one or two day naps for 12mth old

[Aprilsmum]

Okay, I'm going a little bonkers here :banghead: . Im just wondering when your babies dropped from two day naps to one? The sleep center's tell me that she should take two day naps til about the age of 15 mths. I realise that not all babies follow these guidelines, but damm it I want mine to. I am having a hard time puting her down for her afternoon nap 2-3ish. She just cries and cries. Could she be ready to drop this nap, and how do I know?

Also, how do you wind your babies down for their naps? I usually take her into her room and read her a few books, but she still seems to be wide awake, by bedtime. :smiliedance:

[Jenko]

My DD gave up her second nap at about 18 months. She did exactly what your describing, i would take her into the bedroom and she just cried and didn't want to go to sleep - so maybe she is ready to drop the afternoon nap (not what you want to hear...i know).My DD would sometimes have 2 sleeps and other days only 1 - this went on for about a month, now she just has one. Sometimes now she just falls asleep on her fold out couch in the lounge room.

We read to her at bedtime to wind her down, sometimes she just wants to keep on reading but we stop at 2 and she sometimes has a little whinge but then gives up and falls asleep - eventually! :laughing:

[kadownie]

My motto is to 'to do what works for you'. My bubs are 20 months old- and get tired enough for two sleeps. Ususally we go out in the morning- so they have a quick sleep in the car where ever we are off to- and then when we come home they have a couple of hours usually. That works for me- some of my friends have been streching out the morning, giving baby an early lunch and putting them down around 11:30am. And that works for them.

I found it a hard time when they were sorting out their sleeps- so good luck and I hope you find what works for you and your bub soon!;)

[Mrs Little]

Maybe try putting her down earlier? Maybe she's overtired?

Mrs Little & Son.

[Oscar's mum]

Every baby is different. My DS 14 months sometimes has no day sleep at all, and he won't get cranky about it, other days he has 2 sleeps it all depends on the day!

IMO just take every day as it comes. If your children want a sleep put them down if they don't, leave them play!;)

[Chickadee]

When my DD was around 13 or 14 months old she made the transition from 2 naps down to 1. It took 4 to 6 weeks to really make the change. Somedays she'd have 1 nap, sometimes 2. But generally I tried to stretch out her morning and move her morning nap later towards lunch time, and then she'd stay up the afternoon till bedtime. Some days she'd end up with a very late afternoon nap, at 3 or 4pm and a slightly late bedtime, but it all settled down in the end. As Oscarsmum said, you are best to go by their tired signs.

[Aprilsmum]

Hmmm....thanks guys. I think that you're right about her wanting to start to change to one nap jennasmum. Today was probably one of those days where one nap would have been enough. I put her down this morning without any tired signs, but she did fall asleep within 3 minutes, but this afternoon :banghead: . We just put her down for the night now, but she was not a happy little bubba. She has been up since 10.15 this morning, so this afternoon was a nightmare. By 4.30 she was really tired, but there was no way I was going to put her down then, because I thought that we'd be up half the night with her tonight (maybe I should have MarthaM).

Looks like everything has backfired now though, because she was to grumpy and tired to eat any dinner, so no doubt she'll wake up very hungry, very early :( .

Tomorrow, I will do as Oscars mum said and look out for her tired signs, and just go with the flow a little. Although I dont think I could cope with NO NAP! :laughing:

What funny little buggers they all are!

[reAllytee]

Oh im feeling your pain !
We had a very disturbed nite last nite to go through today with no nap !
Nobody in this house was happy thats for sure !
Hopefully today will be a better day !
I just go with the flow nowadays some days he wants one nap & others he wants two but like you no nap is a killer !
:hugs: for a better day tomorrow.

[Chickadee]

Looks like everything has backfired now though, because she was to grumpy and tired to eat any dinner, so no doubt she'll wake up very hungry, very early :( .
Yep, that's why I would sometimes go ahead and let her have a short late nap and then delay bedtime for an hour or 1.5 hours. It's trial and error though. I also played around with mealtimes, shifting them to suit that days's sleeping.

[JE's Mum]

We were similar to MarthaM. My DS started fighting his afternoon nap from about 12 months and after a few weeks of this we started keeping him up a bit longer in the morning because he didn't seem ready to nap then either!:eek: The transition took about 6 weeks or so. He's now 14 months and regularly goes down after a big morning tea at around 11am for about 2-2.5 hours most days and then gets up for lunch. It is still a long stretch until bedtime (6:45-7pm ish) but there is no way he would have a cat nap in the afternoon and if he did he would be up until 9 or 10pm!

I am sure he will nap later and later over time and I will then bring lunch forward to before the nap. Just go with them on this one. They fall into a new pattern eventually!

[Aprilsmum]

Just go with them on this one. They fall into a new pattern eventually!

So true! I seem to have the same panic attack everytime she changes her routine. You'd think that I would have learned to calm down by now.

[Tayla'sMum]

My DD is 13 months old and I cut her afternoon nap out about 6 weeks ago along with her afternoon bottle... she had no problem with the transition at all. She now goes down for a nap at 10:30/11am every day and sleeps about 2 hours. She goes to bed at 7/7:30pm every night. As someone kadownie has said... you just have to do what's best for YOU and YOUR baby...

[Foxy]

We have also just been through this routine change at 14.5 months. DS was sleeping 9 - 11am and then 2-4pm, so as you can imagine, I was hoping to keep my 4 hours per day!

As soon as he started resisting the afternoon nap, I decided to bite the bullet and keep him up until lunch time. The full transition took about a week, and I found it much easier to keep him awake by going out in the mornings, and doing things that were fun for him and tired him out (eg, park, playgroup, swimming lesson etc). I then give lunch around 11:30am and he is in bed around 12. He generally sleeps 2.5 hours and some days 3, he then goes down at his usual time of 7pm and up between 6:30 and 7:00 am.

Selfishly, I do miss all that "me" time, but it is good to be able to go out first thing in the morning now, and most activities for children this age (eg story time at library) seem to be around 10am, so it's a great opportunity to expand your activities together! :)