My little one is just over 13 months old. He fights his after noon nap really bad.Trying to be as short as possible to give some back ground. He goes to bed at 8 o'clock on the dot which is a miracle i think..lol. He does wonderful, always has with bed time, I go in lay him down(do the mom thing,love on him, sing him a song)and make sure everything is right with him and say goodnight then i walk out(he is great). Now for naps...he gets up about 8ish(sometimes between 7 and 8 it just depends), then about 10ish he lays back down for a nap...once again fine(I want to note I only let him sleep for an hour). Then for his afternoon nap it's a whole another story. He actually acts tired right after lunch but wont go to sleep, then i try to wait for 1:00....nope, he fights it! I tried at one time to combine his naps...he did good holding off the morning nap and then went to sleep between 12-1...the only thing is he wouldnt sleep long (1 hour and 15 min...come on)and he was miserable the whole day. I mean just cranky waiting for the nap and then after too, I felt so bad. So then I went back to 2 naps because i dont think he is quite there yet. So my question is why does he fight his afternoon nap when he does the other ones so great? What can I do to make his afternoon nap like his other one's.Looking for ideas and what all the other babies do....lol Ususally if he sleeps at 10...he will go to sleep around 2:30 to 3 but he acts tired at like 1:30...so I dont know! Any ideas, let me know if their is any thing I left out, Thanks so much!
thanks for all the advice....i switch to 1 nap....so now he takes 1 and he does pretty good....he is still tired around 10ish so i just keep him busy and occupied. he took about to 1 to 2 weeks to switch though, so far we are making it! thanks again
Yep, this is around the same time my son went from two naps to one nap a day. It's hard losing that time, but has to happen!
without repeating everything, I agree with what Janet C wrote. He is probably just ready to transition but its not going to happen like a switch - you will have to help him adjust gradually.
Good luck!
he is fighting the second nap because he probably is ready for the transition to one nap.. suggestions: since he does so well in the morning with his nap.. that is the one that you want to extend and move to make his one long nap. you have to be completely flexible re: time. I would try putting him down for his morning nap and leaving him alone. let him wake when he wants. you may be surprised to find that he wants to sleep for a couple of hours. then when he gets up you can have lunch and chill regarding a scheduled nap and see if he just wants some quiet time later..say at 2 or 3..he may even be ready then to fall asleep depending on the length of his first nap. If you don't have to wake him for something, don't. you end up interrupting his natural sleep pattern. Then you can slowly move his morning nap time til 10:30, then 11:00.. then closer to noon or whatever works best with your schedule. And you should find that he will sleep longer each time, so that you have a 2 or 3 hour nap approximately in the middle of the day and then he is good to go from when he wakes from that nap til when he goes to bed at night. during the transition you will find some days will be one nap (even short ones) and other days he make take two longer naps. I just really stress that you don't wake them.. let sleeping babies sleep! My first two kids were closer in age and toddlers together so the later afternoon nap worked for them and my schedule. with my son (17 months) he takes a more "morning" or midday nap because I have to be out and running around by 2 or 3 for the older kids.. so he can be having "lunch" as late as 3 or 4 because he will snack before a nap at 11:30 or 12:00 and then sleep til 2or 3 and he doesn't want to eat until he's been up an hour or so.. so I make lunch lighter and he still eats around dinner time. being flexible and not clock watching is imperative. and during the transition.. be ok with him just hanging in his crib with a book or toy for some quiet time for afternoon naps.. if he is tired, he will fall asleep. good luck
My vote is to keep the 10 am nap and move the afternoon nap to 2. Think about it. In the morning he naps about 2 hours after breakfast, but then immediately after lunch. His body is hyped up with sugar and energy, and you're trying to get him to sleep. Try holding the afternoon one until 2 and then wake him up by 3:30 - 4.
M.
B.,
On average most kids switch to one nap around 18 months. My little guy started transitioning to one around 13 1/2 months. But you can't just push them back a great deal of time all at once. It's hard b/c they can't last till say 12-1pm right away. If he wakes at 7, and would usually take the am nap at 10, start keeping him up till 11, but not longer. If they get too overtired, they won't nap well at all. Once he adjusts to that push back another 1/2 hour and then another. Once on a true one nap schedule, the nap is usually about 5 hrs from am wake time. My little guy is now 15 months and his one nap happens usually between 12-1pm and he sleeps at least 2hrs...sometimes 3.
If your little guy still really needs two naps (and he may b/c switching him now is actually early) try sticking to no more than 3 hrs between naps. Sometimes if you let them go to long the adreneline kicks in and they can't fall asleep in the afternoon. Also, if you put him down in the afternoon and he's not screaming, let him be for a while. My son used to play/babble for about 1/2 hour before snoozing in the afternoon where in the am he fall asleep for his nap right away.
Good luck.
L.
I had the same problem and I did switch him to one nap, he will be cranky for a few days, as it is a switch out of the routine, but eventually he will benefit from it ! My son wakes up around 6 and goes back to sleep 4-4.5 hours later for about 2-3 hoours, then I feed him lunch ! If your son wakes up later, like 8, give him lunch at 11:30 and let him nap afterwards.I think your son is simply not tired enough in the afternoon.I have found, that when I wake him from a nap, he will be cranky the rest of the day....hope this helps
I think you should stay your course. I think he's just fighting it because he doesn't want it not he doesn't need it... They don't know when they need it. The night time for some reason is set on him. He expects it and wants it. His first nap there prob. isn't anything going on but after noon you've interrupted things. He's playing knows things are going on and you have the nerve to stop and want to go to bed...lol My daughter did the same thing. After a while she stopped and started taking them again. But in a short while he will be ready for one nap. good luck
Sounds like he is ready to switch to one nap rather than two. The trick is to find the right time. For us it was in between what used to be his morning nap and what used to be his afternoon nap that worked best. And now he naps for 1.5 - 2 hours.
With my son, usually if he's acting tired, I'd better get him in bed quick, because he's on his way to over-tired which means no good naps. At 11 months he was taking 3 naps. He'd get up at 7, down at 9-10, up until 12:30, down until 2, sometimes need a cat-nap from 4-5, and back down at 7.
