How do you know they're ready for one nap?

Over the last couple of weeks my girls have started to dramatically extend their awake time in between wake up time and their first nap. It used to be they needed to go down for a nap no later than 2 hours after waking up in the morning, and sometimes they'd only make it 1 1/2 hours. Now they can easily make it three hours, sometimes longer. I put them down around 10, even if they aren't acting tired. I usually wake them up after an hour in the morning, because if I don't and let them sleep for an hour and a half or longer they don't want to nap in the afternoon. I'm starting to think if they can stay awake in the morning easily until 10 or 10:30, maybe I should see what happens if I keep them awake until after lunch. We usually eat lunch around 12, so they'd be awake until 12:30. Are they too young for this? It would be so nice to be able to get out in the morning and not have to rush home for nap time!

 

We are in the same predicament. There simply aren't enough hours in the day for 2 naps with the amount of awake time they want. My boys will NOT go to sleep before 3 hours for AM nap and a minimum of 4 hours for PM nap, then another 3.5-4 hours before bed.

I know it would be more convenient for me if they were on 1 nap and I wouldn't have to wake them in the morning and from both their naps. However, I have a feeling I need to wait a few more months before we're realy ready.

I'll be watching to see what those who've already made the transition say.

 

those are the first signs for sure!
It will take a few weeks probably, and you will likely have 2 naps a day a few days/week for a couple of weeks.

For my boys, I started keeping them up until about 11am, giving them a big snack first and feeding them lunch when they awoke.
Those days, I put them down for bed about 1/2 hour earlier as well.
Then I started pushing back the nap to 11:15, then 11:30, etc. . . until we finally reached a 1pm nap.
For a long time, we had an early lunch, like at 11am and a noon nap, then it became a 12:30 nap, etc. . . .

 

Those could be signs of being ready. However, I will say that around the same age I thought they were ready so I tried it for about a week. It did not work out for us and we went back to 2 naps until about 16 months.

 

Sara - I know it's nice to be able to get out in the a.m., but your p.,m. nap might be ruined if they fall asleep in the car. If mine have 5 min. nap in the car their nap is ruined.

They might be ready for one nap. Maybe they are ready to have some days be one and some days be two. I know of people who did this with success!!

I didn't switch Ali and Martin until 18 mos.

 

I'm so glad to see this post. Mine have been staying up for 3 - 3.5 hours before am nap - they go down good and sleep for 1.25-1.5 hours, but then don't want to go down for their pm nap like they used to. We are going on vacation in June, so, selfishly, I am rooting for the "it's time for one nap" responses!

 

Mine were 11 months when it happened. . . I thought they were too young, but their natural sleep patterns told me different! LOL!

It's fine if you transition slowly, meaning they could still take 2 naps/day a few days week for a couple of weeks.