Nap transition confusion!

[Ifyouthinkiwillsleepyoudream]

My DS is 18 months. He was a terrible sleeper as a newborn but we persevered with putting him down for regular naps and bed at 7pm and by 12 months he was a fairly reliable sleeper - felt like a miracle!

Now he starts waking up a little early though - 5.30-6am. The result is he is exhausted by bedtime and I can see he struggles. Some days he has 2 naps (1-2hr each, total no more than 2.5-3hr per day), but some days he only has one 2hr nap between 12.30-2.30pm.

I am thinking that either he needs to stop the second nap altogether, or 11hr sleep is what he needs at this age at night and we should just push his bedtime to 8pm so that he wakes closer to 7am (we need to get up early for work/Nursery etc anyway).

He might also be teething which doesn't help things. He seems happy otherwise, eats well etc

I guess my question is: how did you know your DC was ready to drop to one nap?
And how many hours did they sleep at the time during the night?

Also, did anybody manage to push bedtime successfully by an hour at this age? I have this fear that I will try and put him down to sleep at 8pm and he will still wake at 5.30 and I will make things worst! Help!

Worse, even. Sorry- autocorrect

Oh no.. anybody?

Well I am going to try pushing his bedtime a bit now. Went down at 7.15pm today instead of 7 and will try and make that 7.30 gradually during the week and see what happens!

I think you’re over-thinking it. A 5.30/6 wake up is normal in young kids. My 6yo still gets up at 6! At 18 months all 3 of my kids were generally on one long afternoon nap. And none have ever slept for 12 solid hours. More like 10-11

You are right. I do have a tendency to overthink things! 

Also I think the experience of his first few months when he barely slept more than 1hr at any one stretch has left me a little obsessed with his sleep patterns! He is my first you see, so nothing to compare to. Maybe I should just drop to one nap and go with the flow

I think his night-time sleep sounds fine. Early wake ups are just part of having young kids. Just set a rule that nobody gets up before say 6.15 so even if he wakes at 5.30 he plays in his cot or comes in with you.
I would stress less about naps.. one big solid afternoon nap is great. A 10 minute one in the pushchair on a morning isn’t the end of the world either