Nap Help

Ok so I think the girls are ready to transition to one nap. We have gone back and forth with 2 naps for a while. Some days they take them, some days they don't. This week they took great morning naps and then wouldn't nap in the afternoon.

This morning I kept them up til 10am (usualy go down about9:30 lately) and they just wouldn't sleep. So I got them up at about 11am, we ate lunch a little early, well they are still eating, very slow today. So I am going to try and put them down around 1pm and see if they will sleep.

What else can I do? How do you transition to one nap with out all the craziness? It doesn't matter to me what time they nap, I would prefer the afternoon but if they like the morning better by all means. Just please take at least one nap.

when did you all get into a one nap routine?

 

Around 16 months old my girls seemed to be able to go longer and longer in the morning before going down for the am nap. They would go down around 10am and I was finding that they would play around for a long time before falling asleep. They would sleep later have lunch later and then the afternoon nap was getting later. Sometimes as late as 3pm going down and waking at like 4:30pm or so. This would totally mess up the 7:30pm bedtime!

So I just decided one day to try and keep them going in the morning. Move up lunch to 11:30ish and then put them down for a nap after that. It took a little bit of time to really transition. Some mornings they would do great and others I would find one asleep in the middle of the toys or they have actually fallen asleep at the table eating lunch before. After a while, like most things, they adjust to the new schedule. You just have to be okay that everyday will not go according to plan, but it doesn't mean that you don't try again the next day.

 

Mine were forced to go to one nap at daycare at 13 months (which was too early) -- they would sleep only an hour because they were overtired, and then evenings were rough! They kept taking 2 naps at home until 16 months or so.

What seemed to work for us was to do something stimulating in the morning, and then somehow keep them from falling asleep (in the stroller or the car) on the way home, so that we could have lunch at 11:30 and then put them down for nap by 12:30. During that transition period, if they fell asleep before lunch, naptime was usually a wash. And if we were just hanging around the house, they'd get too cranky to stay up that long. But if we could go to the park or the children's museum or something, it was like they forgot to be sleepy.

QUOTE
You just have to be okay that everyday will not go according to plan, but it doesn't mean that you don't try again the next day.

Amen!

 

We switched at 14 months Dawn, mostly out of necessity, because of the older kid's schedules. They have done fairly well for the most part. Our schedule looks like this....

7am wake
8am breakfast
1030 lunch
11-1:30 nap(sometimes shorter, but they have to be up at 1:30 so we can pickup J&H from school)
230 snack
430-5ish dinner
6 snack
630 night night

As far as transitioning, we went from 2 naps one day, to one, at the new time, the next day. :crazy:

 

Thanks becky!! That looks totally doable. I think we will try that starting on Monday.

 

Dawn-mine also used to go down at 9:30am for the first nap. They now have lunch at 11:30 and go down at 12:00. I can't put them down any later because I have to wake them at 3:15 to get their big sister from school. I just did the same thing Becky did and kept them up later the day I wanted to start one nap.

Here is their schedule now:

7:30-wake up
7:45-breakfast
9:30-snack
11:30-lunch
12-3:15-nap
3:45-snack
5:30-dinner
7:30-bed

Good luck. Mine were cranky between 10-11 for a few weeks so I just tried to entertain them a bit more. I also found if I got out in the morning that they don't get cranky.

 

QUOTE(becky5 @ Oct 25 2007, 05:52 PM) [snapback]467470[/snapback]
We switched at 14 months Dawn, mostly out of necessity, because of the older kid's schedules. They have done fairly well for the most part. Our schedule looks like this....

7am wake
8am breakfast
1030 lunch
11-1:30 nap(sometimes shorter, but they have to be up at 1:30 so we can pickup J&H from school)
230 snack
430-5ish dinner
6 snack
630 night night

As far as transitioning, we went from 2 naps one day, to one, at the new time, the next day. :crazy:

I have the same schedule as Becky. It's a good schedule.

 

QUOTE(becky5 @ Oct 25 2007, 07:52 PM) [snapback]467470[/snapback]
We switched at 14 months Dawn, mostly out of necessity, because of the older kid's schedules. They have done fairly well for the most part. Our schedule looks like this....

7am wake
8am breakfast
1030 lunch
11-1:30 nap(sometimes shorter, but they have to be up at 1:30 so we can pickup J&H from school)
230 snack
430-5ish dinner
6 snack
630 night night

As far as transitioning, we went from 2 naps one day, to one, at the new time, the next day. :crazy:


Dawn, we do the exact same schedule as Becky (or is it that she does the same as us... mmmmm... ). Works well for us! Good luck!