Dropping Morning Nap, Need Advice...

Updated on June 27, 2011
R.D. asks from Richmond, VA
9 answers

Since my 18 month old son's schedule is so out of wack from the visit with the in laws, I'm wondering if I should use this as a window of opportunity and drop his morning nap. I tried to get him to take a morning nap the past 4 days... it's just not happening. Today, I didn't even try, and he's doing great!... My question is, if he would normally take his 2nd nap at 2:30 in the afternoon, should I push that up to 1:30 or 2, so he's not sleeping until dinnertime? Because then it just seems silly having him wake up around 4, 4:30 (if he napped at normal time), only to go to bed at 8pm. What do you think? What has worked for you and your little one?

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So What Happened?

His morning nap used to be around 9, 9:30...

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S.H.

answers from St. Louis on

perfect time to make this transition! Move the afternoon nap up to 12:30-1 & see how he does. The easiest way to do this time change is to not allow him to get overtired.....then the whole day will be waaay wrong!

1 mom found this helpful

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J.X.

answers from Los Angeles on

I found that once we dropped the morning nap, the second nap naturally needed to come much sonner . For a while it was before lunch (11:30) so I had to learn to feed her on the early side so we didn't skip a meal for a nap. Within a few days she transitioned to 12:00 (that lasted a few months) and then 1:00 ahhh. It stayed at 1:00 for a long time, now at age 3 we've been doing it closer to 2:00.

2 moms found this helpful

S.H.

answers from Spokane on

We dropped the morning nap for both our boys right around age 1/1.5. We moved up afternoon nap to 1:00 pm. The afternoon nap that was only about an hour went to 2 - 2 1/2 and worked out perfectly for an 8 pm bedtime. I totally agree that it's a good time to do it since his schedule is out of whack anyway. Good luck!!

1 mom found this helpful
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S.H.

answers from Honolulu on

Yep, try having nap at even Noon or 1:00.
After lunch.

When was his morning nap anyway?

My son is 4.75 and naps in the afternoon at 2:30 or so. He naps for 2 hours.
He goes to bed at night, just fine. 8:30.

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S.H.

answers from Richmond on

You take the later nap earlier or he becomes a grumpypuss! If his 1st nap was 9:30 and his 2nd nap was 2:30, you will probably land somewhere in the 12 -1 time slot to go down. Also, he will probably sleep longer during the 1 nap so you don't want to put him down too late.

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G.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

He's really kind of old to be taking 2 naps a day. Most drop the morning nap around a year old. I think you should just keep the boy up in the mornings and eat lunch a bit earlier then lay him down and let him sleep until about 2:30 0r 3. He should take a longer nap due to still needing the hours of sleep just not at different times.

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D.S.

answers from Washington DC on

My girls all dropped the morning nap on the earlier side, probably shortly after they turned 1. I put them down for their afternoon naps at about 1:00 and they'd sleep until 4, then go to bed at 7pm! Gosh, I miss those days :)

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D.P.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Perfect time! Make the nap after lunch.

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K.H.

answers from Richmond on

dont push your child to get rid of their naps, because no matter what the "latest findings in child development" say, a child does need to nap, dont force it but they act sleepy, try to coax them to nap. a baby swing works wonders for this,our 18 month old daughter has days when she just wont nap, so we make sure her bottom is dry and her tummy is full, then put her in the baby swing, in ten minutes or less, she is snoring, then we just quietly scoop her up and put her in bed
K. h.

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