Sample Schedule for a 16-Month Old - Ready to Drop First Nap?

All of my children went through this stage as they were dropping a nap from their schedule. I believe it's unavoidable: either they skip the nap and get crabby really early, or they take the nap and then stay up until 11:00 PM. All I can think to say is, love, love, love.

Hi T., My daughter is 14 months old and she designed her own schedule, I stick to it, but I did not make her schedule.
She wakes up between 6:30 and 7:00am. She is awake until 11:00 and then down for a nap from 11:00am to 3:30pm. Then up until 6:00pm. She goes down for the night at 6:00pm. She let me know what she needed. It sounds like your daughter is in the process of doing the same. Good luck to you and your transition.

You have some good suggestions here about how to move the nap. I have an 18 month old and we had to drop her a.m. nap pretty much cold turkey at around 15 months b/c she moved up to another room in daycare. It was difficult for the first weeks, and she would even try sleeping on the floor, but eventually she adjusted. I like the gradually-adjusting-naptime ideas suggested here.

You've gotta love the transition times between schedules. I've tried a couple of different things and they've both worked pretty well. One is to move back the morning nap in small increments until the one nap is in the afternoon (no more than about 15 min. per day). The other is to power through the morning lull and just keep them up until the afternoon. With my kids, they would get cranky around the morning nap time, but if I could keep them distracted for a little bit, and I didn't take them anywhere in the car :) the crankiness would just last about 15 minutes or so - then they'd perk up until after lunch. Neither is a perfect solution, they both have drawbacks and take a few weeks for your child to adjust without being cranky, but it will pass and they will get used to the new schedule and be your sweet, happy kid again before you know it. And if you're lucky, you'll get a 3 hour afternoon napper!

Hi T..
I have just gone though something similar with my 16 month old! In my case, he got up at 7 and was showing all signs of needing to sleep at 9. He'd go down for two hours then be up until 7pm.
Over the course of a couple months we just kind of went with the flow. That late afternoon time was brutal but we just started dinner then his bed time routine as early as we could. Even though he was going to bed earlier, he still slept in and sometimes he slept in past 7! In the mean time I started working on pushing back that nap by keeping him as entertained and busy as I could; playdates, going to the park, playing outside. I kept him involved in things where he would not get cranky & could stay entertained. This was hard for me because I loved the *me* time during that morning nap!! Now we've got that nap pushed back to after his lunch. He goes down around 11:30 and will typically nap 2-3 hours. I'm still trying to get it a little later.
I know that transition is tough but hang in there, when she is ready you'll be able to keep her up longer in the morning. Good luck!

I would just move her morning nap back 15-30 minutes until you reach a time (and length of nap) that keeps her happy until her regular bedtime. My daughter has always had an 8 p.m. bedtime and started sleeping 12 hrs through the night when she was 2 1/2 months old. I think a bedtime and a morning wake up time should really depend on what works well for your family's schedule.

My daughter was doing the same thing but I had her on an 8pm to 8 am schedule so her first nap was at 11am and her second was around 3 (an hour each to 1 1/2 hrs each). We pushed her bedtime back to 12 and she easily adapted to just one long nap a day (usually 3-3 1/2 hours). Now she is 2 1/2 and we've again pushed her nap back to 1-1:30...she sleeps for about and hour and 20 minutes and goes to bed at 8-8:30pm and wakes up at 7:30am.

you're at the oh-so-happy 1 and a half nap stage! =) Heres what is suggested by the book "healthy sleep habits, happy child" (which is amazing a I totally suggest you get it).

You need to have her one "mid day" nap happen when she's ready for it (just before the 9:45 melt down). Slowly, every few days try to move the nap back by 15 minutes or half an hour. Eventually to goal is to hit an nap that starts between noon and 2 (I think). While you are making the transition and she's tired in the afternoons becuase her nap wasn't late enough, she needs an earlier bed time. As early as 5:30 or 6 is even suggested. And no, that shouldn't result in her waking up earlier. She needs more sleep.

When my daughter was about that age we started dropping the morning nap becuase she would play for most of it and then be difficult for her afternoon nap becuase she was overly tired. So, we stopped taking her afternoon nap and started doing just one nap at 11 am (thats waht I could get her to) and nap until around 1, then we'd put her to bed no later than 6:30. She will now be 2 next month and we have been able to move her naptime back to 12:30-1 ish and she goes to bed around 7 (although lately she's been waking up too early and being cranky and tired during the day, so we've been putting her to bed between 6 and 6:30 to solve that problem). Good luck with the transition.

gosh-do I remember this! around 18 mos. my dd gave up the am nap and I was so bummed at the scheduling change to our day. I remember a few cranky days around 10, and we just had to avoid the car then or she'd be out like light...if she slept around then, come 3-4 pm she'd need another nap but not take one :(
I began to feed her an early lunch at 11 and then she'd go down right after around 11:30. For a few days she took short naps of about an hour. Her body was probably 'programmed' to do this thinking she'd get another nap later. On these first days she went to bed earlier like 7pm. This gradually allowed me to tweak lunch time, pushing it out each day. Eventually we moved to lunch by 12 and nap by 1 for a few hours...bed by 8, up around 6am.

not sure if this is helpful...at least you know we've ALL been there :)
it's only messy for a week or so, till you figure out your times. good luck!

I think this is a tough age for sleep. They are learning so much that they never want to sleep. With my son I would read to him or do something quiet with him and have him just lay down in the afternoon until the nap returned. If she does take an afternoon nap you may find she does not want to go to bed at night too (that is what happened to me). Eventually things got back on track and he still takes a 2hr nap in the afternoon.

First of all, get Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weisbuth. Great book and fixed all our sleep issues within a couple of weeks. 12 months is about the time when kids drop down to one mid-day nap. I would move your daughter's 10am naptime back by about 15 minutes every 2-4 days until it gets to be 12pm. But definitely read the book! I'm thinking you might have some nightime sleep issues that are contributing to your daughter having nap problems. One very common problem is putting kids to sleep too late at night. Weisbuth suggests with an infant to put them down by 5:30-6pm. I couldn't believe it but I tried it and we had our 4 month old sleeping through the night almost immediately! Anyway, you will have to see what he recommends for a 16-month-old. Good luck!