Hello,
I think my 15.5 month old twins are ready to transition to 1 nap but I am not sure how to do it or what is the best time to put them down at. They normally have 2 naps a day for 1.5 hours each, morning at 9am and afternoon at 2pm. Recently they have been going down for 1 nap at 9am and sleeping for an hour and then refusing to sleep at all during the afternoon. Today they just screamed for an hour in the cribs before I went to get them out.
I know this is not enough sleep as they are cranky by 5pm. I have moved up bedtime to 6:45 to account for this but I know that realistically they need more than just one hour a day. Any advice anyone with older kids have would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks all for the advice so far. I kept my kids out and about this morning during their naptime though they were fussy they stayed awake. Then we had lunch and I put them down to nap at 12pm. They are asleep so far and hopefully will sleep for another 2 hours. We'll see how it goes I guess.
It always worked for us like Patti K. said. I started moving morning nap later and later. The ideal time while my kids were under 3 was to have lunch at 11, then nap. Good luck!
As you can see with the other posts, there are many ways to do naps...you just have to find the one that works with your kids. My 15month old is going through the same thing (and I have 3 older kids so I've been through it many times). He sleeps at night from 7p.m.-6:30a.m. and goes down for his first nap at 8:45a.m. I have been waking him up at 9:30a.m. so that he is tired enough for his afternoon nap from 1p.m.-3p.m. He used to nap in the morning from 9-11 but stopped doing the afternoon one so I had to adjust. Because he wakes up so early in the morning (always has) he NEEDS a little morning rest, so now it's just about 30 minutes. I feel like the afternoon nap is more important (for me and him :). Eventually, I will just drop the quick morning nap but not until he is showing that he can handle it. Good luck!!
Hi there!! the best time to put them down would be after lunch. i was a preschool teacher and we did lunch at 11 and right after nap. i also did daycare for my nieces and my daughter all within 2 years of each other and did the same thing with them. it seems to be the best time that i have found. good luck!!
It's rocky for awhile. I waited until mine was refusing his morning nap more often than taking it. Porbably close to the same age as yours. I just started puting him down after lunch, like 11:30 or 12. Expect some cranky times around lunch and dinner time for awhile, so maybe don't plan anything where they have to be super well behaved at that time for awhile. Hope it works out!
Start by putting them down for their nap an hour later each day starting at 10:00 am. Then 11:00 the next day, then noon the next day, then 1:00 the next day. Or go by 1/2 hour increments. Eventually you should reach the ideal time for a nap which is somewhere around 1:00 or 2:00. Then you can move their nighttime bedtime to a more reasonable time so they sleep through the night. And whatever you do, make sure they are in a car between 9 and 1 until you have firmly established this routine, because they will just sleep in the car instead of at home.
Hi S. -
aaaah another mommy with twins :) Welcome to my world :) My little boys are almost 21 months and we went through this same exact thing at about your babies' age.
Here's what we did in order to keep our sanity and make life easier. Our boys did the same thing, tired by nine and then again by 3. Now, they nap anywhere from 12-1 depending on the morning they've had. Just like you are adjusting, so are they.
See if you can play them hard in the morning, we swam, ran around and even put them in a little gym class in the morning to keep them stimulated, then by noon they were out! They now sleep 2-3 hours and unfortunately for us, we've hit a spot where they will not go to bed until 9. But on the plus side, they now sleep until about 7:30 - so that's much nicer than when they were waking up at 5:30 :)
Hope this helps!
L.
I am going through the same thing with my 13 month old. I got some good advice from a friend, (she just transitioned her daughter to one nap). She said to get up do the morning routine and then go run your errands or what every you would go to in between naps in the the morning during normal nap time. This helps them stay awake because it's a different environment and they stay stimulated. Then when you get home have lunch around 11-11:30 and then put them down. Her daughter is now taking a 2-3 hour nap in the early afternoon. She then gives her a big snack after the nap to help get her to dinner. Then normal evening and bed time routines. We are trying it for the first time today. So far its been okay. My son fussed for a bit this morning but since we were out and about it helped. I hope this helps a bit. Good Luck!
I'm currently reading a book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth, M.D. Another mamasource mom recommended it to me.
For your situation it says to move the morning nap up later and later in 20 minutes increments over time. It also says to put the babies down earlier (even 6pm). That's the beginning part of the advice, but really, you should try to get the book because it says so much more. It's a thick book so it's taking me awhile to get through it. My youngest is 15 months, too but has a different sleep issue. Good luck!
I have found with all of my kids that when it became time to transition to the one nap a day thing, the best time was right after lunch, around 11:30 or 12:00. It's a great time because they are nice and tired from playing all morning, now have a full belly from lunch and couple that with a clean diaper, dark room and a warm blanket and you have a recipe for a quiet afternoon! I usually can get my kids to sleep for at least a couple of hours. I try to catch that 8:00pm bedtime too because any later than that, and they are just too overtired to settle down easily.
