How much "nap time" should a one year old have?

[Willow2]

My son's just turned one. He has always hated being put down for a nap, but over the last few months had got into a routine of one big sleep (1 1/2 hours - usually in the morning) and one small one (half an hour or so). But in the last week he has really started resisting naps again. Should I give up on the morning one and just try for the afternoon? How many naps should a one year old have? Help!

For the first year of his life I was lucky if my son slept more than half an hour in the morning and afternoon, but for the last month or so (he's now 13 months) he's been having a lovely long sleep after lunch - around 1-2 hours. He does get tired towards the end of the morning and at arounf 9.30 a.m. (the time he would've had a morning nap when he was younger), but mostly he seems to be able to keep going until he's had lunch. I have to try to avoid car journeys at around 11 a.m. though or he'll fall asleep in the car and then not sleep again all day, which is a disaster.

He still sleeps as well (or as badly!) as he always has done at night.

I put this new pattern down to the fact that he's now walking and using up so much more energy.

Does this help?

Willow2, I posted a message earlier, but just noticed its not there!

My babe is 15 months now, so I remember this stage well. What I did was, keep him awake in the morning (he woke at 7ish) earlier lunch -noon - then bed after that. He would sleep for about 90 mins. We had a few grizzly lunchtimes but after a while no problem, he now has a little play after lunch and then goes to bed at about 1pm. Very occassionally after bad nights and upset to the routine, he may have a morning sleep and a little top up at tea time. There was a discussion a while ago about power naps that may help, if your son does get grizzly at tea time. Hope this helps.

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My two were completely different!! My eldest NEVER slept during the day, (she cried all day and had to be carried everywhere), you wouldn't believe how clingy she was, she's now VERY independent, the benefit of this was that from 4 weeks, the same night I transferred her to a cot, and started giving a bottle of formula at 9pm she started to sleep through the night. Bliss.

On the other hand, my son slept all day and woke all night. I could cope with the sleepness nights better because I'd had a nice restful day. I had to wake him up for his feeds, (my house has never been so tidy), my daughter was at Kindergarten in the mornings so I only had him and me to concentrate on for a few hours. When he started Kindergarten at the age of 13 weeks, (I went back to work full time)he was still sleeping for most of the morning, so I told them that since I was paying them an extortionate amount of money, that he was not to sleep for more than an hour. He gradually missed out the morning sleep and had just a short nap for MIL in the afternoon. Once he started staying awake all day, he still woke up two or three times during the night, but, since the age of about 2½ he has slept all night.

I'm glad that someone else has kids that sleep 11-12 hours a night, nobody else I know has kids that sleep that long. At the ages of 6½ and 3½ I've had to invest in a double bed for them because they'e decided that they like sleeping together.

I forgot to say, that before the double bed, we tested the sleeping together thing out on the sofa bed.

At about 12 to 13 months my little boy dropped his morning sleep but still seemed tired and grumpy so we moved his lunch earlier (about 12 to 12.30) and put him to be straight after that. He slept for 3-4 hours every afternoon. Now, at 22.5 months, he still has a sleep after lunch and will still sleep for 2-4 hours every afternoon.

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It doesn't seem to matter how much nap time my 12 month old son has because he always wakes up crying and some times can take up to an hour to pacify. During this time I can't put him down or take his mind off crying with toys, songs, snacks, even chocolate. Has anyone got any ideas on why he might be like this?

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Cheers Bloss for your helpful comments. Since reading your message I've been more rigid regarding sleep and have ensured that my son goes to sleep at naptime and bedtime before he gets overtired. The last few days have seen an improvement in his mood on waking and he has even played in his cot for ten minutes before demanding attention.

Esme - my son is 13 months and from about 11 months we noticed that he would wake up from naps/overnight crying, which he hadn't done before. Then we realised he was pushing himself up to the top of the cot and wedging his head against the bars, so we put cot bumpers in and that seems to have done the trick. He now wakes in the morning at around 6.30 and babbles away to himself happily for 15/20 mins or so.

He now has a better nap time as well - he has his lunch at 12ish (he's getting tired by then) and after that straight to bed for 1 1/2-2 hours. He goes down happily and wakes up in a happy mood too.

jodee - It's funny that you should mention the problem you were having before you used cot bumpers as a couple of times recently my son has woken up screaming and on going into his room we have found him with his arm stuck in the bars (I'm not sure how he manages it). Also the other morning we found him with a split lip which was quite nasty. Again I'm not sure how he did it but maybe he banged his mouth on the cot. I do have some bumpers but have always been a bit worried about using them in case Tom gets tangled up in them. He is one now and I'm sure he would be okay so perhaps I'll dig them out and give them a go.

Esme - hope your son is OK after banging his lip. I was concerned about using cot bumpers too, as I'd read they shouldn't be used until age one - something about overheating and cot death. Also read that bumpers should be removed once the child can stand up as they could maybe use them to climb up and over the side of the cot. So when exactly should we use them then!!

No-one I know has had their baby climb out of the cot, with or without bumpers, so I decided I was worrying unnecessarily and put them in.

My sister-in-law's boy used to get his arms and legs stuck in the bars of the cot all the time, and eventually he went into a proper bed at 15 months, so you might have to consider that if the bumpers don't solve the problem.

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Jodee - Yes thanks Tom is fine and his lip no longer resembles a football. Hopefully the bumpers may improve Tom's sleep because I'd rather he didn't have to go in a bed quite so early (purely selfish on my part because then Tom would be able to get out of bed far too easily).

Thanks Bloss for the tip regarding cardboard, a very ingenious idea which may come in useful.

Yes I had to purchase a cot bumper as my little one kept bumping his head- did lots of reading beforehand as not recommended once baby can sit up- sleep has been so much better since we had one(always ends up with head tight against the top of the bed). Just trying to cut my boy down to one sleep a day in the afternoon he is 14 months and for the last few weeks he has been staying awake in his cot later and later was having 3-4 hours per day plus 11-12 hours a night but don't want to make his bed time (7pm) any later.