Transitioning to one nap now?

My boys have been taking a really good morning nap of 2+ hours most days. (This is a relatively recent thing, maybe for a month, before that it was maybe 1 hour.) But lately the wonderful afternoon nap is all but a memory. They go up to bed and I leave them for an hour(fussing/playing, but not freaking out) hoping they will eventually sleep, but it's not happening. I've tried moving the time around a bit but it hasn't made a difference. My older son started dropping his morning nap and sleeping well in the afternoon when it was time to drop a nap, so I'm confused if this is a phase or what. I thought they usually didn't drop the nap until at least a year if not much later. Does anyone have any experience with dropping a nap this early? They are standing up in their cribs, which I remember is a difficult sleeping phase anyway so I wasn't freaking out about it at first. I have to go in and lay them down several times at nap time. I know they need an afternoon nap because they are falling asleep super early and staying asleep all night (minus the occasional paci wake up call). Should I wait this out and hope it's a phase or do I go ahead and try to drop a nap? I am so open to any suggestions. Any advice? Thanks so much!

Kelly

 

I would wait it out. It's possible that they are intriuged with the whole standing thing. I remember mine going through strange phases where they would be in their cribs for hours before going to sleep. Same as you, talking, playing, maybe a little fussing, but not freaking out. I just took advantage of the extra time without their assisance around the house!!

 

Kelly, I would wait it out, mine are shortening both of thier naps right now, sometimes the am, or the pm, sometimes both. Maybe it's just a phase, or maybe they are truly transitioning...who knows! But I would stick with the two for now, if anything, they need that down time in their cribs...and so do we!!! My older kids dropped that morning nap right around a year, so I know it's not toooo far off.

 

Thanks ladies! I hope you are right about it being a phase. The only "alone time" I get is while all 3 kids are taking their afternoon nap. Unfortunately most days it's only for about 20 mins because my oldest goes to sleep much later than the twins. Thanks again for taking the time to respond.

Kelly

 

Wait it out. I think Weissbluth says that 15-18 months is the average. My oldest was 18 months (she still loves to sleep).

 

SOOOOO WEIRD because I posted something similar a few weeks ago about Mia. Our babies are just about the same age! Well, here is what happened. Mia was taking great morning naps, usuallyu 2 hours 15 min in the morning. Well, suddenly she was refusing the afternoon nap. AFter posting, people suggested controlling the first nap by not letting her sleep longer than 1.5 hours. That seems to work for us. I won't let her sleep past 10:30. Then by 2 p.m. at the latest, she is ready for her afternoon nap. The only bad thing is that she and Jacob are not always on the exact same schedule. They go down for the morning nap at the same time, but Jacob usually only sleeps an hour, so he is usually ready for the afternoon nap sooner than Mia. I am working, so it doesn't affect me personally during the week, but I sympathize with your need for alone time! Oh one other thing... it just so happened right around the time this started to happen, I was talking with a parent at my school about transitions. She said that it was interesting how sometimes it seems that babies are ready for the next step (ie one nap, or no nap) but if you just push through it for a week and keep with the routine, then things tend to work themselves and the babies show they still need the two naps or one nap. KWIM? I think that was the case for Mia.

Weissbluth also says morning nap disappears first and if the afternoon nap is disappearing to control the morning nap..
HTH
Melissa