Hello Mamas,
Our 12 month old daughter has started to take a really long time to fall asleep for her naps, but not consistently. From about 7 months on, she was on a great 9am / 1pm nap schedule, and she usually slept an hour. At night, she goes to bed between 6:30-7pm and gets up at 7am with at least 1 nursing at night. In the past couple of weeks, she has been taking up to 2 hours to fall asleep for one, or both of her naps. (Sometimes it's just 15 minutes, sometimes 30, 60 -- unpredictable.) She seems tired...she is yawning, rubbing her eyes, and she might even put her head down when I place her in her crib, but then she stands up, and just plays for a long time. Her room is as dark as can be: we have blackout shades as well as a curtain with a heavy liner, so it's pretty much black in there. She has a soft cuddly lamb toy in there with her, plus her little blanket. Most of the time she does not cry, she just plays or stands up and talks.
She is on the verge of walking.
Do you think this is a phase that is related to the developmental milestone of walking and I should stick with the 2 nap schedule, or should I move her to 1 nap? My biggest concern with the 1 nap setup is that she's never been one to take long naps -- only 30 minutes until 7 months, and I suspect she would still only sleep one hour.
Your input is much appreciated.
Milestone event for sure.....My son just hit his 11 months and is going through this similar situation. Hang in there and if necessary adjust the feeding/nap time a bit. Plus, at this age they tend to start phasing out the 2 nap routine and go down for 1 nap generally after lunch time. Every child is different though :)
Try a noon nap. I bet she sleeps three hours :)
Mine did this too. So we eliminated morning nap. I put her down now after lunch and she sleeps for 2 to 3 hours. I would give this a shot and see how it goes.
I would say milestone related, and to wait it out.
Try going to one nap. My son also only took 30 minute naps for about 6 months and then an hour. Going to one nap, he now sleeps at least two sometimes three hours everyday. It took some time, but now he is great sleeper. He also still gets 12 hours or more at night. I never thought it would happen! Hang in there!
We just went through the same thing about 3 months ago when my daughter turned one. She was taking a long time to fall asleep for her morning nap and would not sleep in the afternoon even though it was obvious she was tired. I was hesitant to switch to the one nap schedule because I thought 12 months was a little early, but it turns out it was just what she needed. The first week or so was a little rough getting her used to the new schedule, but now she goes down for her nap around noon and usually sleeps 2-3 hours. (It's made my schedule a lot more flexible too!)We ended up putting her down about 1/2 hour earlier at night and that seemed to help too. Good luck.
