Poll - what age did your DC's drop from two naps to one?

[Gab3478]

Just what the title says really - my dd is nearly 16 months and I can feel the naps changing but have no idea what to do, everything I have read suggests she should be getting to one nap but she wakes up so bloody early! Her night sleep has always been terrible however getting worse and I wonder if this is because she should just be on one sleep. Her afternoon nap is getting later and later.

Every single day is different and I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing, I feel like her schedule is awful at the moment with too late a pm nap, but rough routine is

Awake anywhere from 530 - 630
Nap 1030 (she would go down way earlier than this but I'm trying to push it up), can be 45 mins to 1hr30
Nap between 230/330 and is usually 45 mins to 1 hour
Bed at seven
Wakes as and when she fancies throughout the night

Please help - what age were your dc's and how did you transition? What time should I aim for the one nap?

Thank you wise mummies x

Around a year.

Why not let her nap as early as she wants in the morning? Then bring the afternoon one forward? If you can have a good long space between waking up in the afternoon and going to bed she'll likely stay there longer.

If you're fixed on just one nap - which is more usual by this age - then I would aim for having her up by 3pm at the latest to ensure a decent night.

You may find she sleeps a bit later in the morning on only one daytime nap. This would in turn help her to stay awake till midday when she would ideally be having a good couple of hours.

DS is 14 months and sometimes doesn't nap at ALL! Usually he has one nap of 30-60 minutes after lunch. Sometimes he still has a morning one too but this is only when he has got up very early (often 5am), has been awake a lot in the night or has a cold. My childminder assures me he is not normal at all though, and at this age she would be expecting two medium naps, or one really long one (a couple of hours). I remember when I was pregnant thinking it was weird how he seemed to be always awake in there . . .

Don't worry that if you go down to one nap, she won't make up the time in the 2nd nap. Part of dropping naps is to reduce the amount of daytime sleep. Initially she might sleep a bit longer in the new one nap, but over time, until she drops the nap totally, you'll want to gradually reduce it anyway.
Do you wake the child at nap time? I always did, to prevent too much daytime sleep, because that impacted on nighttime sleep. Particularly towards the end of having naps at around 2.5 years, when mine was done to about 45 mins, it would make them very grumpy for 10 mins, but definitely needed, in order to be tired for bed at 7.
Best of luck with it. Changes are hard for the first few days, but then become normal.

14 months here.