Transition to one nap advice

[Harvey19]

Hi

LO is now 16 months. He loves his naps, when he is asleep he doesn’t like to be woken so when on two naps it was very difficult waking him from his first to preserve his afternoon nap which we often had to do or he would seriously fight that one.
He has always been an early riser but with a wake up time of about 5.45 onwards he can last till 11.30ish for one long 2 hour nap
The problem is when he wakes 5.20 like this morning I’m not sure whether to try and put him down for 2 naps or 1. He will probably be very tired by 11. I just feel like we’re going round in circles rather than having a consistent one nap schedule. Should I just push him out and wait for the one nap? Otherwise I really need to get him to nap before 9 and wake him after 30 mins to ensure I get a good afternoon one in

Thanks

I’d push for 1 nap after lunch, bringing lunch early at 11.30 If up before 6. Don’t go out before lunch the first few days or he’s likely to get overly tired and either fall asleep on the journey or get agitated. Have a v calm morning, CBeebies, toys and colouring etc- nothing too physically demanding.

Thank you for your reply. I think I will try this and be consistent and hopefully over time he will adjust to it. I feel like this nap transition has definitely been the most challenging!

No prob, good luck! At that age the nap for us was between 2-3hrs.

First of all - don't worry! Don't overthink it. I was going crazy when I was dealing with these exact same issues at 14months. DD is a super early riser- similar to yours (the 5:45 wake up rings a bell), and at 14 months it was becoming a struggle to squeeze in 2 naps because she liked her 2sleep cycle naps, i.e. 1h20 minutes each. That's a lot of nap time. Plus, she was at nursery full time and with all the action going on, she started refusing the second nap there. I was so paranoid, thinking it would negatively affect her bedtime snd her sleep at night. Cut the long story short, it went by so quickly and it was absolutely fine. She was a bit tired on some days, but I stopped stressing about it. And I think it was around that time that she started sleeping through the night. 16 months is the perfect age to drop a nap. Yes to early lunch and nap at 12. Good luck, let us know how you get on xxx

Thank you for all of your helpful replies! We seem to have conquered the one nap transition! Now napping 12-2 most days and seems a lot happier! It took time but eventually just fell into place. The clock change definitely seemed to help us shift everything forward during the day.