Over the last several weeks, we have noticed our one-year-old having a hard time falling asleep on a 2 nap a day schedule. We have begin to transition her to one nap a day. She typically weeks between six and 6:30 AM and is content until about noon. After lunch I lay her down and she's usually asleep by 1230. However she wakes up after an hour (when she was taking two naps they typically were an hour to an hour and 15 minutes each). Most of the time she just plays but sometime she does cry out. I personally was raised old-school and my mom had a rule that we had to stay in her bed a certain amount of time during naptime. All of our needs were always met, as our our daughter's. My ideal nap schedule would be that she falls asleep by 1230 and she needs to stay in her crib at a minimum of two hours. Is this realistic? I can see her on a video monitor and she's just rolling around and talking to herself. I personally was raised old-school and my mom had a rule that we had to stay in her bed a certain amount of time during naptime. All of our needs were always met, as our our daughters. My ideal nap schedule would be that she falls asleep by 1230 and she needs to stay in her crib at a minimum of two hours. Is this realistic? (She typically sleeps from 7/7:30 pm-6/6:30 am) I can see her on a video monitor and she's just rolling around and talking to herself. She has her lovey and paci. The few times that she has woken up and cried out I have gone and given her a paci and walked out. Other articles that I have read state you should stick to your guns and they will typically fall back asleep. Would love some feedback!
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My thinking is that it's probably a sleep regression and she actually still needs two naps a day, and the reason her single nap is short is that she's overtired.
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@erinbaderin: for 2 weeks, we noticed that her morning nap was spent playing in her crib for 30 to 45 minutes and then falling asleep. The problem with that was it was too late when she woke up to aim for an afternoon nap in order to get her into bed at a decent hour. After reading several post on here I felt that it was time to start transitioning. There are a few things going on in our lives that might be affecting this such as we are preparing to move and she is currently teething. Yesterday she woke up two different times crying after sleeping for about an hour but would quickly go back to sleep within 3 to 4 minutes. However today she woke up after an hour and was happily playing in her crib. I gave her 15 minutes to settle down before going in giving her paci and family telling her it was time to go to sleep. 30 minutes after waking up she dozed back off. Some other post I read said that it can take a few weeks for them to learn to sleep longer at the one nap transition. I'm going to stick with this new schedule for another few days and if it doesn't get better I will try putting her down for a nap earlier and adjusting her bedtime. Thanks for your input!
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How many months old is your daughter? My son went through a regression like this around 13mo, but he was back to two solid naps and stayed on a two nap schedule until 16 months (which daycare changed him to one nap since he was moved to the toddler classroom.)
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I would say she will need two naps for a while. My son did something similar around 12 months. At 18m now, he is still on a cat nap at 9am most days and a 1-2 hour nap every afternoon. He's not a high-sleep-needs baby. I would definitely say if she isn't crying, leave here in the crib for a while!!
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If she was truly on one nap a day at that age I would hope for at least two hours. Maybe like others said, she's going through a regression and still needs two naps. My DD was on two naps until 16 months and her two naps totaled at least 3 hours all together. When she was down to one nap she slept anywhere from 2-3 hours. I would definitely be trying anything to get my 1 year old to nap more than an hour a day! Good luck mama.
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@pachamama: she turned 1 on 7/5. If this is indeed a nap regression and I go back to 2 naps a day, any suggestions on how a schedule should look? She's awake around 6 each morning and the most ideal situation would be 7pm bedtime. I'm a SAHM with a hubby that travels every week and while it might sound a bit selfish, I need some "me time" in the evenings
Also, I do occasionally babysit outside the home and take her with me--if that messes up her nap routine, she's a challenge when I'm watching other kiddos. I'm open to any feedback! Even if it means a later bedtime
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@delight: thanks!! In some of my other responses, I'm asking for any suggestions on a schedule if I go back to 2 nap schedule! Thanks!!
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@nugget16: Have you tried the 2-3-4 schedule for naps? That is what has worked for us. You do the first nap 2 hours after baby wakes. Then the second nap is 3 hours after that nap. Bed time is roughly 4 hours after they wake from second nap. We had to adjust the times a bit but DD and DS have both followed that when they are on two naps.
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For us at 1, both my kids were on a 2.5/3.5/whatever schedule. So they'd wake up at 6, go to bed at 8:30, up by 10 (even if I had to wake them), back down at 1:30, and awake by 4 at the latest (this is rare), and in bed at 7. This is still W's schedule at 16 months (at least on weekends, daycare is another story that I have no control over).
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@delight: at her age, do you think this would work? I always hear that sleep begets sleep but I don't know how much I believe in that. I don't know if she would go back to sleep two hours after she was awake based on the last few weeks. Maybe I want the one nap a day more than she does LOL
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@erinbaderin: thanks!! While I know every child is different I am always open to suggestions! There are so many different outside elements going on in our lives right now I don't know if I'm just beating a dead horse with all of this! Maybe I should just take it in stride until we get moved into our new house next week. And if this is a 12 month nap regression then maybe it will also soon pass.
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@nugget16: Do you think it's possible that the nap is too late? My 15 month old DD is on one nap - her night sleep is about 6:30pm-6am, and she struggles to make it to nap time starting around 11-11:30am. For us, a too late nap = short nap, cranky toddler.
For what it's worth, switching to 1 nap vs 2 at around 13 months was a great thing for us. She had always been a high sleep needs baby but started fighting both naps bad around 11-12 months. They were both getting shorter and she got crabbier. Daycare switched her to 1 nap and all of the sudden she started napping 2.5-3 hours and is much happier. I was really nervous about the transition, but it's been very smooth.
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@kayla0416: I have thought about that!! Do you just give a hefty snack before her nap and push out her lunch time?? While I say I want to stick to a 7:00 (ish) bedtime, there are evenings that I need to take her with me and it could be 8:30/9 before she gets in bed. She seems to be at the age that if she's well stimulated, she can stay awake longer.
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@nugget16: it worked for us until 26 months but every kid is different. You could play around with the times. Maybe she would need 3-4-3 schedule? It's easy to adapt. I will agree though that being on one nap is way better in terms of going about your own day!
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@nugget16: We try to somewhat follow daycare's feeding schedule, which is 7:45 breakfast, 10:45 lunch, 2:30 snack, then do dinner at home around 5:30-6. It's not super convenient when trying to do family meals, but it works for now.
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I'd definitely hold off on changing things till after you move and have a week or two to adjust!
If it helps, my 13mo is still firmly on 2 naps. She also sleeps 7-6:30 or so at night, and will occasionally fight the second nap hard, but in the morning she'll sometimes show signs of tiredness by 8:30 or 9, and she sleeps 1-1.5 hours at a time during the day. I'd say put your LO down as early as she is tired in the morning, and then do second nap around 3 hours later. I agree with others that it could be a regression or over-tiredness causing the nap fighting, but whatever it is, wait to experiment with a 1 nap schedule until after she's somewhat adjusted to the move.
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@nugget16: sorry for the delay... our son does a cat nap around 8/45-9 and a good one (sometimes it's short, argg) from 1-3. His daycare got him on this routine.
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