Help with naps - it's against mama's intuition to control naps but I feel like baby needs some...

[IdentityCrisisMama]

My 11 month old is getting all wonky with her naps. She can't quite fit two in on most days but she still seems to want to fall asleep really early, making one nap of a challenge to get through the day if it's so early in the morning. Left to her own devices I think she'd take two naps - one between 9-12 and then another at like 6pm. This does not work for our family. 

I'm thinking I need to tweak her a little so she takes one nap. Trouble is I never scheduled my first child and I don't really know how/what to do. I'd love some guidance, opinions, and stories from you all. 

Thanks! 

[wishin'&hopin']

Our DS started dropping a nap (from 2 to 1) at eleven months.  What we gradually did was bump the morning nap later and later (15-25 minutes each time) until it was where we wanted it.  We adjusted bedtime each day based on when that nap was (so a 10am-1pm nap meant a 6:30 bedtime; a 11-2 nap meant 7:15 etc).  We had to avoid all strollers/babywearing/car travel during the former morning nap times or it messed up the whole day (if he fell asleep).  Eventually nap was about 1pm (but we are having troubles now b/c his sleep needs seem to vary so much from day to day) until 3:30pm and sleep at about 7:30pm. 

On the days that she wants to nap at 6pm is it possible that she's really trying to go to bed for the night?

Good luck!

[Peony]

My 10m old goes to bed at 6pm some nights when he took a really early nap. His sleep is still all over the place. I am hoping that after the summer, it will start to even out a bit. 

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Thanks both of you. To clarify - the 6pm sleep is a nap. She always wakes WIDE awake from them...not the normal nighttime waking. Nice to hear positive experiences from those of you who led the nap situation. 1pm-3:30 would be ideal! 

[newmamalizzy]

If 6 p.m. is a nap, what time is night/wake-up time?  What would happen if you shortened her morning nap?  Would she be able to get a second short nap in at a decent hour?  If not, it may actually help to tweak her nights rather than her days.  Or possibly both, depending on her schedule.  If it helps, my LO transitioned to 1 nap at about 14 months.  At the beginning, she'd wake up for the day at 6-ish, then nap from about 11 - 12:30, and be back in bed for the night at 6:30 or so.  Her naps are hit and miss now, but our schedule for a long time was 7p.m. - 6:30 a.m. night, 12:30 - 1:10 nap.  Anyway, I know you said that she wakes up alert from that 6 o'clock sleep, but when she drops the second nap, it really might make sense to put her to bed around that time.  6 hours is a pretty long time for an 11 month old to be awake. 
 

[KellyandBean]

We had a 6am waker and i just tried really hard to keep her distracted (baths, outings etc) around the morning nap (it was about 9) and kept her up until 10:30 and just bumped her bedtime a bit earlier too if she was really cranky in the evenings. eventually we moved it to 11, then 12 and now 12:30 at 2 years old.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Thanks, everyone!  It's really helpful confidence wise to hear that many of your children went to one nap around the same time as my DC who is 13.5 months now.  Tweaking her nap a bit it's looking like her day will look something like this: 

8am - wake

12-3 - nap

9 - bed  

How does that look to you all? Does it seem like enough sleep for a 14 month old? 

[wishin'&hopin']

You may find that a 9 o'clock bedtime is much too late for having only one nap.  You may want to try to budge that closer to an 8pm (or earlier) bedtime to keep her from getting overtired.  But, whatever works for your family is exactly the right thing to do!

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Thanks - I'll keep that in mind. I will not actually set the bedtime but let the baby fall asleep on me in the evening while nursing. Perhaps as it gets hot this spring I will see if she's better off falling asleep in bed.  How many hours do they say a 14 month old need? 

[BabySmurf]

I'd say that each kid is a little different.  For my son (now 18 months) he will sleep a total of 13 or so hours ideally.  Whether or not this actually happens is totally a day to day variation.  He moved from 2 naps to 1 at about a year as well, and I found that I really needed to move the bed time up a lot while he got used to being awake for a good long stretch.  I knew he was ready for the switch because putting him down for his morning nap became near impossible.  So I watched his cues a little more carefully, and pushed that first nap back.  Some times he would pass out in the afternoons around 4, and sometimes that meant that bed time was a little wonky (he would fall asleep closer to 9 or 10 sometimes, while his normal bed time is 8).  Then he made a switch to being able to stay awake until 630, 7 pm, at which point he would be ready to "sleep" for the night.  (I have a frequent waker, so he always woke up around his usual bedtime, but I was able to get him back to sleep without too much trouble).  Then he slowly started pushing his bed time back to 8, which is his intuitive bedtime.  This happened over the course of a month or so, and his 1 nap would vary in length, which would determine how the rest of the day went.  It was really hard planning the day with just him, so I imagine that it will be harder with two around!

After that wonky couple of weeks I adjusted his morning nap time (slowly) to a time that worked better for us.  So now he will go to sleep between 12 and 1230 most days and sleep for about two hours.  Sometimes more, sometimes less.  Never what I plan on   (For night time sleep, he usually goes to bed around 8 and wakes up around 7). 

Every kid's needs are going to be a little different; I would just look for DC's cues and try to follow as best you can.  There will definitely be an adjustment period though.