

Cap the morning nap to 1 hour instead of 2.
Then hopefully there’ll still be enough time for a decent second nap.

At that age mine were napping for 30-45 mins max at the first nap and I'd wake them up if needed. I'd probably wake her at 7 so she can have half an hour or so at 10 and then she can have a couple of hours around 1ish and still be ready to sleep at bedtime x

It's a long time ago op but at that age I was doing 45 mins in the morning and stretching them out til after lunch for a 1.5-2 hour nap then. All of mine had different sleep needs of course but that was the approximate pattern!

i could be wrong but I read there’s a regression around this age and they typically fight second nap 9-10 months. My boy is 9 months and I have to cap both his naps to 1 hour each otherwise up a lot at night. He is low sleep needs though. Normally we do awake 7, nap 10-11, awake 11-2.30, nap 2.30-3.30. Bed at 7.30. But we have never had a night without waking once but there is no way he could do without 2 naps even though I think it won’t be long until I will have to go to 1 nap as not enough wake time during the day. I know it’s normally after 12 months but I reckon I will be going to 1 nap in 1/2 months max

My 9.5 month old is really similar, in fact follows those exact times! Apart from sleeping through she does wake 1-2 times ATM. She's always been hard to get to sleep so I don't wake her, if I did she'd just be upset and likely refuse the second nap anyways then we'd be in for a bad evening. I just go by her. She will have a quick nap whilst feeding in the afternoon and sometimes that will continue providing she's held, but we've just got into a good place of the morning nap in her cot after she'd refused the cot in the daytime for weeks so I won't change anything for now

Different thought to others. I tried really hard to cap my son's first nap to allow for a bigger one after lunch but it was making us all miserable. He didn't want to be woken so was angry and then didn't want a nap later either. I embraced it and the morning nap became his big one with a wee cat nap later on which is what eventually got dropped. Seems the opposite schedule to most but it works for us. He is a very early riser tho, usually up between 5 and 6 so was probably shattered come 10am. I can't remember the time scales of this happening, he's 2.5 now and still has a morning nap. Hoping when he finally drops it that he might sleep a bit later in the morning.

Thanks everyone, you have all been so helpful! I will try and cap her morning nap tomorrow to one hour so there is time for the afternoon nap. X

i agree with everyone else, you need to cap that first nap. Down to 1 hour or even 30 minutes! Then a long 2 hour nap after lunch.

We were the same as @anothernameanotherproblem
longer first nap 1.5-2 hours around 9am and then a second shorter one in the afternoon.
i think if you have an early riser, the first nap is the longer one it seems. Whereas if your baby wakes at 8am (jealous haha), it seems counterproductive to have a longer first nap. They’d basically be asleep all morning!
mine definitely started fighting second naps before 1 year old but was not ready for many more months.

Oh I remember that feeling. Actually I still feel like it if I have to wake them up early and my youngest is 15!

Also op if you want to bring her wake ups forward, try it in 10 or 15 minute increments, over the course of a week - it just doesn't feel so brutal that way!

Yes in these circs you have to be mindful of their wake up times. A 5am wake up doesn't work in these scenarios (I feel your pain my eldest was like this) but if op has a baby who doesn't decide that stupid o clock is a brilliant time to wake, then the previous dies apply mostly!

God those 5am wake ups though!

I agree at capping nap 1 at an hour, provided each nap is one hour or more and there are two naps, that's enough sleep (just about) we have to do it with my 10.5 months old now as her wake windows are getting long. Huckleberry recommend 2 - 3 hours sleep and she always gets a minimum of 2, and 3 if she plays ball at nap time!

I've had to wake mine frequently to control nap and bedtimes, i hate it but she's fine 90% of the time but occasionally upset for a few mins

@Firstpregnancy12 did you have any success with capping the nap? My son has been fighting the second nap for weeks and stuck for what to do!!