dropping the afternoon sleep?

[jessica]

Hi,

Bubs is about to turn 1 and has generally been a good sleeper (after much hard work I might add!) she usually has 2 naps in the day, one about 9am and the other about 2pm, both go from 1.5 to 2hours. Just recently, since she got her lastest tooth, she seems to want to have a huge (sometimes 3hours) sleep in the morning but then wont have an afternoon sleep! I know I should be ecstatic about the huge sleep but she becomes very grumbly about 3.30pm when its too late to put her down to sleep (her bedtime is 7pm)... I thought bubs this age normally dropped their morning sleep not the afternoon sleep? I've tried pushing out her morning sleep but she won't last any further than 9.30am!

Maybe afternoons now need to be long pram walks? Any ideas or similar stories?

[JJsMamma]

Hi Jessica, You could try interrupting the morning nap - during a light sleep cycle gently wake her that way she may be more tired and go down for an afternoon nap. Or you could try bringing her bedtime forward. Or relaxation in the afternoon to tide her over until bedtime. Cuddle time, story time, walk in the pram, slow dance to nice music time...something you both enjoy and find relaxing. Also it wouldnt hurt to make sure she has something to eat to balance our blood sugar to she isnt low if you know what I mean to also help her make it to bedtime without a meltdown. Hope this helps Amanda

[Chickadee]

It's true that it's usually the morning nap that gets dropped and the afternoon one kept. But for my dd, and I think with a lot of kids, there is a transition phase of a few weeks to a month or so when that single nap might happen any time at all, morning, afternoon or in between. Some days bub might need only 1 nap, sometimes might need a 2nd cat nap in the late afternoon (I know it seems late to put bub down for a nap at 4 but we sometimes did if she was really tired, and she would still be in bed again by 8 or 8:30). When Chloe initially switched to consistently having one nap it started out being very early in the afternoon, 12 ish after an early lunch, but 5 months later it's now closer to 2pm.

Be flexible during the transition and just go by your daughter's needs. It will sort out eventually.