1 year old naps

smileylottie87 · 2024-04-27T14:35:00+00:00

Hello everyone, my daughter is 1 in a few days time and will now go from 7pm-6.30/7am at night which is brilliant. However, we can't quite master her napping, we were on 2 naps a day quite happily but she started refusing the second nap completely so we've changed to a nap just after lunch. The problem is she won't sleep for longer than half an hour, she will go through to bedtime but she looks and is so tired! Any advice would be much appreciated

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Pinklilly · 27/04/2024 20:39

What time is after lunch?
how long was she napping before?
how does she go to sleep/nap?
is she waking up crying/ abruptly or peacefully and rested?

Original poster

smileylottie87 · 28/04/2024 05:20

Lunch starts around 11.45 and she eats quite slowly so it does take a while. I'll put her down in her room at 12.45 and she will be asleep in 10/15 mins but will always wake after the half an hour. She is waking up crying though she does that in the morning now so I've put that down to some separation anxiety as she's just learning how to self settle. I was previously rocking her to sleep. She definitely is still horribly tired when she wakes up.

Previously she was doing one hour nap at half 10 and then anything from half an hour to an hour in the afternoon. She just looks exhausted

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Olika · 28/04/2024 06:15

Have you tried being in the room just before that half an hour ends so when she wakes up you can help her to continue sleeping?

Pinklilly · 28/04/2024 07:16

So I am no expert but for a 1 year old just transitioning to 2 naps I think 12:45 might be too late and therefore she is potentially overtired and having a cat nap.
can you offer a morning snack at about 11 and bed 11:45? Asleep hopefully by 12.

my daughter is 2 and I also have the issue that she takes a while to eat lunch. So I serve part of her lunch at 11:30 eg. The main part like the omlette.
Then she goes to bed 12:15 wakes at 2 at that point I serve her the fruit and nuts or yogurt etc.

I think a fiddle with the schedule is probably what you need.
when my daughter initially transitioned to 2 naps I did snack at 11 and nap at 11:30 once she was able to go for a nap at midday ish I switched it to lunch.

Pinklilly · 28/04/2024 07:17

Sorry I mean transition from 2 naps! Not to.

Original poster

smileylottie87 · 28/04/2024 07:18

If I'm in the room with her then she won't settle unless I'm cuddling her to sleep, which is why we are letting her self settle. Her sleep at night was getting worse as every time I put her down she would start screaming, I'd be there for hours.

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Hiddenvoice · 28/04/2024 07:20

My little one was the same when she transitioned from 2 naps to 1. I now put her down for a nap around 11ish and do her lunch when she wakes up. She usually gets an hour and a half- 2 hours and then I have lunch ready for her waking.

Original poster

smileylottie87 · 28/04/2024 07:22

Pinklilly · 28/04/2024 07:16

So I am no expert but for a 1 year old just transitioning to 2 naps I think 12:45 might be too late and therefore she is potentially overtired and having a cat nap.
can you offer a morning snack at about 11 and bed 11:45? Asleep hopefully by 12.

my daughter is 2 and I also have the issue that she takes a while to eat lunch. So I serve part of her lunch at 11:30 eg. The main part like the omlette.
Then she goes to bed 12:15 wakes at 2 at that point I serve her the fruit and nuts or yogurt etc.

I think a fiddle with the schedule is probably what you need.
when my daughter initially transitioned to 2 naps I did snack at 11 and nap at 11:30 once she was able to go for a nap at midday ish I switched it to lunch.

I think that's what's happening, hopefully like you say a little time tweak will help. Thank you for the lunch splitting tip, I'll give it a try today.

I'm just trying to get her on the rough times that her nursery do because she will be starting in a couple of weeks.

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aerkfjherf · 28/04/2024 07:22

lots of one year olds dont need more than half an hour, and some don't need any nap at all by this age

Ellie525 · 28/04/2024 07:23

Can you try bringing nap earlier say 1130ish?
We had sinilar when transitioning to 1 big nap (prior to this he NEVER napped more than 30mins!).. first few times he woke after half an hour but needed longer so I just sat rocking him to sleep again in dark and he would go off again.. he then kind of got used to having longer and does it unassisted now (unless poorly!)

Ellie525 · 28/04/2024 07:24

smileylottie87 · 28/04/2024 07:22

I think that's what's happening, hopefully like you say a little time tweak will help. Thank you for the lunch splitting tip, I'll give it a try today.

I'm just trying to get her on the rough times that her nursery do because she will be starting in a couple of weeks.

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Also dont worry too much about mimicing nursery exactly as somehow they grt used to slightly different things in different places, and good nurseries will always let little ones sleep a bit earlier than planned if theyre tired!

Original poster

smileylottie87 · 28/04/2024 07:24

Hiddenvoice · 28/04/2024 07:20

My little one was the same when she transitioned from 2 naps to 1. I now put her down for a nap around 11ish and do her lunch when she wakes up. She usually gets an hour and a half- 2 hours and then I have lunch ready for her waking.

I think this is the problem, I've got my timings wrong, I used to have her lunch waiting for her after her half 10 nap so I'll try a snack before her nap and lunch after

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Original poster

smileylottie87 · 28/04/2024 07:26

aerkfjherf · 28/04/2024 07:22

lots of one year olds dont need more than half an hour, and some don't need any nap at all by this age

True but she really does, she's exhausted and has big bags under her eyes!

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aerkfjherf · 28/04/2024 07:27

smileylottie87 · 28/04/2024 07:26

True but she really does, she's exhausted and has big bags under her eyes!

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when? at bedtime? surely that is fine?

Original poster

smileylottie87 · 28/04/2024 07:28

No, after her nap

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Original poster

smileylottie87 · 28/04/2024 07:30

That's good to know Ellie, thank you for the nursery advice too. Fingers crossed an earlier nap today will yield a longer sleep!

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crazyBadger · 28/04/2024 07:51

My twins ate their first birthday cakes absolutley had one each then dropped all naps except when feeling poorly...

Hiddenvoice · 28/04/2024 07:55

smileylottie87 · 28/04/2024 07:24

I think this is the problem, I've got my timings wrong, I used to have her lunch waiting for her after her half 10 nap so I'll try a snack before her nap and lunch after

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A snack is a good idea! We have breakfast, got out for a bit or play In the house, have a snack around 10/half 10 and then get settled down for a nap. Sometimes she doesn’t eat lunch till half 1 but I then just give a smaller afternoon snack or skip it depending on how hungry she is.

At first I needed to keep her entertained after dinner to keep her awake but she slowly got into the hang of it and a middle of the day nap works best for her.

Original poster

smileylottie87 · 28/04/2024 08:12

crazyBadger · 28/04/2024 07:51

My twins ate their first birthday cakes absolutley had one each then dropped all naps except when feeling poorly...

Ahhh, that's sweet, too grown up for naps as soon as they were one!

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Original poster

smileylottie87 · 28/04/2024 08:19

@Hiddenvoice I think this is what she needs, I have been giving her a snack at 10 for the past week or so as we've gone down to two bottles a day now.

I was putting her down after lunch as I thought being full would help her to sleep longer. So I'll give her a snack at 10.15 today and look and getting her down for 10.45. Does that sound good?

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InTheRainOnATrain · 28/04/2024 08:24

I used to give lunch at 11, then into the stroller and we’d go for a walk round the block, then park up in the hall once asleep. That was the only way we could get a decent nap! The snack idea wouldn’t have worked for us, he would wake hungry if he fell asleep before lunch, and for whatever reason he wouldn’t entertaining napping in the cot despite being an excellent nighttime sleeper. But doing it that way we got 1.5-2 hours! They’re all different though, sometimes it’s just a bit of trial and error to figure out what works. Good luck!

Original poster

smileylottie87 · 28/04/2024 08:40

Thanks @InTheRainOnATrain sadly she actively dislikes the pram, she gets frustrated being strapped in, she likes to be on the move especially at the moment as she's on the cusp of walking! We could go in the garden before her snack to really get her exhausted, I'll give that a go today (if the torrential rain stops).

I'll try the 10.45 nap for the next few days and see if she will go longer with it, if not then I might try the split lunch idea but fingers crossed she will sleep longer this morning. No idea how she will get through the rest of the day if she only has half an hour though.

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Original poster

smileylottie87 · 28/04/2024 11:32

Half an hour on the dot, at least she's consistent!

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Ellie525 · 28/04/2024 19:34

smileylottie87 · 28/04/2024 11:32

Half an hour on the dot, at least she's consistent!

I can sympathise honestly mine was 30mins on the dot for sooooo long it became a running joke and i was so envious when other mums referred to the "long nap" per day I thought erm what?!
But it is often an annoying case of tweaking timings/meals/bottles and like we had to for a while going and getting them back down after 30mins.... they will get there 🙏🙏🙏

Original poster

smileylottie87 · 28/04/2024 20:52

Thank you @Ellie525 we will get there, it just seems that whenever you've settled in to a routine they need to change it up again!

The long nap, ha! Hopefully we will find it again but I'm not convinced. She soldiered on until 7pm tonight, she did so well. I was just pleased she wasn't too tired to eat.

I suppose it's selfish but it was just nice to be able to get things done and reset whilst she was napping, oh and a hot cup of tea!

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