Transitioning to One Nap

[bocaburger]

My babies seem to be transitioning to one nap... but it's not going very well.  They're skipping the 9am nap, leading to one of two scenarios:

A) A late morning nap, which means that they get tired again around 4 or 5... but if they nap that late, they go to sleep super late (like 9 or 10) and if they go to bed for the night that early, they're up for the day at 5am.

B) A very short morning nap (like half an hour) followed by a long nap in the late afternoon (like 2-4)... which pushes bedtime back to like 7:30/8 (they were going down at 6:30). G is up for the day by 6:30 even if she goes to bed late, but M sleeps in more.

I think the ideal would be a long mid-afternoon nap (like 12-2), but I can't quite figure out how to make that happen.

I'm also having trouble reading their sleep cues right now. They basically rub their eyes all day long, but then I'll feed them and they'll suddenly be wide awake again.

So:

- How many naps is your baby taking?
- If you are down to one nap, what time and how long?
- What time do you put them to bed for the night and when do they get up for the day?

Thaaaaank youuuuu

[pbandjelly]

We're on 2 naps a day, around 9:30 and 3.
DS has been taking hour and a half naps and goes to bed at 8pm. He gets up around 7-7:30 for the day.

[redhead610]

We are on 2 naps. Ds1 transitioned from 2 naps to 1 around 14 months.

We aim for following the 2-3-4 schedule. Wake, up for 2 hours, nap, up for 3 hrs, nap, up for 4 hours, bed.

Ds2 usually wakes anywhere between 7 and 8:30. It's a big range, so the rest of the schedule changes with it. Sometimes he takes a longer morning nap, others the afternoon is longer.

He is almost always awake from his last nap by 4. He gets a bottle around 7:45 and then we put him in his crib, and he usually falls right asleep.

Your schedule "B" above sounds quite normal for this age! If they sleep well overnight, they may not be able to take a longer morning nap.

[bocaburger]

Thanks redhead610, I'm glad to hear it sounds normal. Unfortunately they are not sleeping well overnight either, but that's a separate issue I think.

[hannahbear]

We were doing 2-3-4 as well, but someone recently suggested I try 3-3-4, that for some babies 15 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period is too much. E has been fighting the second nap, so I'm going to give 3-3-4 a shot.

[meagpt22]

Apr 27, 2017 21:37:36 GMT -5 hannahbear said:

We were doing 2-3-4 as well, but someone recently suggested I try 3-3-4, that for some babies 15 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period is too much. E has been fighting the second nap, so I'm going to give 3-3-4 a shot.

Let me know how that goes. We were doing 2-3-4 (4 was not as strict). He was doing great. Able to put himself to sleep within 5 minutes and sleeping for 1-2 hours each nap.
But has recently started fighting that first nap. And then was a mess. So many he just wasn't ready now that he's getting a little older.

Of note he's a terrible daycare napper so this greatness is when he's home. I hope daycare is breaking him and now he's terrible at home too.

[hollyberry]

Oh man bocaburger, my twins are at this too and its so hard. It makes no difference when they go to bed they are awake at 6-700. We aim to put them to bed at 7 now. And they may or may not wake in the night. It's about 50/50.

So they wake up for morning 6-7 get a bottle
About 2 hours later some toast and then nap. Maybe 30- 2 hours of sleep DD sleeps better as DS.
Then lunch at 11 or noon and try for another nap about 2. I like them to have naps at 9 or 10 and then again at 2 or 3 depending on when they wake up. Usually another bottle before nap in hope they sleep better. I don't really think it helps. But i still try. Wake up maybe a snack and then 530-600 they get their night cerial and play a bit before we start bed routine at 630 sp they are sleeping or having their bottle for 7.

They are now eating more real food and i am finding figuring out when they need to eat a bit hard as well. Things have been wonky since we came back from holiday.

[katelm]

My daughter has only ever taken a 30 min nap in the morning, and her afternoon nap is usually 2-4 and goes to bed for the night 7:30-8. So what you described is basically her schedule

[gratefulgirl]

First increase waketime between naps until up to 11 or even 11.5 hours total before you try the 2-1. I would love to do the 2-1 because DD3 sleeps best at night with less daytime sleep (counter all sleep books and despite all sleep training), but I think it is a rare baby who is ready now, or even at 11 mo. I thought of my older girls as early transitioners at 13 mo. For them I had to start pushing waketime 2 months before they transitioned. DD3 is at about 10 hours total waketime (3/3.25/3.5-3.75).

ETA: morning nap is rarely over an hour and often 45 min. Afternoon nap is longer, sometimes too long. This works because it syncs well with my bigs, but she is a grump. I can't wait until the age of less sensitivity about sleep (18 months or so).

Sorry it is rough in your house!

[pbandjelly]

Apr 27, 2017 21:37:36 GMT -5 hannahbear said:

We were doing 2-3-4 as well, but someone recently suggested I try 3-3-4, that for some babies 15 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period is too much. E has been fighting the second nap, so I'm going to give 3-3-4 a shot.

We do 3-3-4. He just doesn't want to go down after 2 hours most mornings. But he'll sleep for 90min (both naps!) if I keep him up at least 3 hours. I'm so glad he seems to be mostly over the 30 min naps (knock on wood).

[spicysalmonroll]

He is at daycare so she deals with naps... generally he takes a half hour around 9. Then an hour or two at noon. Sometimes it's only one nap from 11-2 ish. He never naps later than 2. Bedtime at 6:45. Wake for day 6:30-7 (2 or 3 night wakings)

On weekends, I can't get him to nap long, It's 2 half hour naps.

[joy]

My kid waffles between 2 and 3 naps so I'm no help.

[katelm]

Weekends are like that for us joy with 3 naps because she is a crappy napper at home and takes really short ones. Some days at daycare she only takes 1 🙄. These babies are never consistent are they!?

[carolineleigh]

We are doing 3-3-4 and it seems to be working pretty well. I would try the extra hour before the morning nap and see how it goes. I will say that my DD transitioned to one nap pretty early, maybe 10-11 months, and it was glorious. She went from two short naps to one three hour nap! Don't worry they will figure it out!

[meagpt22]

My DD went to one nap early too but only bc of DC. She was an early walker so was moved up at 11 months to the toddler room where they only do one nap.
For her it was honestly the best thing she went from taking 2-3 twenty minute naps to 2 hour naps.
I do think DS will be tougher to go from 2-1.

For those with success with the 3-3-4 do they put themselves to sleep easily that first nap?

[quirks]

We are similar to your B schedule and daycare made it happen for us first. I wonder if we'll drop the morning nap soon because it's so short.

Wake up 5:45
Nap 8:30-9 (normally only a 30-45 min, today only 15!)
Nap 12:30-2:00
Bedtime 6:30-7ish

[pbandjelly]

meagpt22 DS does go down easily for his naps and bedtime, most if the time.

[coffeequeen14]

this is where I feel like I'm a crappy mom. I really have no idea how many naps she takes:(

She typically takes one in the am and one to two in the pm. She fights all of them.

Nanny tries to get her down in the am and afternoon and I'm not sure what she actually does. I will ensure she takes one in the am and one in the ok. I wear her or take her in the car somewhere if I have to in order to ensure she gets at least some rest. If you hold her in the rocking chair she will sleep for hours. Been that way since day one.

[meagpt22]

Apr 28, 2017 21:28:20 GMT -5 coffeequeen14 said:

this is where I feel like I'm a crappy mom. I really have no idea how many naps she takes:(

She typically takes one in the am and one to two in the pm. She fights all of them.

Nanny tries to get her down in the am and afternoon and I'm not sure what she actually does. I will ensure she takes one in the am and one in the ok. I wear her or take her in the car somewhere if I have to in order to ensure she gets at least some rest. If you hold her in the rocking chair she will sleep for hours. Been that way since day one.

That was my daughter and she's still the same way. We used to plan our activities to be in the car so she'd nap. No matter what I did she fought naps.

[bocaburger]

coffeequeen14 I PROMISE that does not make you a bad mom.

[redhead610]

steph I'm glad she's feeling a bit better! Ds1 had strep last summer, similar symptoms. Did you get replace her toothbrush? Our dr told us that on the way out the door - otherwise they can reinforce themselves or something?? She said to do it after about 24 hrs on meds.