How long after waking is your one year old's first nap?

[adjsavedmylife]

I know they are all different but amcurious. DS has always been a horrendously early riser. He's okay at bedtime and through to about 2/3am when he'll wake for 1.5-2 hours and really struggles to get back to sleep no matter what he/we does/do. It has been going on approx 5 out of 7 days for 2 months and always ends in an overtired cross meltdown. Then back to sleep for a little while, up for day 5.30 approx.

I would happily suck this up (how things change ) if it wasn't for this long miserable stint awake. Because of his early waking everything is usually early including bedtime (6.30, sometimes 6!). So by 5.30 he would have had enough sleep.

Naps: He has never been a champion napper (still can't self settle) but someone suggested we try 2-3-4 or a rough version of it and after much perseverance he'll now have 30-45 in morning and usually a decent lunchtime nap (upwards of an hour - good for him!)

But he isn't normally tired after 2 hours waking so have been doing 2.5 sometimes even 3 hours. It isn't affecting nap length. Sometimes I even think he could go longer and I'm wondering whether to try to see if it affects the night wake. Has anyone had any experience of this? I feel like we're locked into an early cycle and can't see how to get through it. Thank you!

You describe him at not a champion napper (which is fair enough, from what you describe), so what you need to remember is that he is also not going to be champion at giving indications of his need for a nap, or not.

For example babies (from tiny babies to toddlers) can get wide-eyed and hyper when over tired. Its harder to tell they are tired since these are not typical tired signs. This is especially true in babies who've struggled to learn to wind-down and sleep before being exhausted.

At 12 months old my youngest was sleeping solidly 11 hours overnight, waking between 6.30-7.30am. Nap times by this age were routined- they happened at set times - 9am-11am and 1pm-3pm.

By about 18 months naps moved to 9.30am-11am and 1-3pm. This transitioned between 20-22 months old to a single nap 12-3/4pm and 12h over night.

I would not move onto 2 naps per day (in the 234 routine or any other) until naps were consistently above 90 minutes or so. If naps are under 1h, then I would definitely suggest your DS needs more frequent naps (ie more naps per day), not less.

I would estimate that at 12 months, baby wants about 14-18h sleep in 24 hours. With your DS not getting a block of 11-12h uninterrupted sleep overnight, I'd suggest she needs the upper end of that range, rather than the lower range.

Thank you Fate. This is interesting as we started having this problem roughly when he dropped his third nap. We tried to encourage nap 3 for as long as possible since the others are short, but now he flat refuses to, no matter how early he gets up, how tired he is. Will scream in the car for an hour, stay awake in buggy or just start angry crying, even in sling with rocking/jiggling etc. And still waking early! So I felt no other way but to accept two naps and move bedtime earlier.

Your point about him perhaps not being a champ at showing tiredness signs also v helpful. As I have been wondering if I am missing cues / putting him down too early or late. He fights almost every nap whether under, over or the elusive just right tired. Just feel I am always getting it wrong! Thanks for your insights. As always!