Advice Please: We've switched to one nap...

Well, my two will be 18 months on Saturday, hard to believe, and our schedule has gradually been creeping later and later so it seemed like now might be the time to switch to one nap. We are day 3 on this experiment.

Basic Schedule:
Up at 7:00 to 7:30, breakfast at 8A, Play + snack to Noon, lunch at noon, play til 1, stories at 1, nap from 1:30 to 3:30, snack, play til 6:00, dinner at 6:00, 6:30-7:00 post dinner wind-down, 7:00 stories, 7:30 lights out.


Day 1 - one two hour nap from 1:30 to 3:30 for them both
Day 2 - DD takes 2 hour nap from 1:15 to 3:15, DS takes 1.5 hour nap
Day 3 - DS takes 1 hr 15 min nap, DD still sleeping

So when he wakes up crying at 1 hr 15 minute, should I respond to him or should I wait it out so that he learns to sleep later???I ended up going in after a bit of crying because it didn't seem like it was going to subside.

I've always been reluctant to switch to one nap because I've doubted I'll get one longer nap in the afternoon.

I know it is unreasonable to expect it to work perfectly after 3 days, but I am not sure if I am doing this right. Is he going to figure out that he should sleep longer? Do I need to not respond to him?

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

Sotto

 

Mine didn't take a longer nap when they switched from two to one. They shortened the AM nap to the point that they were taking 40 minutes in the morning and 1.5 hours in the afternoon and now they just take 1.5 in the afternoon. If they didn't sleep well at night, they MIGHT take 2 hours.

Waking up crying like that, though, tells me he's not well-rested. A couple of times I've managed to get mine to go back to sleep by opening the door and quietly saying that it's still sleepy time, everything's OK, and to close their eyes. Other times, they're up and it's just a rough afternoon & they'll go to bed early.

There is no magic cure but if you give them a steady routine, they will eventually adapt.

 

when i went thru this transistion
11 am lunch
1230 nap
wake by 3 pm
bed 730

ETA: try putting him down a little earlier for the nap. even 15-30 min can help reduce that waking up crying.

 

Mine usually nap about 1.5 to 2 hours. I will tell you like clockwork that L gets up after one hour and will fuss for about 10 minutes. He does it every time...I don't go in unless it lasts for more than 10 minutes and it never has. He goes back to sleep and gets up when I wake both the boys up.

 

Mine are normally 1.5 hours as well, and have been since the switch over! Especially since they sleep a good 12 at night, it's ok if that's all it is. During growth spurts or whatever, they are occassionally longer. Hopefully it's just a matter of getting used to the new schedule, but it sounds pretty normal to me.

 

I'm jealous that you're even getting naps that long! We just switched to 1 nap, and while DS is doing great - napping 1.5 hrs or more - DD is napping 40 min! I'm really hoping she gets past this soon...

 

My girls were all over the place when we transitioned. It took them a while for a routine to be established. For a good month after transitioning they were sleeping about 1-1.5 hours. They now on average sleep about 2 hours most days.

 

I agree with the PP, waking up crying means your DS isn't ready to be awake. My daughter Cricket woke up after one hour (on the dot!) for the first few weeks of one nap. I went in the instant I heard her fussing, rubbed her back and turned the music back on. She got used to this routine and would fall right back to sleep. It only worked if I dashed up the stairs immediately. If I waited 10 minutes, she'd be worked up enough that she couldn't go back to sleep.

After two or three weeks, she started sleeping longer without waking and now both of my girls take 2 hour naps, 2.5 if they had a bad night.