Going from 2 to 1 nap

[Krippy]

How do I know when to drop one nap and go with only the afternoon nap? I am completely cluless. What signs from my LO should I be looking for? TIA

 

[aliss]

Going from 2 to 1 is exhausting but yes it starts around 10-11 months.

I aim to keep the afternoon nap and bring it towards 11-12 (and then work on making it long). Depending on the day, I try to keep him up (so skipping the first) but if he can't make it, then he stays up later at night after 2 naps.

So we do this
6am up
11am nap (until 12:30-1)
6pm bed

OR

5am up (too early)
9am nap (cut short 15-20 minutes)
12-1pm nap (let him go as long as possible)
6pm bed

It really depends on his mood

 

[Krippy]

Awesome! Thank you Aliss! That is kind of what our days look like! If we are busy oin the morning he has a great nap around 1ish but if he naps in the morning for longer than half an hour I am luck if I get a hour in the afternoon and getting him to sleep is so hard. Going to experiment with 1 nap the next few days and see how he handles it! Thank you again!

 

[linz143]

We're going through the same thing and sometimes she takes 2 naps, sometimes 1. Basically our routine is to put her down from 9 am to 10 am in her crib and giver her the chance to sleep. If she doesn't sleep by 10 then we get her up and try again at noon. She's fine to be in the crib and unwind by herself even if she chooses not to sleep, but we leave it up to her. If she gets upset or distressed then we'll take her out and skip it. She was on one nap for almost a week and then caught a cold and now we're back to 2 naps a day. So we just take it day by day and offer two naps but ultimately let her make the decision on when she wants 1 or 2.

 

[charlie15]

We are going through the same thing and it is a total nightmare! Mind you I have read that most babies don't transition until between 15 and 18 months but a few do at 1. However there is a nap regression at 11 months apparently which doesn't necessarily mean that LO's are actually ready for 1 nap. Most babies I know don't have only the one nap until a bit older

what does make sense to me though is that for us Sophia is not wearing herself out as much anymore as crawling and cruising and climbing have been going on for a while, so as she is now bigger and stronger she doesn't exert as much energy every day. However once she starts walking she will likely be pooped again and need those 2 naps again. So if your LO is walking already, then it probably is that they are transitioning to 1 nap, but if not, it will likely be that when they start to walk, they'll need there old 2 nap day back as it will tire them out again. I have no idea if this applies to your LO, but I would put money on it that this is what will happen to Sophia!

 

[CoffeePuffin]

Amelia started dropping to one nap at around 11 months. She would refuse her second nap but then she was exhasuted way before her bedtime which resulted in super early wakings too. So we gradually moved the first nap later. Her first nap was usually at 9.30/10am and now it's at 12.30/1pm and she naps from 1-3 hours, usually around 2 hours.

 

[Zephram]

I thought my LO was ready to transition to one nap around ten months too, he was really fighting the afternoon nap, however we stuck it out with two and he is back to having two fairly easy naps most days. He will protest the second nap some days but he will still eventually have it. I'm glad I didn't try to transition him too early as he still really needs the two... Not sure when he will go to one. I can see signs of him being able to stay up longer and longer without losing the plot, so once he turns one I'll lax up a bit and if he only wants to have one, then he can only have one. The way it's changing at the moment is that the morning nap has become a catnap - its about 30 mins most days, reduced from an hour. He will still sleep 1-1.25 hours in the arvo.

 

[lanaross]

signs that I saw with my daughter -- one of the naps cut short, hard to put down for a nap, bedtime was a struggle if the second nap happened; for a month or two her schedule was all over the place while she was dropping a nap.

 

[Krippy]

Thank you all! So much great insight and advice! I am thinking that my LO still needs 2 naps! I am going to keep going with the flow!

 

[Noodlebear]

We just follow Lucas' lead, I don't want to force him to drop a nap if he isn't ready. Sometimes he only naps once but usually he still has 2 and his bedtime has crept forward an hour x

 

[seaweed eater]

:wave:

What Charlie said was spot on for us LO dropped to 1 nap around 10 months, then went back to 2 naps a month later when he started walking more. Now I think he may be transitioning to 1 nap for real.

My rule was that I would try putting him down 2-2.5 hours after he was up in the morning, and if he went down then he'd take the nap, and if not then he had to wait until noon and take one nap. He usually did fall asleep and would nap for 1.5 hours. Then, a couple weeks ago he started refusing his afternoon nap. So I started letting him nap in the morning and then waking him up after 30-45 minutes. That worked for about a week, but then this week sometimes he still refuses his afternoon nap. I think that's a sign that he is ready for one midday nap...although I'm afraid of how grumpy he'll be all morning.

I think with nap transitions you have to accept that it's just not going to be perfect for a while!

 

[Krippy]

Thanks Seaweed! This morning he napped from 9:45-11:45am, I didn't want to wake him as he was super cranky when before I put him down....sooooo now it is
2:45pm and he is going strong! lol We will see if he naps this afternoon or not...Hope he does as it might make for a long night! Definitely a struggle to figure it out...I work all weekend so I think I am going to try one nap on Monday and see how it goes!

 

[maidelyn]

Mine seems more inclined to drop the morning nap - motors on all morning and then collapses after lunch! The earlier he gets up the more likely it will be a two nap day I find

 

[seaweed eater]

I think it's more common for them to drop the morning nap. They nap starting around 11 or 12...that way the day is split more evenly

 

[Indigo77]

The transition began at 11 months old for my LO & he became a 1x/day napper at 15 months old.

If he didn't nap in the morning, I knew it was a 1 nap day.

If he napped in the morning, I knew it was a 2 nap day for the most part.

However, during the transitioning period, if he only had 1 nap, bedtime was 1 hour early.

I really like the 1 nap/day thing. It's so much easier to plan our outings now & he naps a lot longer, so I can get a few things done.

 

[HPmum2B]

My LO transitioned between 11 and 12 months. She is almost 13 months and is settled into her one nap a day. But unlike most it is the morning nap she has kept.

She used to get up at 6am, nap from 9-11.30, then again from 3-3.45, then bed around 7pm.
She now gets up at 6am, naps from 10.30 till 12.30 (sometimes slightly longer), then in bed by 6pm at the latest.

(We are tied to a 6am wake-up as we drop hubby at work so I can have the car! Otherwise I would prob shift everything on an hour.)