Transition from two naps to one

[bluedaisy]

Was this a rough transition for your LO? how long did it take to make the transition?

My dd is only 11 months but i think she's ready for one nap. when i try to do two naps a day, it takes me 45min or more to get her to fall asleep each time. With one nap, it's usually 5-15 min.

But I can't seem to get her on a consistent routine - the past two weeks she's woken up in the middle of the night for 2-4 hours FOUR TIMES! each time it was after only having one nap that day, so maybe she wakes up thinking she's had a second nap?

Right now we're doing 2 naps some days and 1 nap other days. I had decided to do one nap all the time but on day 2 of doing that, she woke up at 6 and wax exhausted and cranky by 930, so she had two naps. So then I thought maybe I'll go back to two naps, but the next day she slept in until 9 so she only had one nap - i tried for an hour to put her down for her first nap and she just wasnt tired.

Is this typical for her sleep to be completely messed up while she's making this transition?

[Parker'smommy]

I think the transitioning time is tough for a lot of kids. They are "inbetween"- they don't really need two naps but aren't quite ready for just one. I didn't transition till around 18 months with my dd, but she's a sleeper and still taking a regular nap at almost 5 years old.

What I did? I gave her an earlier lunch-1100 and had her take a big nap at 1130 It took a while to get her to stretch to 1130 because I knew if I nursed her after 1030 she'd fall asleep in my lap and then want another nap at 5 pm, and then be up all night....lol. Finally she got into a routine and as she got older we moved lunch later and later.

Hang in there....

[kdaisy]

My DS was about that age when he transitioned from two to one naps. It took him a few months, if I remember right.

I just followed his cues...he usually fell asleep nursing if he needed to sleep. We have never had "set" naptimes though, he has always made his own schedule. But he would do the same thing, though, waking up at night acting like he had a nap. Uggh!

Hang in there...my DS is now 18.5 months and I am afraid the transition to no nap is already starting.

[carrie a.]

it's interesting that you say your dd is up during the night when she has one nap during the day. my dd just made the transition to one nap and she's been up most nights for three or so hours at a time. two naps don't work at all anymore though. she gets up around 8 and naps after lunch for at least two hours. she's 14 months old and started to transition right around 12 months. it has been a tough.

one thing that worked well for us early on was to put her in the car in the morning so she could take a short catnap (20 min.) and that would help her to stay up until 1:00.

good luck!

[dianakaye]

Mine is starting to make the transition and he's almost one. He used to nap around 9-10, so if I see signs of tiredness I'll lay down with him for 15 minutes or so. If he sleeps, great, if not, it'll be a one-nap day and he'll go down around 11:30 or so. I HATE ONE NAP DAYS. He is so much more cranky and hard to deal with, so I encourage the first nap as much as possible, but I can't force him.