Naps for 10 month old

[Lillieslamb]

Dd is 10 months, and for a few months we have loosely been folowing the 2-3-4 routine (up for 2-2 1/2 hours, nap, up for about 3 hours, nap, up for about 3-3 1/2 hours, bedtime).

This had been working really well for us. Dd would have 2 naps totaling between 2 and 3 hours, and for the most part sleeps through all night (except to put her dummy in, and some bad nights with teething).

But recently I feel this routine is no longer working so well. She is really fighting her naps for about an hour (sometimes longer), standing up in her cot and shouting, throwing her dummy across the room. I come in to give her her dummy back and lay her down, and she just smiles and laughs at me. I'm often having to give up on the afternoon nap completely as she won't go down, but is then over-tired by bedtime. We have good wind-down routines before sleeps.

I was please wondering, what are your nap time routines for your babies of a similar age? Is dd to young to just have one long nap instead of 2 naps?

Thank you

She's not too young if she's ready. DS1 went to one long lunchtime nap at around 11 months. But I know plenty of 15 month olds who are still on 2-3 naps a day so it might just be a wee blip / sleep regression.

You could try sticking with the usual routine for another couple of weeks and see if she falls back into that pattern.

Or you could extend wake time in the morning to 3 hours and cap naps at 1hr 30.

Or you could just take the plunge and move to one nap and see how she goes. That would be my last option though as you don't want to compromise night time sleep...

I often found when they were ready to transition to just one nap there was a period where I'd give them half of their lunch early - at about 10.30/11 and then the rest post nap. Gradually they can last longer until the long nap so you can get lunch in first but otherwise I'd find they would wake early after just one sleep cycle because they were hungry.
Definitely sounds to me like it's time to change to one nap but you might find there are days they need two while they are adjusting.

10 months is on the young side for 1 nap, but not unheard of.

Also bear in mind that the process of moving from 2-nap days to 1-nap days is a transition not a dtraight swap. It can take a month or two too fully transition.

If you have a say she doesn't seem as tired, try a single day of keeping baby awake and active in the morning, early lunch and one lunchtime nap. Follow this by several normal days of 2-naps. Then when she seems less tired, try another day on 1 nap. Maybe two consecutive 1-nap days, followed by a few 2-nap days.

Maybe she'll show you she is ready and quickly change to 1-nap days.

Maybe she'll tolerate the odd day every now and again, but will show you she's not ready just yet for this change.

I should add that the second nap is always the hardest work. This is the nap that is dropped, so the morning nap gets later.

Given 2nd nap is always harder work, you could try having this nap out and about. Pushchair walk for example.

Thank you so much for your replies and suggestions. To be honest I'm very laid back with our daily routine which has been working for us, it's just now she's fighting her sleep more. I do wonder if she's sleeping too much at night time recently, as she sleeps from 7:15/7:30 to about 7:45-8 am (used to wake up at about 7am). I'm not sure if she's sleeping more at night because she's not napping so well in the day, or if her night time sleep is making her not so tired in the day.

I may see how the next few days go, and then do as suggested and have an earlier lunch with a nap right after, and see how that goes. Maybe some days she needs two naps, but other days she just needs one.

Funnily enough she's gone down pretty well for this afternoons nap (first time in over a week), and I have put her down later than I usually would.