2 to 1 nap transition

[sunnyfields25]

Hi

DS is nearly 15 months old and no matter how I try to tweak his routine, he's been consistently resisting the afternoon nap for quite a while. So, I've decided to try dropping a nap in the next week or so.

Looking online the two options seem to be either gradually pushing the morning nap later each day (at the moment it's 9.30am) or alternating days between one and two naps (but the afternoon nap is already problematic).

What did other people do? My parents have him two days a week, and he's at nursery another day, so I want to try and pick the approach that is going to cause everyone, including DS, the least stress.

Any tips gratefully received

Are you limiting the length of the morning nap? Would that open up any more options?

I’d probably just push the morning nap to lunchtime staight away though.

Thanks for the suggestion @ThePricklySheep. DS used to have 1.5 hours in the morning, then I shortened it by 15 mins, then another 15 mins, so I now wake him up after an hour. I'm a bit wary of shortening it any further as it's not helping the afternoon nap so he's getting gradually less and less sleep...

It's tricky though because he's clearly ready for a nap by about 9.30 so I don't know how he'll behave if I just don't let him sleep for several more hours!

I went straight to one nap after lunch and just ploughed through the morning. For a couple of weeks if we went out in the car he might have 15mins sleep in the morning but otherwise kept him up. If looking really tired he’d sometimes have lunch early at 11ish then would sleep straight after.

I'd give him a substantial snack at 10.30
Put him down at 11 till 1-1:30 and have a late lunch when he wakes

By ahout 18 months your probably looking at his nap being roughly 12:30-2:30/3pm

Also would be doing early bed ATM to so anytime from 6pm if he looks tired

At 15 months
Dd used to sleep 6:30pm-7:30am and then 11am-1pm
By 18 months it was 7pm-7am and 12:30-3pm nap
Now at 2.5 years she sleeps 7:30pm-7am and 12:30-1:30 for her nap ( I wake her from this as any longer would resort in a v late bedtime )

We dropped the morning nap and then let ds nap from about 11-1 as his afternoon nap. He has a snack about 10-30 and then lunch when he wakes up.

It was a nightmare initially get him out of the habit of his morning nap. The key was keep him busy.

I wouldn't drop the afternoon nap in favour of the morning nap.

We are having a similar thing with DD age 15 months. We are doing it gradually. What we do is:
Shortened morning nap to 45 mins at first, now 30 mins
Some days skip morning nap altogether if she isn’t too knackered

It all depends what time she wakes up! If she’s up at 7 she’s fine to go through to after lunch. But some days she’ll wake up at 5.30 and is practically falling asleep standing up by 9.30. So on those days I do let her have half an hour.

When she is at nursery She finds it hard to sleep anyway so I’ve specified they try to push through (she’s only there two mornings a week though). She has 2-2.5 hours in the afternoon.

I still don’t know if we’re doing the right thing! Just following instinct really!!!

Agree key is to keep busy. On days when I want her to skip the morning nap we go outside for a long walk or we play in the garden, do something really fun so she doesn’t think about being tired

Agree with all the above. DS dropped a nap very abruptly on his first birthday- so was very early. He gets up between 6.15/7 most days. Big snack at 10.30 and then late lunch when he wakes. Normally naps 11ish-1ish. Works of us at the moment. In the beginning if he woke on the earlier scale he might need to go at 10.30 but then we went for early bed time

Thanks everyone, I'm feeling more positive about it now.

Having a snack at 10.30 and then nap at 11 seems to be a common approach then. I suppose that's only an hour and a half longer that I'd need to keep him awake, and some of that would be filled with snacking.

What sort of food do people give as substantial snacks to see their LOs through until a late lunch?

Also, how do you approach days out once you're down to one nap? At the moment we do the first nap in the car on the way there, have a few hours awake and then do second nap in the buggy wherever we are.

Thanks so much everyone

You could do a car / buggy nap if out and about

For a snack it really depends- I try give something filling. I make a lot of veggie/fruit muffins so he has those. Crumpet with peanut butter. Soreen bar with fruit. Breadsticks, cheese, cucumber.

In terms of if we are out. DS bloody loves his cot. It’s his preferred place to sleep as he prettt much always sleeps on his back. When he was younger he would only do 40 mins max in car or pram. Now that he’s a bit older he will go a tiny bit longer. If we are going out all day he normally naps on the way there. At home he can easily stay awake for longer but in the car especially he can’t resist dropping of earlier. He will then nap again late afternoon in the pram or agin in the car on the way home. Sometimes if he’s had 2 naps we need to push bedtime back by 30 mins but not always. Controversial but personally I love that he needs less sleep during the day now and one nap is so much better. 😂

Pretty much always sleeps on his front that was meant to say

Thanks for those snack ideas @FortheloveofJames, some good suggestions

Today we are trying out one nap but so far not a huge success... We kept DS awake and did a snack at 10.30ish. I thought it was going brilliantly as he was a lot happier than I thought he would be, given that he's usually zonked out by 9.30. However we put him down for his only nap of the day 20 mins ago and he's completely wired, bouncing around his cot, singing and shouting. I just thought with us keeping him awake that he'd be out for the count as soon as his head touched the mattress. It currently sounds like he's doing some DIY work up there (I think it's the dummy on the side of the cot).

Hmmm.

So, yesterday DS actually ended up having a 3-hour nap which we had to wake him from (11ish - 2ish). I thought we had it cracked! But then today he's had 90 mins (11-12.30) and that's it for the day.

Just wondering what people do in this situation when you're left with a 7-hour gap between nap and bedtime? Can't bring bedtime much earlier due to the time we both get home from work some days. Do you reckon I should be starting the nap later than 11am? (But then risking overtiredness in the morning)...

Thanks in advance for any replies

At this stage I was doing a 20min power nap 3 hours after he woke up and then another 2hour nap after lunch. Bed at 630 x

At about 22months I stopped the power nap in the am and did 2.5 hrs sleep 12-230 and bed at 7 x

Everything takes at least 5 days for a change to work! I'd do a 20 min sleep about 3 today or ride him until an earlier bedtime x it's a total mindfuck but worth the effort

DS does this sometimes. Will sleep 11-12.30. Or sometimes we have to wake him if we have plans that can’t be avoided. Other days I have to wake him after 2.5 hours lol today. In our experience it’s been absolutely fine, he’s lasted fine till normal bedtime. Can sometimes be ratty but then dinner normally solves that. Can only really try it and see why happens