Is the transition from 2 naps to 1 usually this hard?

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For months now, DS has had a hard time taking his morning nap. It used to be short 30 - 45 m then he'd take 1 1/2 h nap after lunch. Now, when I put him down in the morning, he'll cry and fuss and stand up in his crib (which is a new skill). I go out and push him around in the stroller and despite being on the verge of sleep, he never actually falls asleep. I finally accepted that he's probably outgrown his morning nap except, his one remaining nap is sometimes only 1 hour and he is so tired all day. I end up having to put him to bed so early and he wakes more at night crying and he's up earlier than before -- all of which I think is because he's getting really overtired. Is it normally this difficult when they first drop a nap? or am I not recognizing the difference between him not needing 2 naps versus him not wanting to take his naps? If it's really him outgrowing a nap, how can I manage better?

Yes elf - so true- for ages if the wake-ups were after 5am I was OK with that. Now we have 6am as our benchmark - yet I know many of my friends are not usually up until 7-8am with their children

By the same token, ds has actually slept until 7.30am on a few occasions recently though this is by no means regular (he's probably done it 2-3 times in the last 3 months

Lazycow . . . glad to have you back! What are your thoughts about bedtime hour? Did you ever vary it depending how well or poorly DS napped that day? or was it always always 6pm? Today I spoke with my antenatal nurse who insisted that a consistent bedtime is critical to developing healthy sleep habits. Personally, I've just always done what is intuitive: the more tired he is . . the earlier he goes to bed. Some days it's 6pm other days it's 6:45 which I considered to be pretty darn consistent (after all, we arent' dealing with robots . . . but real little people who have good days and bad). But that's just my feeling. The conversation did make me wonder whether my "common sense approach" was really not what was best for DS. Your opinions would be much appreciated .