13 month and 1 nap a day - so short?!

[Saladleaf]

My 13 month old is transitioning to 1 nap a day, as keeps refusing second nap or waking up for hours at night. When on two naps, typically he does 1/1.5 hours each for both naps, yet when we do 1 nap he wakes after 45 mins!? This has happened twice when we've attempted 1 nap. This makes his day extremely tiring and he ends up going to bed very overtired. Why is this and has anyone else experienced this? So difficult, I feel I can't get a break at the moment!

What time does he wake up? And what time is his one nap?

He wakes between 7-8am, and bedtime 7.30/8pm. Today he's gone down at 12.45 for the nap, and woken up at 1.30pm. Not sure if it's overtiredness and he needs to go down earlier for the one nap?

Very tricky as I am getting absolutely exhausted from the night time wakes - he's been waking up several nights a week 1/2am for up to 3 hours at a time, and have had 3 afternoons in the last week where he's screaming in the cot and won't go to sleep.

I wonder if I have to just accept 45 mins all day for now and push through.. Just difficult as he has 2-3 hours if he does 2 naps.

I'd definitely try putting him down for the nap earlier and see if that makes any difference. Is he having a good lunch before he goes down for his nap?

We are down to 1 nap with my 15mo.

Wake up- 7am
Nap - 12pm - 2pm
Bed - 8pm

To begin with, hed wake around an hour or so and id just cuddle him back to sleep. He now sleeps for the 2 hours and sometimes even longer.

We still wake during the night though!

My 14 month old schedule is as follows:

Wakes 6.30
Nap: 11:30/45 - 1.30
Bed: 6.30

I find a 5 hour wake window works for him, for now anyway.

Maybe bring his nap earlier?

I empathise, my dd used to nap for 30 minutes at a time. Not a minute longer, it was exhausting and the last couple of hours before bed were hell.

Have you tried cutting the first nap down? Before we moved to one nap, our dd’s morning nap was down to 30 minutes so she was still tired enough for her second nap. Usually did 30 minutes AM and 1-1.5 hours for second up until moving to one where she did up to two hours. Your little one probably isn’t ready for one yet. Overtiredness may be causing the waking after 45 minutes.

Our second dd is now 13.5 months old and we’ve just started to cut down her first nap. She’s had one nap a handful of times over the last couple of weeks, depending on our plans for the day. When she does, she’ll go down around 11.30am. She wakes 6.30-7am and is down for the night at 7pm. If she has one nap at nursery, she only does 45 minutes though!

At that age my baby would never have lasted to 12:45 for her nap. It might mean you have to shift his lunch earlier but I would go for an earlier nap time. Only sleeping for 45 mins probably means he is overtired.

I think he needs two naps still mine did at that age. The second one you’ll need to wake him up from

Keep two naps but shorten the second. 🙏

My slightly younger DC sometimes only has one 30 mins nap all day! He manages absolutely fine too just had an earlier bed time those days. He sleeps way less than my older two DC did when they were babies but clearly just had lower sleep needs. Also up loads in the night but always has been. I wouldn't necessarily link the short daytime nap with the disturbed overnight sleep, or even if they are linked it's likely to be due to separation anxiety as this is a peak age for that rather than anything to do with tiredness per se.

Ultimately most things with baby sleep just need to be rode out and it changes all the time as you will well know by now. But yes it is very tiring so you do have my empathy!

I'd stick with 2 naps but cap one of them at 30 mins. Usually recommended to cap nap 1, then have a bigger nap early afternoon, but my 12 month old often does an hour in the morning, then will be 20-30 mins in the buggy in the afternoon, just to see her through.

At 13 months, my daughter did 12 hours at night and then 2 x 20 mins naps (all her ‘choice’). A lot of people couldn’t believe she was fine with such short naps.

But then she started walking just before 14 months, and within what felt like days, it was 12 hours at night plus one 30 min nap and one 1.5 hours (later transitioned to one long 2 hour). The change in sleep needs was incredible.

so if your son hasn’t starting walking / walking much yet, you might find big changes ahead as once they start moving sleep needs can go up loads!