Transition to one nap

I'm not exactly sure when my girls wake up for the day, but lately I think they've been quietly laying in bed for a bit, and then they let me know that they're ready to get up around 8:30. They eat some breakfast and we play and I keep saying I'm going to keep them up thru lunch time so they can take a 1pm nap or so. They are acting like they only want 1 nap a day now. Well they don't seem interested in an early lunch (since they are eating around 9ish) but by the time noon hits, they are crabby and screaming and ready for a nap. They have been sleeping thru normal lunch time and waking up to eat around 2pm. What a mess. Did anyone else have relatively late sleepers who didn't really want an "early lunch"? But then couldn't make it past noon? We can't even leave the darn house lately. The schedules are a mess.

 

I find they tend to to that when they're moving to 1 nap. What I find works well is giving them a little cat nap around 10ish. Let them sleep for 15min to 30 min and then they'll recharge and stay up, eat well and go down around 1ish!

Good luck!

 

if it were me, i would try giving them a snack before their nap at noon & give them lunch after their nap & see how that goes. GL!

 

That's what I would do too, especially if you are still transitioning to one nap. You may find once they are used to one nap, they will either sleep in a bit later (letting them go down for their nap a bit later, or they'll start napping longer. Either way, they won't be so grouchy right at lunch time.

For the record, mine eat breakfast around 10-11am, and lunch around 12:30-1pm. It's just how our schedules work out, I just don't feed them a huge breakfast if it's nearly 11. If they are up early and eating at 9-9:30, I tend to feed them more

 

I would do the same. My two eat an early lunch (around 11:00) and they go down for their nap at 1pm and I offer a snack around 12:30. Good luck!

 

That's us, too. Mine (19 months) usually eat breakfast around 8, snack at 10:00, and then they are desparate for a nap by 10:30. They tend to wake up at about 1 and then we have lunch. I've tried to push it later in the day, but they always end up way too cranky and don't sleep well. But honestly, I don't mind. It is nice to have a nice long nap out of the way and the whole afternoon free. They go to bed at 7 and usually wake up around 8.

 

My two get up around 7:30am, breakfast shortly thereafter, snack at 10:30, nap from 11-1 (or 1:30 like today - yay me!) then lunch, snack around 4pm, supper - 5:30pm, bath - 7pm, then in bed by 8:30 if not earlier. The lunch is late, but if I try to move their nap, it doesn't go well. I'm home and really don't go anywhere much, so I let them nap when it's best for them. If we're gone for the day, they don't get messed up too badly the next day. We just resume like normal.

 

I wouldn't think about it as "breakfast, lunch and dinner"; try to think of them more as "meals" (large and small). If you label the meals you tend to put time frames around it and as you know babies have their own agenda. Give them a small meal once they wake up, food before they go down for a nap and again when they get up from a nap. Whats important is the total amount they have at the end of the day. GL!