From 2 naps to 1

My kids are still taking two naps a day...sort of. Zoe is taking two, and Brandon is starting to spend a lot of his afternoon "naps" just hanging out in his crib making raspberries and engine noises.

They have always taken better morning naps than afternoon naps. They usually nap from about 10am until 11:45 or noon. In the afternoons they usually "nap" between 3 and 4. (They get up between 6 and 7 am and they're in their cribs by 7:30 pm, usually asleep very very shortly thereafter.) I've been dreading the drop to a single nap because, among other things, they're clearly more interested in their morning nap, and most scheduled activities I've been looking forward to starting with them take place at that time since most babies drop their morning nap and stick with an afternoon nap. However, I've seen a couple of posts here suggesting that the nap time, when the second nap was dropped, was something that evolved over time -- that it wasn't just a matter of "dropping" that second nap and "keeping" the other one.

So, what I'm wondering is: when did your kids go from 2 naps to 1? Were they ready for that change at the same time? How did the nap time become established and how long did it take until that new time was more or less fixed?

TIA.

 

This is interesting to me and I look forward to what others may say. My boys are 19 mos and USUALLY they only get one nap in. I feel like if I can get them a nap in the morning, then at least they've had ONE nap. However, I keep SLOWLY pushing it back (because if we are home, they are so ready for it) and right now it's between 1030 and 11 that they go down, and most times both boys go to sleep. They have been waking up between 12 and 1230. If I'm not able to get them back down by 3 (if we aren't home), then I don't even mess w/ trying for a second nap.
I do feel like we have to do our errands, etc in the afternoon because if not, they'd end up falling asleep in the car for 20 min. and then not taking a nap when we did get home. I really don't know how others get it done. lol. I guess they just do! Hopefully we'll be among them before too long! lol
Good luck.
faith

 

It was a long process for us. I tried several times when they were skipping the afternoon nap and then going into meltdown mode well before bedtime. It was a disaster every time until last month. They started napping longer and later but still in the AM and not going into meltdown in the evening. So that's what we're going with. They are up around 6:15-6:30 and then nap 10-12 or 12:30. They have lunch after nap and stay up until 7. This morning they slept in until 7 so I pushed back the nap to 11 and they ended up being overtired and cranky and cried when I left the room. I like the kisses and hearing them say "nap" as I leave the room much better so I'm not pushing it anymore.

 

I would say that it's an evolution as well. It probably took us a couple of weeks for it to become routine. I started by pushing back the morning nap as much as possible. I think I pushed it to 11:30 or so. Over the next two weeks I just continued to push it back 15 min at a time until we arrived at 1. We have since napped 1-3. Once they get used to the routine of it they will adjust. You can try adding snacks or activities to help keep them awake longer in the morning.

 

Our kids used to nap from about 9-10 and then 1-2:30 or so. Daycare forced the transition to one nap at about 13 months, and for awhile they were putting all the kids down at about 11:30 (lunch at 11). (FWIW, our girls were the youngest in the class -- the age range at the time was about 13-19 months.) Gradually they were able to push it later, and now they sleep from about 12:45-2:30.

Meanwhile, we kept doing two naps on weekends, about 9-10 and 1-2:30. When we finally went to one nap, we just moved it up a tiny bit, so now we put them down at 12:30ish (same as daycare).

We do have to be careful about doing things in the morning and then having them fall asleep in the car on the way home, which ruins the nap. But as long as it's less than 20 minutes in the car, they usually stay awake till after lunch.

 

well, it's been a little tricky for about a month now as Arwen really only needs 1 nap a day but Lorien can barely make it without that second nap. My girls wake at 5:30am (though I don't get them until 6am, when I wake up) and I try to push them (well, Lorien really) to 10 or 10:30 so I can get them to nap together since it's usually the only break I will get until their 7:30pm bedtime. Arwen seems to do perfectly fine with that one nap and won't even fall asleep if we are in the car in the late afternoon. Lorien however, really seems to need that second nap still so I usually put her down at about 3 or 3:30 but I never let her sleep past 4 or 4:30. If she doesn't get that second nap which once in a blue moon she doesn't depending on what's going on that day, SHE IS ONE CRANKY GAL!! Today for example we were at my friends house and we left too late for her to take a real nap so she only slept about 15 min in the car and when we got home and I woke her she was pretty upset but it was already 4:30 so I had to keep her up.

I would be perfectly happy if everyday they would sleep from about 10:30-12 or so. That gives me the am to really wake myself up and play with them and do our house things and then the afternoon to run around and do our errands. It just fits our life style better.

 

I'm planning on making the transition this summer since the girls will be starting preschool a couple mornings a week in September. They love to play in the pool, so my plan is to let them "swim" in the late morning before it gets too hot and just kind of skip their morning nap. Then take them in, give them lunch, then lay them down for a nap. Tomorrow is going to be our first day trying it so we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping they will just sort of fall into that routine. I feel like it will work b/c they took the best afternoon nap that they've had in months today after swimming for an hour then eating a snack.