Are there any morning-only nappers out there?

[Fuzzy Bee]

My daughter is almost 1 and for the past two weeks, her naps have been all over the place. I thought she was dropping her morning nap only to switch on me and drop her afternoon nap. Her schedule now is to nap from 9 am to 11 am and then get really cranky around 4. She will then want me to carry her everywhere which results in a mini-nap which and so bedtime is pushed back to 9 pm.

So, are there any toddlers who are morning nappers instead of afternoon nappers?

[indigosky]

When DD was first transitioning to taking only one nap, it was a morning nap. Gradually it seemed to naturally shift to the afternoon, like most toddlers. But it took a few months -- for a while it seemed like she was sleeping during all the toddler activities that everyone else went to (playgroups, storytime at the library, etc)!

[Fuzzy Bee]

Originally Posted by indigosky

for a while it seemed like she was sleeping during all the toddler activities that everyone else went to (playgroups, storytime at the library, etc)!

How funny! That is how I feel.

[ps4624]

- for a while it seemed like she was sleeping during all the toddler activities that everyone else went to (playgroups, storytime at the library, etc)

This is us! DD always takes a morning nap and *may* or may not taking an afternoon one. She only sleeps for 45 minutes at a time, but we are in for a rough time if she doesn't get her morning snooze!

[parje1]

Glad to see this thread. My 18 mos old has been trying to transition to 1 nap for about 3 mos. She just can't seem to do 1 nap so, I moved her naps to 10 and 3 with an 8:30pm bedtime. That worked great for awhile. She was previously an early riser and early to bed. I loved the later schedule because we could go out more and she would sleep in until 7-7:30am and she was happy. Now, she still wants to take a 10 am nap and another nap at 4-4:30. I've tried a brief afternoon nap or no nap and it's not going well. I hope we get through this soon as I'm not used to a very cranky baby. But, she is STTN most nights now which is a first for us. She already has her first set of molars so, not teething. I've tried a really early bedtime but she just thinks it's a nap and then will be up at 10:00pm to play. I may try letting her take a really late second nap until we get her first nap moved later. I've also tried moving her first nap in 15 min increments later but after a few days, she just crashes around 10:00am again. I may also try the every other day method to help me plan-one day 1 nap, next day 2 naps, etc.

[Summersquash]

Since about 11 mos or so, DD has taken one nap from about 10am to noon. It is only now at about 16 months that it is starting to shift a bit later. Now it is more like 11ish to 1ish. We often miss those toddler activities too. But it is nice to have a big chunk of afternoon time to do stuff!

[Aufilia]

Yes, when DD switched to just one nap (she was nearly 2 when this happened) it was a morning nap, from 10-noon or so. She stuck with it until she started preschool, which runs from 8:30-11:30, and then we pushed it back until it was a 1pm nap instead.

[sundaya]

Yes, when DD, 15 months now, first transitioned to 1 nap at around 11 months, she kept her am nap (about 0930) and started sleeping much better for that nap(up to 2 hours, instead of 45 minutes), and then if she got tired for an afternoon nap, it wasn't until 4:30, which made for either a LATE bedtime or a cranky beast-girl. I gradually pushed her morning nap later, and made bedtime about 45 minutes earlier until she was less cranky in the afternoons. We moved the nap later by about half an hour every few days. She had a few days where she was fussy in the mornings, and then I'd stay at that time a little longer. Now, it's been about 4 months, and she takes one nap a day, after lunch, for about 1 1/2-2 1/2 hours, is back to her regular bedtime, happy, and STTN on her own (woohoo!)It took us about a month to transition to that. I think she just needed a little help to make the transition to one nap work for her, but for her, at least, morning naps just really didn't work.

[handsandfeet]

Same boat here. DS is almost a year, and we've been struggling with switching to 1 nap for about 6 weeks now. He was usually tired and ready for a nap about 2 hours after he woke up, and then would fight fight fight an afternoon nap, but then crash at 4:30, then late bedtime (later than I wanted to go to bed myself). We've been gradually trying to keep him up, so that now he goes down at around noon. His naps are only an hour to (rarely) an hour and a half, so he still gets pretty tired in the late afternoon/early evening. We upped his bedtime from 9 to 8, which has helped a bit. Moving his nap from 10:30 AM until noon has been hard, and we've found the best way is to do something active in the morning. I've tried even holding off until 1 or 1:30 for the nap, but that has not gone over well unless he happened to get a ton of sleep the night before. Interesting that this is not an unusual problem...

[brennan]

Yep, around 10 months(?) dd went down to 1 nap and she only took her morning nap. I honestly never thought anything of it. She now naps from 10:40-12. If she naps in the afternoon, she won't sleep at night.