When did your LO dropped to one nap?

[Mochiface]

Hi all,

Feel like this is an age old question but when did your LO dropped to one nap?

DD used to nap around 1.5 hours in the morning 9-11 then another 1.5 hours in the afternoon. I cut down the morning nap as it pushed the afternoon nap back and she didn't get as much sleep in the afternoon. Then bed time started to get later so I had shortened the afternoon nap too.

Recently, she started to not go down as easily for these day naps and usually, she goes down no problems and even self settles. But now, I'd need to rock her for the morning nap but she only sleeps for 39 minutes. She seems.tired waking up from it and it's making me thinking, did I just force a nap hence why she's rubbing her eyes and yawning? I thought it was a poo that woke her up which was the other day and that happens now and again.. but not most of the recent ones.

Is it time to phase out the morning nap?

I'm nervous as I just read on an old thread that babies need two naps until 18 months as it is needed for their brain development.. although I do understand that that is a sweeping statement but it still makes me feel uncomfortable reading it!

How old is your baby?

Ds1 was 18 months when he dropped to one nap.

Everything I've read suggests 14-20 months being 'normal'

DS (now 3) had to be forced into all naps. He was down to one nap by 12 months old but would still take it quite early in the day and then last just fine through to bedtime. Any afternoon nap would be very short and affect his night sleep.

At this point, the only way I could get him to nap was driving for at least half an hour then a delicate transfer from car to cot. His carbon footprint is terrible for a toddler.

My DD is 9 months and doesn't seem very taken with sleep either. We would fret far less without all the scary science guidelines!

@shouldistop sorry, totally thought I wrote it down. DD has just turned one. Yeah, feel like the range is pretty wide which is why I feel it's too early for her to handle. She seems comfortable enough on most days but feel like consolidated sleep but be more beneficial to her.

@Mistressofnone that sounds like my DD on some days. Carbon footprint is terrible for a toddler, love that haha. But kudos to you for being able to transfer from car to cot. I mean, just how!? Oh no, so you've experienced two who doesn't like day sleep very much!

My lo started nursery at 13 months and was basically forced to drop to one nap a day around lunchtime (compared to her prior morning 1.5hr and afternoon 45min nap). she wasn't ready for it at that point as she was so completely exhausted and struggled to sleep for long during that lunch hour as she was over tired. it caused a lot of problems at home and poor sleep at night.

In the past couple of months since then she's slept about 1.5 hours at nursery though usually 2 hours at home around the same time of day. sometimes even 3 hours.

I'd say she was ready for 1 nap about 15 months really

Around 14 months. Ds sleeps 2.5 hours from around 12.30/2 start to 3/4.30 finish every afternoon as long as he is either on the car or at home settled in cot. It’s quite restrictive for adventures etc but it gives us guaranteed break in middle of day. He is 19 months now.

I think you can only be led by the baby.

Mine both dropped naps completely when just turned one. Total nightmare!

You can tell if they're tired/ need more sleep etc.I mean they're all different etc.

Mine is 14 months and is in the transition phase - some days he needs a morning nap and some days he doesn’t. I can usually tell. He has been doing a mixture like this for a month or so. First of all he was just really resisting the morning nap but did still need it, then he had a while of just dropping the morning nap one or two days a week. Now he tends to skip it 4 or 5 days a week.

So in short I honestly would do a transition don’t think of it as a hard and fast “cold turkey” thing, especially at such a young age.

Mine was about 18m when he dropped the morning nap and just slept once 12-2. He was showing the same signs as yours so could you try to push the morning nap back a bit more each day until you're at 12?

Oh way before 18months- think around a year my eldest went down to a big afternoon nap, 3hrs….aww good times lol

About 14 months. It was at the beginning of the first lockdown and I was trying to get him to nap while also trying to wfh. Dropping the morning nap - which he was massively fighting - meant he slept for a decent stretch in the afternoon.

He's now 2.5 and still has a good two hour nap on days at home (less at nursery).

DD1 had to be forced into all naps by rocking in a covered buggy with loud white noise. Each nap was 28 minutes at the absolute max. By 11 months she was on one nap and by 18 months she was starting to refuse all naps. 20 months was the last nap she took. Self settled and slept at night beautifully from about 11 months.

By contrast, a friend’s DS of almost identical age is still at 2.9 months taking a two hour nap daily and sleeping 13 hours straight at night.

I don’t think there’s a discernible difference between them in terms of brain development - my DD is miles ahead in terms of speech, her DS is better in terms of motor skills.

Just like some adults need more sleep, children are all different. As a teacher I don’t look at a class of children and say oh yes that one was clearly formula fed/didn’t have enough naps/was weaned at 4 months and that’s why they struggle with long division.

Both mine 10 months! My 26 month old has just dropped naps altogether and my 10 month old seems fine on one.

My daughter dropped to one nap almost exactly as she turned 12 months. She's now 22 months and it's touch and go whether she naps or not, although I know she needs it she will just hold out for bedtime!
Trying to implement quiet time instead, but it's quite hard when she screams if even go into the kitchen without her 😅🙃

Mine was 10 months. Started taking a longer & later morning nap that there wasn’t time for the afternoon nap anymore. She used to do 2.5 hrs 11-1.30. She is 2.4 now &rarely naps anymore.

Thanks for all the replies guys!

LO basically needs to sleep around 3.5 hours after her morning nap and only naps for like an hour 15 minutes or so max. Sometimes one hour. And then she carries on with her day until around 6 or so and sleeps almost 12 hours. I feel like being awake from just before 12 until 6 ISH in the evening seems like a long time..

And because she doesn't take afternoon nap, she also refuses that milk too so I give her a snack instead.

One. He only has an afternoon nap now. I won't let him go to sleep in the morning.

@BlueberrySugar just out of interest, when you say you don't let DS sleep in the morning, does DS look tired? How much does he sleep in the afternoon?

I ask this as DD look tired, she could power through but I don't think she sleeps long after that due to overtiredness? I say that but then in the evening she sleeps through so I don't know what I'm doing different!