Dropping down to one nap- when to have lunch?

[JuniorMint]

DD is coming up to 1yo next month, I don't think she's quite ready to drop a daytime sleep yet but is moving that way e.g. lasting a lot longer between sleeps, not having her morning sleep if she's particularly engaged or stimulated at a group or activity.

At the moment she generally has two hour long sleeps 10am to 11am and 3pm to 4pm, with lunch at 12.30ish, tea at 5.30ish and bedtime at 8pm.

She wouldn't last through from getting up in the morning to her afternoon nap of 3pm (obviously) but if she sleeps too early then it will be too long of a stretch until bedtime (which I would like to bring forward from 8 to say 7ish? once she is only napping once). From googling, common nap times for one nap are like 11am-1pm or 12pm-2pm.

That's fine, and DD may well move towards that, but the question is- if she naps at 11am-1pm, when does she have lunch? Snack before nap and lunch straight after?

Please share your one nap lunch time (loose!) schedule! TIA

Ds2 is an earlyish napper. He has always preferred to sleep then eat around 1.30pm. Hes over 2 now and still doesn't like an early lunch.

Nursery pushed it for us and we've stuck to their schedule of an early lunch, food at 11.30, nap at 12, then gradually moved it later. I also have friends who's DCs have a snack at 10.30, nap 11-1, lunch 1.30..

Ds always has lunch at 12 ish and a nap afterwards. They tend to sleep better after food I think!

DD eats at 12 then naps 1-2.30ish. Bedtime at 7.30pm- 8pm (can't get her down any earlier).

My DS2 is going through this transition at the minute, he is 1 on Thursday. My DS1 is now 6yo but he used to sleep 11 - 1 for months. I would give him a largish snack at 10.30 then he would have lunch at 1.30. It worked really well. I plan to do this for DS2 as well.

Thanks all. Did anyone find moving to one nap improved night time sleep? And do you find it restrictive in terms of going out about to baby groups etc? Or better?

Unfortunately not to making night time sleep better but mine is a crazy non sleeping baby. I do find getting out and about/going to groups etc easier though. Actually looking forward to her dropping her nap completely as she will only nap in her cot so it means we can't go out for a whole day.

My dd used to nap 1130ish so i have her half her lunch before her nap and the rest when she woke up

Never had problems with nighttime sleep anyway but it was certainly much more practical losing the morning nap, gave us more time to go out and about. He didn't drop it til nearly 20 months though. Very late.

I tend to do two large snacks rather than lunch at the moment as she's napping 11.30-1.30ish, so breakfast at 7, decent snack at 10.30-11ish, nap, another good sized snack when she wakes, small snack at 4, tea at half five

My ds is one next week and we transitioned to one nap around a fortnight ago. He has lunch at 1130 (!) then naps 12-2ish and has a snack and drink after getting up then dinner at 5 and bed at 7. Working well so far...

Sometimes lunch at 1130 then nap 12-2, or if hes tired something like a banana around 11am and lunch after he wakes up. Hes not the best eater so am happy whatever i can get into him.... not too bothered about when!

DD just changed to one nap at the start of the month. She's just 13mo.

She gets up at 7:30ish and has milk, breakfast at 9:30. Then a nap from 11:30-1:30 (sometimes slightly less) and lunch straight away. Dinner at 5, milk at 6:50, bed at 7:30. Works for us!

Mine always had lunch first. I found play groups etc tended to be in the morning, so was more practical to do it that way round. I never panicked if they fell asleep before lunch though,they still tended to sleep 1.5 hours anyway. They used to have milk on waking at 2:30-3, a small snack at 4 then tea at 6.

Dd sleeps better if she has her lunch before her nap. We do lunch at midday and nap at around 1. When she first moved over to one nap we did lunch at half 11, in bed by midday as she couldn't go any later than that without crashing out.

At the cm dd doesn't nap until 1:30 so has lunch beforehand. She's been doing this since she was 11 mo but still naps twice when with boring mummy (just turned 13 mo).

You might be surprised at how long your lo can go after morning nap. today dd slept til 11:45 and didn't have an afternoon nap.

At nursery DD has cooked lunch at 11.30 then naps. At home I struggle to get lunch that early, and she is tired from the week, so I tend to give her a banana or something at 10.30 then she has a late lunch when she wakes up.

If she's tired, she won't eat, and if it's been a tiring week she can easily sleep 11-2 so it's not set in stone.

I find a group / activity that lasts 9.30-11 is the perfect morning filler!