1 Year Old Dropping 2Nd Nap :(

My son, who is 2-1/2 now, dropped his second nap around the same age. We switched to one afternoon nap, sometime between 12:00-2:00, depending on what time he got up in the morning. He now takes a 2-3 hour afternoon nap, but he is a sleeper. Other friends of mine, whose children are not such good sleepers, also cut out the morning nap in favor of a longer afternoon nap. I would suggest keeping him up longer in the morning and trying one afternoon nap only.

My second child dropped to a single nap at 12 months. We pushed it back gradually to end up at 1230pm and he slept longer at that nap than the other 2 had been combined. He used to give me 45 min in the morning and 30 min in the afternoon at 12 months but once we made the change, I got 2 hours from 1230-230 :) Good luck! (at that point, his bedtime was 730 and he got up at 630...now he is 25 months and his bedtime is 8pm and wake up is around 645/7).

My son dropped his around the same age. I ended up taking away the first nap, so he's take the second. It helped immensely! He was tired by the afternoon and slept 2 hours, instead of 2 power-naps. At 19 months, he still sleeps two hours. I suggest not giving him the first nap and letting him sleep longer in the early afternoon.

well once all my kids turned 8 months i combined the two naps into one big nap. it worked for us. my 4 1/2 yrs daugter stil naps. most weeks its 6 days a week.
most of her naps are 2-3 daily.
if your giving him the choose of course he would prefer not to nap. i would put him in his room and tell him he is not allowed to open the door until you are done napping. he will probably through a fit the first couple of times to get him into the rountine. everyone does better on more sleep then less sleep.

I'd say continue to try and put him down for a nap. If he lays there awake but not screaming, great. He's still getting quiet time (as are you) and may fall asleep.

If that doesn't work go for a drive. Try to plan this when there things you could do with a sleeping child in the car (get gas, go to the drive through bank, go to a drive through pharmacy, restaurant, etc).

I have found that waking early is usually a sign that they are overtired, not getting too much sleep.We followed the Healthy Sleep Habits book for timing schedules and that has them go down for a nap 1 and a half hours after waking and sleeping no more than one to one and a half hours, then again right after lunch. When he was ready to drop a nap, I backed it up a half an hour each day and then dropped it completely when he just wasn't sleeping. At that point I got him down at 115 (my older child needed to be picked up from preschool at 1230 and 130 was her nap time so we had to work it so he worked around her). He would sleep until 330-4P at that age and would go to bed at 630P and sleep until 7 A. If he missed a nap, he would be up at the crack of dawn and have trouble settling down. I would really recommend the Healthy Sleep Habits book by Weissbluth. He explains their sleep rhythms and common misconceptions about sleep. It sounds like your nap times are off and that is causing the problem. BTW-my daughter was "never much of a sleeper" and I found in retrospect that the reason was that I had no idea how to schedule her sleep and because she was so chronically overtired, she just couldn't get to sleep or sleep well.

My daughter dropped the second nap around one also. We just held her up for her first nap until around noon and then she would sleep from 2 to 3 hours and continued that until about 3 1/2. Now unfortunately she doesn't nap at all anymore unless it is by accident in the car.

At one year of age most children are down to 1 longer nap after lunch. They do tend to want to go to bed earlier but if you adjust the nap time a bit it should allow for your evening schedule to be okay. So, push nap time back an hour or just let the baby sleep a bit longer if possible.

I know it sucks to lose your own quiet time especially if your 2 breaks are only about half an hour long. =) I would just start pushing the first nap later and drop the second nap. Then you could probably keep the same bedtime. As an added bonus, his one nap will probably be a bit longer. I don't know what his normal bedtime is. At that age, my son napped for around 1-2 hours starting at noon and went to bed between 7:30 and 8 pm.

Could you feed him lunch around 11:30-then put him down for a nap?

Back when my daughter dropped her second nap, I wrote to this forum and asked for advice because I was so worried about losing the downtime that two naps provided. I was really dreading her going from two naps to one. People gave me lots of good advice and reassured me that a one-nap schedule is often even better than two. They were right! It has been wonderful. It took one or two weeks to get her on a consistent schedule, but since then she has always taken one long nap in the afternoon from about 1-3 or even longer. Try moving his morning nap later and later gradually until he is going in soon after lunch. Then let him sleep for as long as he can and don't give an afternoon nap. Again, this is a gradual process. You can plan your life more easily around one long nap, and it's lots of nice downtime or "getting-things-done" time for you. Best of luck with it. I think you'll find it much better once it's actually happening.

he is probably ready to drop that second nap. but that doesn't mean it will hurt him to lie down quietly for a little while, especially if YOU need it.
one of my favorite authors, teresa bloomingdale (mother of 10), points out that when mommy is cold, everyone puts on a sweater, and when mommy is tired, everyone takes a nap.
nothing wrong with a quiet break in the afternoon, even if all he does is babble and play.
khairete
S.