For the last week, my 9 month-old has been taking a great morning nap for about an hour to an hour and a half, but then when he gets real tired again in the afternoon, I'll try to put him down and he'll cry and cry till I pick him up or he'll sleep for 10 minutes at the most. I'll try to settle him back down but he refuses the nap. So he ends up being awake most of the day and fussy in the afternoon. Not sure what to do. I don't want to leave him screaming if he doesn't want to nap but I think he needs it. It's exhausting for both of us to have him awake all day. He used to nap an hour in the morning as well as an hour in the afternoon. Is this typical at this age? It seems young to be refusing the afternoon nap. If anything, I'd think he'd drop the morning nap but he always goes down easy in the morning.
Hi - at about a yr my son started the same thing so we pushed the morning later and combined to one long nap. So after lunch my son sleeps about 3 hrs now...it is quite nice!!
My daughter did the same so we pushed the morn nap. She would have lunch around 11:30 then nap at 2. It has worked and she is over 2 1/2. I hope this works for you.
T., we went thru this with my daughter, who is now 21 months, when she was about 12 months.
There are a couple things you can try. First, you can wake him up from his morning nap. I'd give him 45 minutes to sleep (this is one sleep cycle for my daughter), then gently wake him up by turning on lights, making some noise. I say gently bc my daughter hates being woken up and this has to be done slowly. This should make the afternoon nap more likely. Then keep shortening the morning nap.
Alternatively, you can try to get him to consolidate to one nap, although he seems a little young for that. But every baby is different. To do this, do your best to delay the morning nap. If it's usually at 9 am, push it back by half an hour, then another, until he's going to sleep closer to lunch time. You may have to give him lunch early. When he does go down later, he should sleep longer. It will be rough for a couple of days. Be prepared to use some serious distraction techniques to keep him awake.
Even now, if my daughter is really tired and cranky, she sometimes takes a morning nap. We wake her up after 30-45 minutes though, bc if she goes longer the afternoon nap is a battle and then she (and I) are cranky for the rest of the day.
Good luck!
My little guy never took 2 naps he took one long nap starting around 11 it used to be 2.5 hrs so if he is refusing his second nap try giving him his morning one later and maybe he will sleep a nice long stretch.
For his afternoon nap is he well fed? My son wouldn't take a good nap unless he ate really well. My son would take two naps at that age. The morning nap was usually a continuation of his night sleeping. He would get up drink a bottle and then go back to sleep until 8:30. Then take an late afternoon nap after lunch after a bottle. But perhaps one long nap is all he needs. An hour isn't a long nap. I would say he needs two naps or one long 2 to 3 hour nap in the middle of the day. My son is now 21 months and has been sleeping from (around) 1:30 to 4:30 for a long time. He goes to bed at 8:30 and wakes up at 8:00 am. How long does your son sleep at night. They should be sleeping 13-15 hours I think total??
Both of my daughters fazed out of their morning naps between 9 and 12 months. Then I just bumped the afternoon nap up to noon and served lunch around 11:00 am. That worked for a few months until slowly their afternoon naps moved back to about 1:00 pm.
This is pretty much what my friends have found to work as well.
Good luck,
S.
Do pick up the Happiest Baby on the Block as 9 months is way too young to be dropping a 2nd nap. Maybe a growth spurt is happening? teeth? give it a look thru
both my kids were like that, and i had to consolidate the two naps into one early afternoon nap, usually right after lunch time. that way they were well fed and full, and they slept great. my 3 year old still takes his post lunch nap, my daughter who's 5, has quiet time in her room now, and i still get some peace and maybe a few zzz's too. lol
my daughter was down to 1 nap at that age too.... gradually start to move his morning nap later. and then skip the afternoon nap - he'll be a bear but you'll have to keep him occupied to get through it... and you can put him to bed a 1/2 hour earlier until he gets used to the one nap....
this will eventually balance out to about a 2 hour nap after lunch (like 12:30 - 2:30, or 1-3ish). my daughter is 2.6 and naps from 2-4 every day - she doesn't always sleep anymore but she has the 2 hours of quiet time. i don't let her sleep past 4 otherwise it effects her bedtime.
