Dropping Morning Nap???

hmmmmmmm, i think it is too early to drop it so just keep trying it. she may be out of sorts some days and not want it but if you keep trying she will accept it most days and she really does need to nap. read the book, "healthy sleep habits, happy child"......it will change the way you look at napping and sleep for her. Good luck

All kids require different amounts of sleep and follow different patterns to get it. Mine never settled into set schedules until closer to 1 year. Before that, they would change from week to week it seemed - just as I thought they had figured out a schedule, they would change it a bit. My oldest is 3.5 and still takes a regular afternoon nap daily. Her good friend hasn't napped since turning 2 though and also wakes much earlier in the morning than my daughter. But both function well with the sleep they are getting. When does your daughter wake up in the am? Maybe she is sleeping late/long enough at night that she is getting enough overall sleep. Or perhaps she will start sleeping a bit later naturally if you stop the am nap. I usually just follow their lead. Maybe she doesn't need the nap every day, but will occasionally need it. The other thing you might find is that she'll be ready for the afternoon nap earlier or even sleep longer.

She is definitely too young to drop the morning nap. Just keep putting her down. She may be overtired when you do put her down and that's why she's not napping well. My daughter does the same thing. She really thrives on a schedule and if we get off-schedule in the morning she is off the rest of the day. I recommend reading Babywise. It has done wonders for our family. We first used it with our twins four years ago and have used it with all our kids. Good luck!

Hey A.,
I had the same problem. I finally started putting my children to bed at night earlier, around 7 pm. They began sleeping through the night and slept until 6 am.
I would put them down around 9 am for an hour. If they started showing signs of sleepiness earlier, then obviously, I would put them down earlier.
I would put music on and give a fav stuffed animal and I would leave the room. I would ignore the cries, unless they cried for an hour straight.
Eventually they began falling asleep.
If that doesn't work, then let her just sleep around noon to 3.
But the key is to only let them sleep one hour or so in morning, wake them up if more. This way it doesn't ruin the rest of the day.
Putting her to bed early is the main idea. Good luck..

You should probably move the nap earlier in the morning. At that age, the morning nap usually happens naturally about 1 to 1.5 hours after she wakes up. It is not about how long she has been up but a certain internal clock rhythmn. If you are trying to put her down after that time, she probably would be a bit over cooked and not in her window so she will fight.

The only other reason she might be fighting a morning nap is if she is sleeping in until 8:30 or 9 am. A 7-7:30 wake time is optimal for that age. The optimal situation is 3 naps at that age. 9, 1, and early evening ( to be able to make it to a "normal" bedtime without getting overtired).

Good luck I fought for 2 years to time my daughters nap just perfect so she would take them. I would get it down to a science and then she would grow and change. I love the new stage I am in - hang in there.

I think if your daughter is rejecting the morning nap, she's ready to move on. There is no set time when babies stop two naps. My daughter never wanted a morning nap so from the age of 3 months she was only on one nap a day. Listen to what your daughter is telling you- she's the best source of information.

My kids tended to drop their morning nap somewhere between 7 and 11 months of age...which is much younger than many of the "experts" say the morning nap should drop. It was comforting to me when I read a research report that found that something like 15% of 3 month olds don't take a nap *at*all*!

So as some of the other posters have said...if your DD seems well rested and cheerful with just one nap, embrace it and enjoy her...she is only little for a short time. You may even find that you enjoy the one longer nap because you can get your own nap in and even get some project done that you can't do when she is awake.

Good luck!

Jenn

Hi A.! My son did the same thing around that age. I swore he would never nap again! I started to try putting him down about an hour and half after he woke up. The helped (but not much), since we would sleep around 30 min. I tried to keep the routine (as much as a 6 mo old will allow!) and he slowly started sleeping more. Now he's 9 mo, crawling and cruising, and sleeps 1-1.5 hrs in the morning and 2-3 hrs in the afternoon. Hopefully your daughter will do the same thing. Good luck!

Hey! A.,
Sometimes children in that early stage find it amusing and that's the age where they like to experiment, especialy with naps if they see that they can get up that early to them is normal she will be fine have her watch sesamestreet and do some morning activities with her by the time nap time comes she will be to tired and she will enjoy her afternoon nap.The morning nap you can forget about that once children her age are awake they want to play they don't want to go back to sleep and if you are a stay home mom enjoy every minute you have becasuse they grow up so fast. one more thing if she is in bed by eight p.m she will be getting up early,so don't worry to much about that morning nap is normal.
I hope I could help.
I.

Every child is different about napping, eating, etc. If it works for you to allow her to skip the morning nap and take a longer one in the afternoon, then let it be. Just watch that the longer afternoon nap doesn't interfere with her going to sleep at night. My last son who is now 3 did the exact same thing.

What time does she wake up for the morning, and what time are you trying to get her to take a nap? It could be that she is already over tired when you try to put her in, and so she cries more, because she is having trouble settling herself. If you think this might be the case, try putting her in a little earlier and see if that works. My 6 month old wakes in the morning between 730 & 800, then begins to fuss for her nap around 10 or 1030. I find she can't handle being awake for much more than 2 to 2 1/2 hours at a time. Try to observe her for a few days, see if she begins to get a little fussy around 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours after waking up. That could be her cue that she is ready to sleep. Maybe feed her a little more, rock her, and put her in her bed. Let her cry for 5 to 15 minutes, see if she can settle herself. I know it is easier said than done, but try to relax. Babies can sense when their moms are stressed, so if you get worked up trying to get her to sleep, it might just upset her more.
It could be too that she is at the age where she is observing so much more, and just wants to know what is going on around her all the time. As she becomes more adjusted to her ever expanding world, she hopefully will settle back into a two nap schedule.
As with everything, you know your baby best. If she seems to function perfectly fine on one nap, let her go. Also, if her first nap is only 30 minutes, but she wakes up cheerful, there is nothing wrong with that either- keep giving her those power-naps. She might not need a longer nap in the morning. Good Luck!

My son was about 6 months when the nap war started for the morning nap. I hated listening to him cry and then only sleep for a little while. I dropped it at the time and about 10 days later he was back to taking the nap. With my son, things have always had to be on his terms, so I figured we could drop it and see what happened. Like I said, not even 2 weeks later he was back to a morning nap and I regained my sanity. It was like he just wanted to see if he could handle it, realized he couldn't, and was practically begging for his naptime back. I can't promise that will happen with your daughter, just wanted to share my experience. While I like to stick to something that resembles a schedule, I try to take my cues from him. We ended up dropping the morning nap for good around 11 months and now at 16 months he naps for about 2-3 hours mid-day. Good luck!

Each kid is different...go with her natural rythems. My son didn't have any kind of nap schedule when he was that young...he would just sleep anytime he needed it (which was really hard on me to be honest). Now though he's 2 years old, and he goes to sleep no prob. at 9pm, wakes up around 10am, and naps for almost 2 hours mid-day.

I'm not saying "do it like me because that's the right way." I'm just trying to counter the idea that there is a "set" schedule that works. You know her best, so if you feel she doesn't need the morning nap, then get rid of it. You can always go back to morning naps if it seems to make her tired the rest of the day.