When did your lo drop their 2nd nap? How did you know it was time?

[merebella]

So, ds is almost 14 mo and I'm listening to him (for the 3rd day) have issues at his normal nap time. He's up there talkin' away, occasionally complaining, and eventually he'll cry. When I go in, I can sometimes nurse him down, (i have already done it once, at the beginning of the nap). So, how do I know if he's trying to drop his 2nd nap, and move his morning nap later? He usually goes down around 9:30/10 am and again around 2:30/3. Now, we've been having difficulties for the last few days.

When did your lo drop their 2nd nap, and how did you know it was time? What did you do, in terms of timing their new, only nap? Did you gradually make it later, to make it kind of in the middle of the day? Ds couldn't go from getting up at noonish to his normally 7:30ish bedtime.

It seems a touch early to me, because he's always really ready to go down for his naps, and sleeps from 1.25 to 2 hours or even more. So, it seems like this kinda came out of no where.

I'd love to hear your experiences, mamas.
Thanks!

[Fly Girl]

My DD had just turned 15 months when she dropped to 1 nap. She had the same nap schedule as your LO and it did seem that overnight she just didn't want to go to sleep for the morning nap.

So she dropped down to one nap overnight. She goes down between 12-12:30 and sleep between 2 and 3 hours.

I think the only way you can know if he's ready for one nap is just to try it. Let him skip the morning nap, maybe have lunch a little earlier than you normally would and watch him and put him down when he seems tired.

Good luck!

[MamaPhD]

I think DD was about 14-14.5mo when it was taking her like 45 minutes to fall asleep once I put her in the crib. She would talk/play/yell/walk around, etc, then eventually fall asleep. She didn't cry so I didn't go to her. Besides, if I went to her, she won't be able to fall asleep wanting to play with me. I was beginning to wonder if it was some kind of abuse on my part to leave her alone that long! I asked around and all my friends said time for one nap!
She was on a late schedule so she would wake up at 7:30, nap 11:30-1:30 & 5-7 then go to bed at 9-9:30. I moved her nap back to 12:30-2:30, and then moved bedtime earlier to 8 and it just worked. We didn't do gradual shift. But then again, it was only like an hour shift for us. DD asked for nap around 11-11:30 but I fed her lunch instead around 11 then kept her up until 12:30. Since then, the nap has been shifting back gradually, so now it's more like 1-3 but bedtime is still at 8.

I would try to move the morning nap back by an hour or so and see how that works out first. You might have to then gradually move it back a little more. Definitely move forward the bedtime once you do one nap though.
HTH

[QuestionGal]

sounds like he's ready to drop the morning nap.

DS dropped his at 13 months. I pushed his AM nap later each day. Probably took a week (if that) before he was going down for 2-3 hours once a day. I noticed that if I gave him a light lunch before nap, followed by a larger one after nap he would sleep MUCH better. No idea why but it worked.

[physmom]

We dropped the second nap when DD was 9 months old. Basically, we were having way too many problems getting her to bed at night (she wanted to stay up until 10 or 11) so we cut the nap and put her to bed earlier. She transitioned really quickly. We might have had a couple of rough days but basically all we did is push back her morning nap back to around noon and that was about it. We're actually now cutting back her 1 nap quite a bit so she goes to sleep at night, we'll probably have it give it up soon.

[Louisep]

Your LO sounds ready. You'll be surprised how long they can go between sleeping - I was.

We have settled on an 11:30-1:00 nap time and he goes to bed between 6-7. Hoping to make it more like 7 in the future.

[Caterina]

My LO had the same nap schedule as yours and dropped her morning nap right around a year, same way. She used to have two 1-1.5 hour naps, and now she sleeps for 2-3 hours from 11:30-2:30.

[starling&diesel]

My DD is 14 months and is transitioning to one nap now. I had always put her down for two, nursing her to sleep, but when I started back to work last month, my partner would put her down for one nap as DD just wasn't tired enough to drop to sleep without nursing. We did whatever worked for the last six weeks, sometimes one, sometimes two ... usually one with my partner, my mom, or sister looking after her, and two when I was home with her.
For the last week though, I've been keeping her up and giving her lunch and then putting her down after lunch and it's been going really well.
I didn't want her to drop to one nap, because my partner and I get home quite late and like to hang out with her until 9pm when we start our bedtime ritual.
So far, she sleeps for a couple hours between 1-4, depending on what time she woke. And so far, she's been okay to stay up until 9pm still.

[AKislandgirl]

My DD is 14 months as well. We've been on one nap for about a month or so. She usually goes down for a couple of hours at around 1:00. Every once in a while if she didn't sleep well or woke up earlier then usual she'll still take 2 but its pretty rare these days. Her one nap is a nice long one though so I actually like it better this way.

[ShadowMoon]

DS dropped to one nap between 12 and 13 months. He still takes one nap per day, for about 2-3hrs. He naps anywhere from 11-4pm, depending on what we do that day. He usually goes to bed around 8-9pm.

[Super~Single~Mama]

Originally Posted by ShadowMoon

DS dropped to one nap between 12 and 13 months. He still takes one nap per day, for about 2-3hrs. He naps anywhere from 11-4pm, depending on what we do that day. He usually goes to bed around 8-9pm.

This, almost exactly!! Only DS sometimes sleeps for as little as 45min, or as long as 3hours. It totally depends on our activity level that day.

[baglady]

DS started to transition to one nap at 13 months and at 14, he's down to one per day. (It's usually a really long one which is great!)

[MadiMamacita]

we dropped to 1 nap (ideally 11am-1pm-ish.. but that doesn't always happen) right around 12 months. he wasn't sleeping well at night. I posted here about it and got lots of good suggestions. I'm sure I could dig it up again..

if he seems like he needs another nap on some days I try to support that. he's been teething and sick so he's been napping more than usual these days.

ETA: found it!
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...t=nap+schedule

[littlebabydoll]

My boy is at 15 months and dropped it this month. I just paid close attention to when he is actually tired (yawns, indecision, overly demanding, etc). It just moved later and later. It is usally at 11:15-12:15 he is asleep.

We are having some trouble though with bed time. He seems to be pretty darn tired at 5 but he won't sleep then, even with a car ride. So 6:30 has been the earliest bed time but he wakes up 3 times before I come to bed at 9ish. Our old bedtime was 8 where we all went to bed together and everything was perfect. (cosleep) I hope it all sorts itself out soon.

[claddaghmom]

We dropped the 2nd nap right around her 1st birthday. She was not sleeping well...she would stay up very late and it was clear from her signs that it was due to NOT being tired (as opposed to being overtired or stressed).

I didn't thoughtfully figure this out...rather a few times for whatever holiday reason, she stayed awake through her nap time and we noticed a better night's sleep. So I simply ignored nap time and voila.

It can still get messed up though. For example if she misses the 1st nap or gets worn out...she might fall asleep at the wrong time (think 6pm or 7pm ack) and then we are talking about playing with a hyper kid until 1-2am....like tonight... *sigh*

[Emmery'sMom]

My DD dropped her second nap around 10.5 months. She was falling asleep later and later for her first nap, so eventually I only let her take one and she never looked back.

[Letitia]

My kids were really different from each other. DD dropped her morning nap around 15 months, but it took a while. 2-nap and 1-nap days alternated for a while, then maybe one of every 3 days was a 2-napper for a while. She always took short naps, but started seeming like she was a lot more awake and ready to keep going at the AM nap time. If it was a 1-nap day, that nap went in the middle of the 2-nap times. We decided based on how she was doing that day if she'd get the early nap or not.

DS transitioned at about 10 months. Pretty easily, not really a period of alternating. How we knew was kind of the same - he started seeming A-OK to keep going at his morning nap time.

We never changed their bedtimes with the nap changes.

[gagin37]

ds stopped his morning nap at 11 months. He would usually nurse down, and he just stopped falling asleep, he was ready to play again after nursing instead of settling down for a nap.

[hedgewitch]

9 months! He was fighting it so hard so we went to one nap - a lot less fuss!

[redvlagrl]

DD dropped her 2nd nap at 10 mths. She just stopped going to sleep and didn't seem overly tired. For a while she was still anpping at 10am, but this gradually got later and now she naps once at noon.