dropping a nap

I'm wondering when your all's LO's dropped from two naps to one. Our boys keep taking a shorter and shorter morning nap. It used to be 90 minutes, then it was 60, then 40. Today, Michael slept maybe 15-20 minutes and that was after a huge fight to even get him to sleep. Gabriel slept about 40 minutes still. They will be 10 months Thursday - are they too young to be dropping to one nap? Maybe it's just a temporary phase? Their afternoon nap is hit or miss - sometimes 45 minutes, sometimes almost 2 hours. It's so inconsistent it drives me crazy!!

 

I think it might be too early to drop to one. Annabella is 16 months old now, almost 17 months, and getting her to one nap a day is still tough. Most days she could probably go down by 10/11 am and then again by 3/4pm. I stretch her and have her go down at 1pm with the boys for her one nap. If we go anyhere in the car, she is instantly out!

Have you tried pushing their naptime back by about thirty minutes? Maybe that needs a little tweaking? Did you give them time to try to go back to sleep? I know sometimes I will hear them on the monitor and cringe because it is wayyyy too soon to be waking from nap. But if I give them a little time to work it out, sometimes they go back to sleep.

I'm hoping it's ust a phase!

 

10 months seems early to me. my girls dropped to one nap at 17 months, but i think i may have jumped the gun on that & they probably could have gone with two naps for a bit longer. from what i've read, between 15 - 18 months is the average age to drop, although some babies do go earlier & some later.

you recently posted about issues with night wakings too didn't you? it sounds to me like the problem is that your kiddos aren't getting enough sleep & lack of sleep is leading to sleep difficulties. have you read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child? Dr. Weissbluth explains very clearly in there why sleep begets sleep & how not getting enough sleep can really cause a spiral of sleep difficulties. :unknw:

 

I did give him time to go back to sleep, and nothing. He is happily playing right now - he doesn't act like he took a short nap, but I guess time will tell. They usually take their afternoon nap around 1pm - I don't know if he'll make it that long. I guess we will find out.

I have thought about pushing the morning nap back a bit - but Gabriel was rubbing his eyes and acting really sleepy, so I went ahead and put them down at the normal time. I hate to get them on two different nap schedules.

 

I have read that book, along with a gazillion other books. I posted about how we are doing CIO for bedtime and night wakings - we started 4 nights ago. Michael hasn't woken up at night for the last 4-5 nights at least (Gabriel was up a few times a night for about two days before he popped out his latest tooth - he slept last night, too). Last night they both slept through until after 5:30am....Michael was up and "playing" for a bit, then he went back to sleep and woke up at 6:20am. They are getting WAY more sleep than they used to actually. I think pp might be right and maybe I need to push back their morning nap. Before we started CIO, they were up most days between 5 and 5:30, and had been up 2-3 times a night each. Now that they are waking less and sleeping in a bit more, maybe their morning nap needs to be at 9 or 9:15 rather than 8:30 or 8:45 like it was before.

Overall, though, they simply do not sleep as much as other kids, which I have also posted about. At most, they sleep 11 hours at night, and the most sleep they get a day including naps is around 13 hours. Every once in awhile, they will sleep 14 hours total, which is what most of the books say they are supposed to get. I'm really jealous of people whose kids sleep 12 hours at night and take two long naps! But I can't make them sleep more than they need, and they are generally happy during the day. Michael is crawling around playing and happy right now...you'd never know he only napped for 15 minutes. So maybe he just slept really good last night and didn't need as much of a nap or something....I guess we will see how the afternoon nap goes....

 

My girls sound very similar to your boys eagleswings216. I have posted a couple of times about sleep issues and have read EVERY book out there but to no avail...like you they just don't seem to need as much sleep (they are around 13 hours total as well).

DS was 12 months when he dropped to 1 nap. My girls are doing the SAME thing your guys are and seem to be very close in age (mine were Jan. 9th). I was thinking the same thing. Their morning nap is maybe 30 min, sometimes less. Their afternoon nap is usually 1.5-2 hours but they often wake up earlier than that.

I was out this morning and met a friend at the store and she couldn't believe how little sleep the girls had had since they were so smiley and happy. I am glad to have happy kids but am also jealous of those babies that sleep 12 or more hours a night and have 2 good naps, glad to know there are others out there like mine

 

[quote name='E's 3' date='26 October 2010 - 11:25 AM' timestamp='1288110317' post='1713654']
My girls sound very similar to your boys eagleswings216. I have posted a couple of times about sleep issues and have read EVERY book out there but to no avail...like you they just don't seem to need as much sleep (they are around 13 hours total as well).

DS was 12 months when he dropped to 1 nap. My girls are doing the SAME thing your guys are and seem to be very close in age (mine were Jan. 9th). I was thinking the same thing. Their morning nap is maybe 30 min, sometimes less. Their afternoon nap is usually 1.5-2 hours but they often wake up earlier than that.

I was out this morning and met a friend at the store and she couldn't believe how little sleep the girls had had since they were so smiley and happy. I am glad to have happy kids but am also jealous of those babies that sleep 12 or more hours a night and have 2 good naps, glad to know there are others out there like mine
[/quote]

Well at least I know I'm not alone! It's 12:55pm here and Michael is still going strong on his 15 min. nap! Little stinker! :laughing:

And yes, our boys were Dec. 28th babies, so they are just a bit older than your girls.

 

My guys have been wanting to drop a nap but I REFUSE to let them do so. My oldest didn't drop to 1 nap until he was 16 months! I was still pregnant with the twins and I was so thankful that he was still sleeping twice during the day. I would just stay consistent and keep putting them down regardless of how long they will sleep. They might be just going through a phase and will pop back into sleeping longer in the monring as long as you stay consistent.

 

Thanks. That is what I am trying to do. I put them down at their usual time this afternoon and they both slept 40 minutes. Let's just say the house is a mess today and we are probably getting take-out for dinner unless DH feels like cooking! :laughing: I'm hoping it's just a phase, too, although I do think I'm going to push their morning nap a bit later since they have been sleeping much better at night now that we are doing CIO.

 

Funny...I actually think it will make life easier once my girls go down to one nap...give us more time in the mornings to do things! Right now my son starts going stir crazy waiting to get out until after the girls are up from their morning nap. Every family is different

My girls actually slept for 2 hours this afternoon, pretty much without a peep...I hope your guys had good naps too eagleswings.

 

[quote name='E's 3' date='26 October 2010 - 06:51 PM' timestamp='1288137093' post='1713831']
Funny...I actually think it will make life easier once my girls go down to one nap...give us more time in the mornings to do things! Right now my son starts going stir crazy waiting to get out until after the girls are up from their morning nap. Every family is different

My girls actually slept for 2 hours this afternoon, pretty much without a peep...I hope your guys had good naps too eagleswings.
[/quote]

Mine are doing the exact same and I agree! I wish they would take one long three nap.

 

[quote name='E's 3' date='26 October 2010 - 06:51 PM' timestamp='1288137093' post='1713831']
Funny...I actually think it will make life easier once my girls go down to one nap...give us more time in the mornings to do things! Right now my son starts going stir crazy waiting to get out until after the girls are up from their morning nap. Every family is different

My girls actually slept for 2 hours this afternoon, pretty much without a peep...I hope your guys had good naps too eagleswings.
[/quote]

I wouldn't care if they did one longer nap - I would just like something consistent - not 2 hours one day and 20 minutes the next, which is what they do to me now. It's VERY frustrating!!

No such luck. They both only slept 40 minutes in the afternoon. Let's just say they were CRANKY by bedtime. I put them to bed early, which means we'll probably be up at 5am, but they were so getting so tired, I didn't know what else to do. Ugh. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

 

What time did they get up today?!

I honestly can't wait for the day that they ALL take only one nap in the afternoon, but I know that if they don't get sleep twice a day they are angry and cranky little devils. I do the evening all on my own (DP works 3-11) so for my sanity, I need them to sleep twice a day right now. I don't think that they will still be taking two naps by 15 months....

Bedtime for us is 7pm, but on days where they get less than 3 hours of sleep during the day they go down at 6:30pm and I find that it doesn't mess up their wake up time.

 

Mine dropped to one nap about 2 months ago, on their own. Sometimes they start nap before lunch, sometimes after. They nap about 2-3 hours.

 

They actually slept until 6am. Usually if I let them go to bed before 7:20 or 7:30, they are up around 5 or 5:30. I guess they were really tired from not napping yesterday! I pushed back their morning nap by 15 minutes and Michael slept 30 minutes and Gabe slept an hour. I guess that is a good compromise for now - better than the 15 minute nap of yesterday at least. I would like to try pushing the morning nap back even further, but I don't think Gabe can make it much later and I really want them to nap together for my own sanity.

 

I agree, I'm a "keep them on the same train" kind of gal!