Going down to 1 nap, help please

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

Today I wanted to try DS on 1 nap 11-1 and see how he goes as he's suddenly started refusing his afternoon nap. Yesterday he napped 8:30-10:30, then 3-3:45, where usually his afternoon nap would have been about 1:30-3. It was so delayed because he refused it then I got him up and he played a bit more, then I held him to sleep and transferred him as he really did need to sleep.

ANYWAY he got up at 6:30 this morning and is already making his tired noises so I don't think he'll make it to 11. So should I just keep him up til 11 and risk him not even going down then because he'll be so tired, or should I put him down as normal around 8:30 but not let him sleep as long so that hopefully he'll take a pm nap too or...?

He is only 10 months (well, will be in 3 days), so I know that's really young for only one nap. But he has been skipping his pm naps so I'm guessing I need to change something!

I've read that no pm sleep can make for worse night sleeping. This week we've stopped night feeds and he's waking once a night for a cuddle.

Sorry, I'm such a waffler.

TL/DR: 10mo been refusing pm nap. I don't know whether to stretch him to 11am and risk him not sleeping then through over tiredness, or to let him take his am nap as normal but wake him earlier so he hopefully takes a PM nap?

I used to let DD nap whenever she was tired. I never dropped or added any.

All well and good but the whole problem is DS is exhausted but refusing to nap.

Get busy - go to the playground, toddler group etc - try and push him to at least 11/11.30 then as each day comes and goes try and stretch a little longer. Or give him a quick cat nap in the pram on the way to where you're going at 9am and then wake after 20 minutes or so, give a quick snack and then try and last until after lunch.

Thanks iguess. A walk to the playground would be a good tactic. Good plan long term, I will try and do that ^^ over the next couple of weeks.

This morning he is definitely going to need to have his morning nap as usual, he is falling over and whinging and doing all his usual tired things and he's only been up for 90 mins. Will wake him after 1.5 hrs though and see if he takes a nap easier this afternoon.

Agh he is keeping me on my toes!

I did a 30 min morning nap for a while at about that age (woke him after 30 minutes) as we had the same thing. He'd be up about 6 and we'd do an 8.30/9 ish 30 min nap then his afternoon nap at about 1. Depends if your baby is ok being woken though - mine doesn't seem to mind but my niece is horribly upset if she's woken.

I agree with the above advice - when DD states making the transition to one nap (about 13 months) we would give her a 15min nap in the pram at about 9, then down for her afternoon nap after lunch. It takes a long time for them to fully settle into one nap,DD is 17months now and generally sleeps 12-1.30 but will still occasionally have a morning nap as well if she's had a bad night/early morning or is ill.

Well yesterday was good, he coped quite well being tired all morning and went to sleep at 11:30 - took half an hour for him to settle, I had to rub his back but that's no biggie. He slept until 2!!!! Then coped really well until bedtime and went to sleep without a peep at 6.

Today he has been up since 4:45 his night waking, but he hasn't gone back to sleep. So DH is in there now feeding him which is ok as it's basically breakfast. But I'm hoping he will fall back asleep. DH has to go to work now. DS will probably get up, let's be honest, he's very tired though.

So I guess today we'll go back to 2 naps, but I might wake him early so he hopefully sleeps in the afternoon? He doesn't sleep in the pushchair.

My DS had two naps until he was about 20 months old.

The routine was up at 6am
Nap at 9.30 until 11am.
Lunch at 12pm
Nap at 14.30 until 15.30
He then went to sleep for the night at about 8.00pm.

When we made the decision to switch to one nap was because like yours, he stopped sleeping in the afternoon. It was difficult at first keeping him awake until he was tired but we persevered and he now naps from 1.30pm until 3.30pm.

I'm not sure how much sleep a 10 month old baby needs?

My DS has just turned two and has his two hour nap in the day and sleeps for 10 hours overnight.

Writer I can't believe you managed to keep two naps until 20months. That's amazing! My DD is very nearly two and dropped to one nap herself at about 10months. She was always a fairly reluctant napper and started to refuse the morning nap. She did have a period of falling headfirst into her lunch so we ended up bringing her lunch time forwards. She did start sleeping in stretches longer than 45mins at the same time so I was fairly happy.

At that age her routine was roughly- up at 715, lunch at 1130, nap 12-2, bed at 8ish.

Now at 23 months she wakes at 730, naps most days from 1-2ish, sometimes not at all, bed at 8-830. At weekends she will often sleep until 830/9 though (she's taking after her night owl father).

We've had a couple of one-nap days but last week was mainly 2 naps a day struggling for the 2nd. Had to go back to helping him settle for his 2nd nap and it's not as long as it was. But he tends to take a really good nap in the a.m. and sleeps well at night. I was soooo stressed when I started this thread, ha! So thanks for stories/advice.

You could try capping the first nap at 1 hour (i.e. 8:30-9:30) and then he will be tired enough to go down for an afternoon nap.

My DS is just 12 months and does 1 hour in the morning and then up to 1.5 hours in the afternoon (although he sometimes wakes sooner than this). I think this is the age where they start having one longer nap and a shorter one. I think day time sleep should be around 2-3 hours so actually when your DS did 2 hours then 45 mins it was about right maybe? But perhaps if he did less in the morning he'd then do a bit longer in the afternoon so it is more balanced out?

Just a thought?