Hi Everyone,
My daughter is 16 months and she used to take 2 naps (10:30 and 3:30) about a week ago.
She has had a cold for about a week and she has only taken one nap during the day..sometimes its for 2 hours...sometimes less. She has been going to bed early then before...now she goes to sleep by 7:30 pm (was 8:30 pm). She has been waking up at 6:30 AM...and she looks tired by 11 AM...so I put her down...and she sleeps for about 2 hours. I have tired to get her to take a nap at 3:30 but she stays awake...plays in her crib. My question is; is it okay that she now takes one nap. When is a good time for her to take this one nap...should I try and keep her awake till 12 pm...and then put her down? or ? Any help would be appreciated. thanks K.
My youngest was 16 months old when I dropped the morning nap, he takes a nap now from about 12:30ish-2:30ish. I sometimes put him down closer to 1:00, its nice that he only has one nap I feel like its more flexible as to when it is.
our daughter's daycare went from 2 naps to 1 when she turned 1. i think it was difficult for her at first as she seemed so tired, but she is getting use to it. i think 16 months is a good time for the change. at daycare they start at 12:30 and sleep for 2 hours (my daughter usually doesn't stay down 2 hours). when we have her at home it is hard to get her to stay up until 12:30 so i follow her lead and put her down earlier if needed. she sleep 2+ hours at home! good luck!
Sounds exactly like my son, the times and everything. He gradually moved himself to a later time over a couple weeks/month. I'd also start noticing that his naps got shorter but if he went down later than we had been doing, he'd sleep longer. So I'd try to keep him busy 15 minutes longer for a couple days (so instead of 11:00, he'd go down at 11:15 for a couple days) then do another 15 mins for a couple days until it got to be closer to 11:30-12:00. He's now 2yrs 3mo and has just transitioned to a later nap time again. (I noticed the naps getting shorter again) He goes down between 1:30-2:00 and will sleep 2 1/2 hours or so. I won't let it go later than 2:30 though, it starts to effect bedtime. (recently, there are days when he skips a nap altogether. Boy am I going to miss naptime!) :)
Hi K.,
I HIGHLY recommend reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth for age appropriate sleep needs and times. My daughter did the same thing after an illness. You are doing exactly what I did, only I didn't try to get her to nap later in the afternoon. Instead I moved her bedtime earlier by 30-45 minutes, around 6:30-7pm. I found that she slept better at night and woke more rested which helped to slowly move the nap to 12pm by 10-15 minutes every few days. Remember to keep time flexible, depending on how she slept at night and for her nap, what type of activities she did during the day and her overall demeanor. The shift to 1 nap was difficult and I found that some days she wanted to go to bed even earlier. Listen to your baby and watch for the "sleepy" cues like becoming very quiet and calm, before she starts fussing. If you want more info on Dr. Weissbluth's info, email me.
Sincerely,
L.
I think my son was around 18 mths when he went down to one nap. Illness does tend to change things, but she may go back to 2 naps. I wouldn't count on it though. At 18 mths, ds would go down anywhere between 1 & 2:30 & then slept a max of 90 minutes. It worked for awhile, but it became frustrating because I could never plan anything for the afternoon, never knowing when to expect his nap to happen.
Things improved greatly for us when I followed another mom's example & put him to bed at 12:30, every afternoon. Rarely is he never tired enough to nap (he's awake by 6AM every morning - FUN!). It's predictable, he still only sleeps for 60 to 90 minutes, but he's done by 2:00 at the latest & we can continue on with our day.
I think 3:30 is a bit too late for a nap. A 7:30 bedtime is great, but she may start sleeping better if she has a longer period of awake time before she goes down for the night.
I have another friend who's kids both go down right after lunch time. So, that could be something you include together; do lunch around 11:30 & whenever she's finished, go through her nap routine & she's down by Noon, or 12:30 or so. It may take a few days for her to get used to things, or you may find you have to tweak the time to 1:00 if she's just playing in the crib.
Good luck!
sounds exactly like my son! it is pretty common they go from 2 naps to 1 after 1 year of age. my son wakes up about 6am or so, sometimes later and goes down for a nap around 11 or noon. sleeps for about 1-2 hours and then is in bed by 7pm. IF he takes a random 2nd nap he goes to bed later. totally normal! good luck!
One nap is fine as long as she sleeps good. At least she is sleeping really well at night too.
maybe your baby is ready for only one longer nap... but you could try to put her down around 9:00-9:30 am for the morning nap and between 1:30 - 2:30 for the afternoon nap. That works for our little one.
It's pretty common for kids this age to go to one nap. After lunch for 2-3 hours is pretty common. At my son's school in the "Twos Room" (18 months to 3yrs) they nap from 12:00-3. This is a pretty natural thing, I think, since my son had already set himself on that schedule starting around 11 or 12 months.
HTH
T.
She sounds perfect to me. At her age some babies give up one nap. She will probably start to stretch her morning awake time so that eventually you will give her lunch, maybe, at 11 or 11:30 and then she'll go down around noon for 2 -3 hours. My 16 month old hasn't taken any naps for 3 days! But he is cutting a molar and has a cold. He has been on 1 nap for a month now. All babies are different. If she falls asleep easily in the car then may need another nap. She also may be working n a milestone and that keeps them excited and awake too!
16 mo. is fine to have only one nap. I find it to work really well after lunch, when they are full. My son eats around 11-11:30am and naps after that around 12:00-12:30pm. He also knows that nap comes after lunch time so I rarely get a fuss about taking a nap. By bedtime he is tired. He used to go to bed at 7:30pm but he began waking up too early so now he goes to bed at 8:30pm. He sleeps until 6:30-7:00am. Good luck.
My daughter (who is now 2) has been down to one nap for a while, and it is from 12 - 2:30pm. This is the time that our daycare does their naps.
Definitely pick up "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby." It sounds like your daughter should be in bed by 7:00/7:30, though check what the doctor who wrote this book says. Contrary to what some might think, pushing a child's bed time until later does not result in a later wake-up time. Overtired children sleep poorly and usually wake up earlier. If your daughter is transitioning to one nap, you want it to be the afternoon one because that sleep promotes different types of development than overnight and morning nap sleep do (again, the book explains). However, do not make this shift by just keeping her up one day. She will be overtired and cranky, and her adrenaline will kick in to help her stay awake and she will likely resist the afternoon nap. My son dropped his afternoon nap, too, instead of his morning nap. We moved his morning nap time later by 15 minutes each day (or every couple of days) until we got it to where we wanted it (1:00pm).
My 12 mon daughter is on the same schedule. Instead of a cold, she just started fighting that afternoon nap a month ago, so I moved up her bedtime and the afternoon nap disappeared. She goes down for her nap at 11, and usually sleeps for 1.5-2 hours. She keeps going all the way to her 7:00 bedtime, and sleeps until 7:00 am. The earlier bedtime really helped her sleep through the night, too! She does get tired in the afternoon, but will just play in her crib if I try to make her nap, too. It's okay. If she's really tired, I'll put her in her crib (knowing she won't sleep) just for some down time. But usually I can entertain her, and feeding her when she gets tired seems to perk her back up. I'm trying to push back her nap to noon, and eventually to 1:00, but for now 11 or 11:30 works best (especially with the time change). Sounds like you're doing great!
My son went to one nap about 17 months. He was on the exact same sleeping pattern as your daughter. Right now he goes to bed between 7:45 and 8:15 and usually wakes up around 7:30. He's only taking one nap right now and I put him down about 4 hours after he wakes up (which is usually around 11:30-12:00). He will sleep anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours. He is fine the rest of the day. I think your daughter will be fine with just the one nap. This is the age where they start to transition to just one nap. Good luck
This is the age many kids go to just one nap. in my group of friends it seems they go down anywhere between 11 am and 2 pm. I've tried getting my daughter to hold out until noon but 11 was her time until recently. Now at 19 mths it is around noon.
