Moving from 2 Naps to 1

I have had two very different experiences. My first went to one nap at 12 months. My second is 18 months and is still taking two naps. If we have an activity, he will power through in the morning, but if not, he usually gets very tired and needs to go down. I want him to be done, but you can't force it if they aren't ready. So far, it's been a pretty natural transition for both boys.

One thought on your recent experience. A 4:00 nap is very late. He may very well have been overtired by then, which all the experts say means he is going to have a very hard time napping. With my 18 month old, I am waking him after 45 minutes to an hour in the morning so he will continue to have a good afternoon nap. Perhaps you should let Milo have a short morning nap and then make sure his afternoon nap is earlier - I'd say no later than two. I wish I could remember the name of the book I read that really helped, but I can't. It talked about naps, transitions, and natural sleep cycles.

Good luck!

He's almost 1, so it's about that time that he consolidates his naptime's from 2 to 1. My 6 year old had a 2 hour naptime after lunch. Then, bedtime around 8:00-8:30pm. He will have 1 nap until he reaches 2 or if your lucky until 3. Both of my boys, for whatever reason, stopped taking naps days after thier 2nd birthday. I never said anything to them about qutting naps after they turn 2-they just stopped. When they were going through a growth spurt, then they would take a cat nap, maybe.
Naps after lunch suited us fine. We ran errands in the morning, played, ate lunch, and then into the bed. I had to make sure I was quiet until he fell asleep (no dishwasher, washer/dryer, vaccum, etc.) It will take a little while for him to get into the routine (maybe a week), but once he does, it will be great.
This is all part of him growing up. After this change, you will have about a year of little to no changes, with nap/sleep times.

Sounds like he is definitely ready to move down to 1 nap. My son is 13 months old and recently made the transition. Each time we dropped a nap (he used to take 4), we had a few rough days to transition to the new schedule. I notice that he is not really sleeping fewer total hours than with 2 naps--it's just distributed differently. His one nap can last up to three hours, and he also sleeps longer at night now. What I did was to move the time of his nap up 1 hour (start with 30 minutes if he gets too cranky). This should result in a longer nap and an earlier bedtime. Since we transitioned, naptime has moved from 10-10:30 to 11:30-12. This is a little awkward since he sleeps through lunchtime. I give him a snack before naptime, and then he takes a late lunch when he wakes up. Today he had a bit of a challenge to go to sleep, so I am sensing that soon he should be able to have an after-lunch sleep, more like 12:30 or so. I think the key is to make small changes until you reach your goal. I think by 12 months most babies go to one nap. Ideally it should be an afternoon nap.

A.-
Oh I remember when my daughter moved from two naps to one, I was so sad! I love nap time! It took her awhile to adjust, but in the beginning we did just what you are doing and started putting her to bed a little earlier. So at first her naps started from about 10-12 and bedtime at 7:30. Now that she's almost 2 her naptime starts around 12 or 1 and lasts a couple hours and we still put her to bed around 7:30-8. It does make for a little earlier morning for us, usually around 7. It took us a few weeks to make the adjustment and figure out the right nap time, you'll get it! Just think though, earlier bedtime means more time for you and your husband in the evening and a baby that probably lays down easier because they're tired. Hope this offers a little support.

Oh yeah, I always hated this part with my daughter when she was younger. I don't think there's any way to make it easy, but you can make it easier by waiting to put him down for his first nap. Try doing it at 11 instead of 10. Over time you could push it up further so that he's sleeping from 12-2. The bummer is that you're going to have it rough at some point in the day. Right now it's the afternoon, when he's tired, but won't sleep. Pushing the morning nap later might mean that he's cranky from 10-11 when he's tired, but you're not letting him sleep. As you know from before though, it works itself out eventually and then you should be in pretty good shape until he hits about 3 years and wants to give up the only nap left! You're little one has a much better schedule than my little guy, who is 18 months and still has no regular nap schedule to speak of. We just kinda go with the flow. Good luck. You're doing all the right stuff--tweaking until you get it right!

A.,

My boys (twins) moved quickly to one nap a day...

What I do now is try and keep them busy until nap time (now between 12 & 1).

We get lunch or a large snack depending on what they ate and snacked on already. Then we say "It's time to go upstairs for quiet time".

They go to their room and are put in bed. Sometimes I ask if they want a book. I ask if they want their blanket...etc.

Then I say "love you" and close the door down at least half way.

sometimes they play for a while, but mostly they fall a sleep fast. They stay down between 1.5 & 2.5 hours.

Getting them to the point of staying awake until noon was a chore at first since we all were adjusting to a new routine.

Your son, being so young, may have to nap at around 11am. Maybe even 1030. The long stretch between end of nap and bed will hurt for a few days, but it is worth it to get the new routine.

My boys are almost 2yrs., and we have been working at the new routine for a few months. I kept making the nap time later and later every few days or week...depending on how tired they were.

You will see the signs, and go great!!

Good luck,
T.

My 12 month old is up at 6-6:30am, first nap at 9:00 2nd at 1:00 and in bed by 7:00. Try putiing him for naps sooner. The book Healthy sleep Happy Child is good to refer to when trying to figure out what he needs for sleep. I don't take it to seriously though, I just use it as a guide. check out www.familysleep.com

hey there...losing naps is hard. i have a 3 yr old who stopped napping altogther when i stopped nursing her to sleep at 2yrs old. however she did nap once upon a time, and i remember her as an infant napping often, then about 5months she started napping once in the morning and once in the afternoon. then around 1yr she stopped the afternoon nap. i think it was a transition, definately, but after about a week we got it down. i think we skipped the morning nap, kept her up with some activity in the morning, then did lunch, then nap. by that time we were both ready. it didn't affect her nighttime sleep as much. ahh, the nap. savour it. ~s

Kids make the transition on their own so they know when it's time. But 11 months seems right on target to me - but cut the morning nap and keep the afternoon.

A.

My daughter is 11.5 months and she went down to 1 nap about a month ago. However, instead of giving up the afternoon nap, we quit our morning nap. It is easier to keep her awake and happy and distracted in the morning than it is to try and keep her going until bedtime without an afternoon nap. She gets up around 7, takes an afternoon nap between 1 and 2 (and sleeps for 1 1/2 to 2 hours which is much better than she was doing with the 2 naps!) and then goes to bed about 7:30. Good luck!

With my almost 19 mos old, at that age, it wasn't the two naps but teething and needing more exercise. So we kept two naps until last week. Naps when he was 11mos:12-2 then at 5-6:30ish bed at 9:30p wake at 7:30a. Now it's awake at 7a, nap from 12-3:30 and bed at 9p. He even occasionally still needs that second nap or even time to himself in his crib to read books or play. Good luck.

What my mom did when naps became too much of a battle was reach a compromise. She said we could stay awake as long as we played quietly in our rooms. Granted, we were a little older than your son at the time, but it gave her an hour or so of peace, and more often than not we fell asleep in spite of ourselves.

We just moved the morning nap later and later until it was after lunch time instead of before. Our sons each then took one long early afternoon nap (3 hours). Bedtime also had to move up a little. My boys still go to bed at 7:30pm at ages two and five. (five-year-old does not nap but two-year-old still naps at around 1pm) Good luck! Soon he'll want no nap at all:)

Hi - I have a 15 month old that takes two naps per day still. I asked his doc about the napping because his daycare told me they could not get him to take two naps. I am concerned because what I have read is that 18 months is about the time they go to 1 nap per day, my son was and is too young to stop with two. Reading what time you are putting him down, seems really late. For example, my son got up yesterday (Sunday) at 6:45am. I had him go back down for his first nap at 9:00. He was down for about 2 hours, then up again for about 3 and I put him down again at about 1:30 and was down for about another 2 hours.
What I have also read is that if you let them sleep past 4:00pm for a nap, you will/can have problems with getting them to sleep at night. I would try moving the nap times earlier and see what happens. It sounds like he may be overtired, and is having a hard time going down. You might find that he sleeps later trying to move the nap times back. Good luck!

A.,

My daughter is 14 months, and during the beginning of the week is good with only and afternoon nap. But, come Thursday and Friday she really needs two naps. Most days we've got swimming (I also have a 4 1/2 year old son) and other midmorning activities so we're out and about during her morning nap time. She's one of those babies that loves to people watch, and see what's going on around her.

Guess what I'm trying to say is that every baby/child is different, and we need to take our cues from them. Instead of taking out the afternoon nap, I would try the morning nap. If my daughter skips her afternoon nap she's a royal pain in the backside because she gets so incredibly tired.

Even my son still, rarely, takes naps in the afternoon. But that's a whole different issue that I'm trying to deal with.

Hope this helps,
Melissa

Try moving the 10-ish nap to 11-ish or even noon. If you're lucky like I was with my three kids, your baby will sleep for 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Then he wouldn't need another nap until bed time....8-ish.

Hi A.,
My son acted similarly right before his 1st birthday. He would fall asleep in the morning and then not in the afternoon, or vice versa, and it was unpredictable. I took that as the cue that he only needed one nap. Keep him up until 11 or 12 even if he is tired. After a few days of roughness and questioning whether you are doing the right thing, it will even out and you will find that his two shorter naps will turn into one long one and he will sleep between 12-3 or so. It worked like a charm for us because we kept to the schedule. It also did not affect his bedtime or wake time, he was only consolidating his two naps into one. Kids love schedules. I hope it works out for you!

My son has always been a pretty good sleeper - but he would wake sort of early...from 1-1.5 years, his schedule was basically wake up at 6:30, nap from 8:30-10/10:30, wake from then until 2, nap from 2-4 or so, then go to bed around 6:30. When he dropped the second nap, the morning nap of course got pushed back until 10 or so, and eventually was pushed back to 12:30. Hope this helps...