How do you know when to drop to 1 nap?

I'm wondering when I'll know they need to go to one nap. Will they start not sleeping during the morning nap? I'm finding they are still tired in the morning and will take a good morning nap. I've actually had to wake Abby the last 2 days because it was lunch time. I find they don't sleep as long during the second nap. I'm hoping we can hang on to both naps as long as possible. I love having some time to do stuff around the house and maybe even get a shower in Just curious when and how yours dropped to one nap.

Thanks,
Christie

 

We didn't drop to one nap until 22 months. Of course mine were still taking 3 naps at a year, so it might not be the norm. I think the average is about 18 months. We noticed that the girls still took a great morning nap, but fought the afternoon nap. So we cut out the afternoon nap and then slowly shifted the morning nap later and later until we finally got it after lunch. Now they nap around 1pm right after lunch. GL!

 

My boys are very similar to Leighann's girls and are still working on transitioning to 1 nap at 23 months. I have tried on and off since about 17 months. Right now, they typically go down around 11 or 11:30 and nap for just over an hour.

Good luck! For me, it was a very hard transition to make.

 

I tried making the 1 nap transition when the girls started boycotting the morning nap. I'd put them down and they'd play for an hour instead of sleep. Or they'd fall asleep but would be awake 20 minutes later.

 

We went to one nap when they turned 1. I would put them down at 10:00 (4 hours after wake time) and Josh would talk the entire time; usually for 90 minutes. Jake on the other hand would do it for their afternoon nap at 2:30. I started first by moving the a.m. nap to 10:30, then to 11:00. It was hard for Jake for the first week or two. For the next 5 months, I would move their naptime up by 1/2 hour. If it took them forever to go to sleep, the next day I would add 15 minutes.

Now at almost 17 months, they go down at 1:00 and will sleep 2-3 hours. They go to bed between 6:30-7:00 and usually wake about the same time in the a.m. So in total they get 14-15 hours of sleep per day.

 

I always wanted the lunch time nap to be the longer one so once they got a bit older I never let them sleep more than 30 mins inthe morning so they had a loinger lunch nap - you could try this. Then after a while it was obvious that Elliot could go until lunch although Max still has a morning nap because he gets up so bloody early! 5.15 am this morning - urgh. So he will go down for 30 mins at 8.30 and still have a long lunch time nap. If Max has a good ay and gets up late - 6.30 for him! Then he does not have a morning nap. It's still a bit hit and miss but we are getting there.

 

I think we started doing one nap a month or two ago, so at 13 or 14 months. They would stay up and play during one or the other nap so i gave in.. So, whenever they are really boycotting one of the naps then you may want to switch to one nap..i like to have them nap after lunch..they usually sleep about three hours now =)

 

We are in the process of transitioning to one nap. We started when they began to boycott the morning nap, though I still find we are having a couple of days here and there when they still need two naps. Mine are 16 months.

 

QUOTE(christie76 @ May 21 2009, 01:29 PM) [snapback]1323021[/snapback]
I'm wondering when I'll know they need to go to one nap. Will they start not sleeping during the morning nap? I'm finding they are still tired in the morning and will take a good morning nap. I've actually had to wake Abby the last 2 days because it was lunch time. I find they don't sleep as long during the second nap. I'm hoping we can hang on to both naps as long as possible. I love having some time to do stuff around the house and maybe even get a shower in Just curious when and how yours dropped to one nap.

Thanks,
Christie


We dropped to one when DS refused to do the afternoon nap anymore. After a couple weeks of transition pain, it was actually the best thing - they take a 3 hour nap pretty consistently, so it's worked out great for us.

 

Mine dropped the afternoon nap rather than the morning one so we shifted the morning one later gradually. We were on 4 meals a day for a long time because I wanted them to have something before nap and then they'd be hungry again after nap. Our transition attempts prior to 20 months were ugly with them having nighttime sleep issues caused by overtiredness. But at 20 months, it went pretty well. I guess they were ready then. It took about a month of occasionally needing to take a short nap in the afternoon or to go to bed very early before they settled into a regular routine.

 

In between 14 and 15 months my girls started sleeping during only one of their naps per day. We decided to do the switch then. When we first transitioned, they were only sleeping about 45 min. per day for a couple of weeks, they gradually worked up to 2 hour naps.

 

my twins are almost 15 months old, their schedule is:

6:00 or 6:15am wake up
9:15am morning nap for 45 max 1 hour

I never let them sleep more than 1 hour, I wake them so they take good long pm nap

pm nap is after lunch, 1:15pm or latest 1:30pm for 1 1/2 to 2 hours

bedtime is 6:30pm

there were phases where they would sleep a bit longer in in the morning, until 6:30 or 6:45am, then they would fight am nap, so on those days I do no am nap or just give them downtime in crib, then move lunch a bit earlier because they get ready for pm nap earlier....

and if really tired in evening, I just move bedtime a bit earlier.

mine are still little and young for just one nap, I keep doing what I am doing, they used to sleep 1 1/2 hours in the morning nap, now it's shorter so I know they are getting there.

GL
alexa