Napping Schedule

S., I would work on eliminating that morning nap. You might end up putting him down for the afternoon nap a little earlier at first, or he'll fall asleep in his lunch! It sounds like he's ready for one nap.

M.

That is a huge red flag that he is trying and ready to give up the morning nap. I don't know what time you do lunch but...if you find it difficult to keep him up past lunch, move lunch a little earlier. It can make all the difference in the world. Good luck.

My son, who is now 26 months, went down to one nap at about 15 months...even though I tried and tried to keep 2 naps. He napped at 11-1pm and then nothing else. While he was tired at 11, we went to pushing his nap back to 1pm and then was better in the evening.

My son is 17 months and takes one nap a day but this was all part of him being moved to the 1-2 year old class at daycare. They all nap once a day at a certain time. It took a few months for him to adjust but it seems now no matter what time he wakes up in the mornings, he wants his nap at the same time. For a while we had to rock him at naptime or just lay him in his crib at the same time and let him talk to himself. I guess it just became our routine...lunch and naptime. Good Luck! I know it's hard trying to figure things out and hope you do the right thing but you are the only one who knows what his needs are. I have friends who children were over 2 and still taking 2 naps.

GOod Morning S., I think it is good time now if it works for you & him to stop the morning nap. Keep him busy as much as your able then after lunch put him down for his afternoon nap.

He will definitely let you know when is is tired. Our Gr son, Zane is almost 16 months we gave up the morning nap few months back. He stays up with his big brother and plays, watchs videos etc. then after lunch he goes down about 12:30 untill around 3-4 depending on how hard they played.

Do what works for you both S..
God Bless
K. Nana of 5

Hi...
With both my girls I stopped the morning nap not too much after they turned one, that way they would take a good nap in the afternoon. I would say if he's not crabby during the morning, to stop the morning nap any time.

Hi S.. It will be a little off at first, but it sounds like he is ready to drop his nap, but you need to be ready too. It can be a difficult transition to getting through the morning, getting lunch ready earlier than you might normally and trying not to do too much in the AM for fear of a meltdown! I would try to have lunch rady by 11:30 and have him down no later than 12:15 and see how he does. Hopefully, he will sleep for at least two hours (give him a few days to get it) and be ready for more fun by 2:30..but expect him to be ready for bed a little earlier than usual, esp if he didn't take a great nap. Then, if he goes to bed earlier, he might be up at 6:30 which you may or may not like (working or not working)....but the goal I think would be for him to nap well, go to bed around the same time, and get up around the same time, but it might take a bit. Or, he might go to bed at the same time and sleep in..you will have to play around with it. good luck!

My son is 16 months(9-11-07) and has been on the 1 nap after lunch for quite a while now. He goes to bed at 9, wakes up at 8, lunch around 11 or 11:30 depending on how fussy the daycare kids are(I do home daycare) and then naps around 11:30/12:00-2:00. He does so well with this too. He's almost like clock work. Nap time is so easy he just goes right to sleep and at bedtime I tell him to get his cup and paci, tell daddy night night and then he walks to his bed and waits for me to put him in. He lays right down and goes to sleep no fussing at all. Maybe I'm just lucky but I think it's also that we have kept such a routine that he knows whats coming next so he doesn't fight and fuss.

It sounds like he might be ready to drop the morning nap.

Dropping the morning nap can be difficult at first. It took us a few weeks to get into the swing of a new napping schedule. The first few weeks (especially the first few days) I made sure to wear her out in the morning. We were always out doing something, or if we were at home we were playing fun interactive games or doing crafts. That way she was more likely to be worn out and ready to nap.

We eat lunch and then have some quiet time to settle her down, then nap about 30 minutes to an hour after we eat. She'll sleep anywhere from 1 hour to 2.5, depending on the day. She still sleeps about 12 hours overnight too.

Good luck!

My daughter went to one nap a day at one year. She goes down at night arounf 8:30pm,wakes up any where from 6-6:30am, and then goes down for a nap around 12pm-2pm. On occasion it can be a three hour nap. Good luck!

I dropped my son's morning nap at 17 1/2 months. I'm sure he could have continued taking it but the girl I watch was dropping her morning nap and I wanted them to stay on the same schedule. It was also easier to drop it so we didn't have to worry about getting him up a little early on Sundays so he could take a little rest before leaving for church. He had no problems adjusting. I just made sure I kept them entertained during nap time so they wouldn't think about being tired. I also gave a snack that I didn't do before. At first you might want to move lunch up a 1/2 hour or so. He will get used to not taking a morning nap and then you can move lunch back to its normal schedule. HTH!!

He sounds just like my son, whose morning nap we dropped at about 14-1/2 months. And we were very lucky - he just did it. His routine was sleep 8pm until about 7am, a difficult morning nap around 9:30 and an afternoon nap around 2:30. When we dropped the morning nap, I just kept him up until right after lunch, so about 12:30, and put him in his crib and he went right to sleep. He was a little more tired than usual the first 3 or 4 days in the mornings, but that was about it. I'd heard such horror stories about The Big Switch that I was hesitant to try it at the age he was, but I'm so glad I did. It sounds like your little guy is ready too! Good luck - I hope it goes smoothly for all of you!

I had the same problem w/ my daughter - only she started doing this around 13 months. She would fight falling asleep in the morn or go down after an hour and if she napped in the morning then she wouldn't in the afternoon. Anyway, I finally decided I would take the plunge and she usually wakes up around 7am and I put her down for a nap at 12:30 pm after lunch and she'll sleep anywhere from 2-3 hours. Then I put her to bed at 7pm. This seems to work out fine. Some days she is a little crankier than others but I would rather her get one good long nap than not. :) She's now almost 15 months. Good luck.

Of course every child is different, but I wanted to tell you that we started going to one nap just after our son turned one. As you said, it was just hard (sometimes impossible) for him to take the second. If it seems like a good time to try it, go ahead. He isn't too young.

My son transitioned to one nap around that time too. We knew it was time because he started getting up earlier in the mornings on a regular basis. When taking two naps they were 10-12 & 2-4 like clockwork (even if we were on the go). When he went down to one nap his breakfast and morning snack met in the middle (around 8-8:30) and we moved lunch up a little bit - usually eating around 11. By 12-12:30 he was tired and 1pm turned out to be the magic time for nap. If I waited longer in the afternoon to put him down, it seemed like he got a second wind and wouldn't sleep long, which just meant that he would be a super grumpy bear the rest of the night. I also remember it took a few weeks before he settled into a specific length of time for nap - some days he would be up in an hour and sometimes he would sleep 4hrs. Eventually, we got in a groove. He's three and we still are basically on the same schedule (I can push nap back to 2pm now, but that is really the latest and he's still up by 4:30, so it's better for me to plan that extra hour of downtime if I can). Unfortunately, I haven't had the same luck with my daughter (just turned 9months) - she still gets up 1-2 times a night and will only take two short naps a day (an hour to hour+half). Remember every child is different...

Hi S.. I started my 18 month old on one nap a day when she was one year old. I just made sure we were active in the morning. It took about two days and her schedule was changed and we never looked back. :) She now takes about a two and a half hour nap everyday.

up at 7:00
lunch at 11:30
nap at 12:15
up between 2:30-3:00
bed at 7:15

my advice is drop the morning nap. Then just put him down a little earlier for the afternoon nap. We did this for all my kids around 16-18 months and it works great. My baby now is 21 months and she sleeps from 11:30-2:00 and then goes to be around 8 until around 7- good luck!

S.,
Putting him down for a morning nap after he has already slept until 7:30 or 8:00 am and has slept for 10 to 12 hours is too much sleep. It would be too much to expect him to sleep in the afternoon as well. A child of this age just needs 12 hours total for a whole day (24hours) This a good indicator that your child is ready to give-up morning nap and only take an afternoon nap for 2-3 hours Max, wake him up if need be. It will be fun having that extra time in the morning to play with him. Just keep his stumulated and busy and after lunch he should fall asleep very well. Good Luck and enjoy the extra time.

Hey S.! My daughter, now 3, had dropped to one nap shortly after her first birthday, although she never wasa good napper. The schedule that has worked for us, and the one we still use is a nap right after lunch. She lies down around 12:30-1:00 and usually sleeps about 2 hours. She doesn't go to bed until 9-9:30 (& I know people are probably screaming, but that is what works for us!!!) and sleeps until 7-8 am.

If he is sleeping for hours in the afternoon, but it is not interfering with bedtime, that may work well for you. Sometimes, it is kind of a trial and error thing until you find what works well for everyone.

Good luck!!!

Dear S.,
I agree with most of the posts that it sounds like it is time to give up the morning nap. My 15 month old daughter started napping once a day around 12-13 months. At first she was really tired at lunch but she went down easy and slept around 2 hours. We decided to drop the AM nap for a few reasons. She seemed to fight the afternoon nap when she had one in the morning or fight the morning nap plus she is at a daycare where the other toddlers her age only napped once a day so it worked out. Having lunch a little earlier helped too. Good luck!
D.

Any time after 12 months they can drop the morning nap and take just one nap a day. You may have to play around with the time a little, but let your little guy lead and he'll probably go down sometime around lunch.
Good Luck!

This is about when we stopped the morning nap and I was happy to loose that one. When we went to just the afternoon nap we'd have our girls lay down after lunch (we would have lunch at about 11:30) and they would sleep for about 3 hours at that age. So around noon they would lay down and then get up around 3.

Good luck!!

I think thats when my daughter dropped her morning nap. Isnt that funny? Dont you wish we could all have 2 naps! But all of a sudden I was like whats the deal? No morning nap? Nope she didnt want it. But she would get up around 8am too (still does), she has breakfast between 8-9am, Lunch between 12-1pm, nap at 2pm, and she usually wakes up at 4:30pm from her nap and then goes to bed around 9pm. My advice, if hes going to get rid of a nap, for your sanity make it the morning, because if you get rid of the afternoon, thats a looonnnggg time until bedtime and it probably wont be fun! My daughter just turned 4 and she still needs her afternoon nap, no doubt about it! Good luck!

both mine dropped the morning nap before a year. My oldest transitioned by starting her nap at about 11 for awhile. I'm shocked that you can get a 16 mo old to take 2 naps! But maybe mine aren't the norm. Your child will let you know what works for them.

K.