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Original poster

Please help naps 12 months

9 replies

user1497002026 · 04/03/2018 18:49

hello my baby girl is one tomorrow. Naps have not been right for about 1.5 months now. She will take a really good morning nap which used to start around 9.30 but then just will not sleep for the rest of the day. A few people said about trying to just do one nap but later in the day. Had a few one nap days with mixed success then she had nasty virus so went back to 2. This week we have tried to be consistent with the one nap. Problem is she is so tired in the mornings. Kept her up till 11ish Monday-Friday. But mostly has only slept just over an hour, max an hour and a half and so needing to go to bed at 6. She was obviously getting overtired waking very early at 5ish and very restless nights. Last two days I’ve tried just 30 min nap in the morning but she’s still not very tired in the afternoon until 3.5-4 hours and then will only sleep again just over an hour? So either way she is not getting enough sleep. Not sure what to do? Any advice appreciated.

OP posts:
TooMinty · 04/03/2018 18:58

At a year old we dropped down to one nap after an early lunch. But it was usually a decent length - at least 2 hours. Can you extend the nap some how? White noise/ shoogle pram/shh and pat? If the nap was too short then I did early bedtime. Any time from 6pm. Then went to bed myself not long after in case there was an early start the next day!

crazycatlady5 · 04/03/2018 19:11

It sounds like she is transitioning herself so I’d follow her lead. Mine is 13 months and still very tired soon after waking, but often fights the first nap now. I think generally nap transition times are rough but don’t last long.

Original poster
user1497002026 · 04/03/2018 20:03

If I follow her lead she would sleep from 9-11 and then be up all day wanting to nap at 4.30-5 which is far too late. Problem is putting her to bed at 6 means she’s waking at 5 which is then even harder to reach a decent lunch time nap? She has never been a pram sleeper unfortunatley. I have managed to get her to sleep slightly longer by patting but only another 10 mins or so. One day we had a 2hr+ nap but rest were all short and by Friday she was an overtired mess even with the early bedtime. She never sleeps more than 11.25 hrs at night unless she’s poorly. Feel like whatever I try just isn’t working at the moment

OP posts:
TooMinty · 04/03/2018 20:10

How does she get to sleep, can she self settle? As PP said, transition between nap stages is a difficult time - Winefor you. Do you have any other DC? I might be tempted to let her have a short late afternoon nap, put her to bed a bit later and hope that resets her so she doesn't wake up too early then you can try again with the single early afternoon nap.

teaandbiscuitsforme · 04/03/2018 20:10

My 13mo DS isn't ready to go down to 1 nap but doesn't need 2 long naps either. We've always had a fairly set lunchtime nap because my almost 3 year old also naps then so I'm waking him up at no more than 30 mins in the morning (napping about 9-9:30) and then he has his proper nap 1-3.

I know the 1-3 nap is going to have to come forward once we're down to 1 nap but this is working well for us at the moment so would a short power nap in the morning work to get you through to a lunchtime nap?

Original poster
user1497002026 · 04/03/2018 20:27

Ha yes plenty of wine has been drunk the last few weeks! She has self settled fine from 6 months. Usually sleeps through the night 11 hours. I don’t have anymore children. If she has a long morning nap I just can’t get her to sleep at all in the afternoon until 4.30/5 for 20/30 mins and then bedtime is like 8/9 which is making the day stretch to 14/15 hours which I don’t think is good. The 30 min power nap seems to work but will then only do 1.25 hr nap which means less than 2 hours day sleep which seems low considering she was having nearly 3 before all this started happening. I think I may persevere with the short morning nap for next couple of days then reassess. Is it ok to go between 1 nap and 2 nap days or will that just confuse things?

OP posts:
TooMinty · 04/03/2018 20:38

I did cold turkey down to one nap but other people play it by ear and switch around so I think it'll be fine. What does she do when she wakes from her nap? Have you tried leaving her for a wee while to see if she resettle? If they wake up crying rather than chatting I always feel like the nap isn't really finished yet.

teaandbiscuitsforme · 04/03/2018 20:38

My DD went between 1 and 2 naps for at least a month. If she had 1 nap one day, she often needed 2 the next. When she did drop to 1, she was only sleeping for 1 hour! But as she got used to it she started extending that and now I have to wake her up because she will just sleep on.

I found dropping to 1 nap the hardest transition with DD - although she hasn't dropped her nap completely yet! I found I had to be far more flexible than dropping other naps. However DS is far more 'go with the flow' than DD was so maybe it won't be so bad with him!

Original poster
user1497002026 · 04/03/2018 20:51

Yeah she wakes crying and normally stands up holding onto her crib. I know she wants more sleep but she does not often resettle especially if I have to go in. I try and leave her in there for the whole two hours but often she gets hysterical. Tea and biscuits- when she only slept an hour initially did you do early bedtime? Because that it was I was doing but results in an early wake up which is kind of a vicious circle? Thanks for all your replies

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