1 Nap transition

[KrystalS]

I have seen other threads about this but I couldn't find them in the search for some reason. My DS turned 1 about a week ago. His afternoon nap has progressively gotten shorter and its much harder to get him down. He always takes a great morning nap but I really need him to take a good afternoon nap or he's fussy all evening. It's now 11, he hasn't had a nap and I'm struggling to keep him awake. He normally goes down about 930 and I wake him up about 11-1130. If I don't wake him up he won't take an afternoon nap and then he ends up tired about 4.

During the transition do you just keep your DC awake as long as you can and then lay them down for 1 afternoon nap? Do they eat lunch before nap? I let DS have a snack about 1030 because he normally isn't awake at this time and he was hungry. I don't think he will eat again before he passes out!

Ideally I would like him to lay down around 1130 or 12 and sleep til 3. Before he started fighting his afternoon nap he would take two 2hr naps. This is the only time I get a break and have time to do stuff because DH is deployed!

On weekends DS doesn't always get 2 naps because of DDs activities. Usually hes so tired that he doesn't sleep well and only gets about an hour nap. Is this typical until he gets used to only having one nap?

[csnoop]

I am not quite at the one nap transition with DS yet. He is 14 months old and has always been a great napper. I am very grateful for the 2 naps he takes. During the transition, you do just keep them up as long as possible before putting them down for one nap. I would probably give him a big snack (lunch like) then put him down for a nap. When he gets up, he can eat another snack. I have seen my friend's kid's starting to fall asleep during lunch (on her high chair) during the transition.

Kids can take two naps til they are 18 months old. I think that's pretty unusual though. My DD went down to one nap around 1 as well. She was not a great sleeper though.

CC

[KrystalS]

I am not quite at the one nap transition with DS yet. He is 14 months old and has always been a great napper. I am very grateful for the 2 naps he takes. During the transition, you do just keep them up as long as possible before putting them down for one nap. I would probably give him a big snack (lunch like) then put him down for a nap. When he gets up, he can eat another snack. I have seen my friend's kid's starting to fall asleep during lunch (on her high chair) during the transition.

Kids can take two naps til they are 18 months old. I think that's pretty unusual though. My DD went down to one nap around 1 as well. She was not a great sleeper though.

CC

I would much prefer that he still take 2 naps! He has just started not sleeping well in the afternoon so I thought it might be a good time to transition. I tried cutting down his morning nap and that just seems to backfire. He's really fussy and still doesn't sleep well in the afternoon.

I managed to keep him awake until about 11:15 and then he was done. I really hope he sleeps til 2! I need the break!

[weech]

When we thought DS was ready to transition, we started pushing back his morning nap about 20 minutes at a time. It took probably a month, and I felt like a bad mom some of the time because he was definitely tired/fussy. There are days when he still takes two naps, but it worked for the most part - now he sleeps from about 12-2:30ish. He's 18 months now and is a big sleeper.