My son just turned 1 last weekend. He traditionally has been a good napper. From 6-9 months he was doing 2 naps a day very regularly. Each were about 1-1 1/2 hours. He was going to bed around 7PM and sleeping until 5-6AM. Around 9 months he started popping some more teeth. At that point, it was more challenging to get him to nap and he wouldn't sleep for as long. He popped 5 teeth in less than 3 months and sleep was a challenge most of the time. We would have a random few days or week where he was doing well. We tried moving his naptime up to allow him more time to get tired. Sometimes that would work and sometimes it wouldn't. He is now going to bed between 6 and 7. Anyways, my big dilemma right now is, he will go down for his morning nap between 9 and 9:30 no problem. However, the afternoon is another story. I moved his naptime in the afternoon from 1 to 2 because after an extended crying session for a few days he always seemed to fall asleep around 2PM. That worked for awhile but now he is completely refusing to nap in the afternoon. He will cry and throw his pacifiers out of the crib. We have left him up there for an hour or more and he still doesn't fall asleep (checking on him periodically). I've tried rocking, rubbing his back, etc.... I have had to resort to giving him his afternoon bottle which he ends up falling asleep half way through. I then transfer him to his crib but he usually only will sleep for 30 minutes. The last few nights he has also cried when we put him to bed which is unusual for him.
I'm not sure if he is ready for 1 nap, just rebelling because he would rather be playing, learning a new skill, teething, etc... Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
I would try cutting out the morning nap and see how well he does without it, for a few days. My oldest son had two naps for approximately one year, and my youngest only napped in the afternoons.
He may only need an afternoon nap and then to bed as usual.
D.
I'm 60 years old, been married to the same man for over 38 years, have two grown sons and one daughter-in-law.
I was having the same problem. My son HATES going to sleep. Morning, afternoon, and night. At 13 months I finally gave up and he is now only taking an hour (at the most) morning nap. I still try when I see him rubbing his eyes or yawning in the afternoons. I feel like even if he would just hang out in his crib that would be good for me but he just screams and cries (poor guy).
I'd say try 1 nap out and see how he responds.
I think he may be ready for one nap. The 2 sleep books I have say that many babies drop to one nap durring the day and increase the time they sleep at night. My daughter is 10 months and she already seems to be cutting back on her daytime sleep.
My daughter just turned 1 on June 21st and we went through the same thing. She is finally on a normal schedule. I know that with my two older kids, they went from 2 naps to 1 at about 1 year old. It took about 2 weeks, but I just had to deal with the rough schedule. I am also home with her all day, so I took the brunt of the trouble. shestarted off by taking her normal morning nap, but then she was pushing her afternoon nap back later and later. I started pushing her morning nap later and that seemed to do the trick. Instead of her going down at 9:30 am, I would try to hold her off another half hour every day. She now goes down at about 12:30 and sleeps until 3:30. Following that nap she is up until about 9:30pm, but I also now have her sleeping until 9:00 in the morning. It is tough to transition them at only 1 year old, but it soes work. At their age they really don't need two naps, but it can be tricky finding out what time is good for their one nap. good luck!!
Around the age of one both of my kids moved from 2 naps a day to just one early afternoon after lunch - sounds like your baby is probably at that stage and will nap better in the afternoon if he hasn't slept in the morning.
Hi L.,
Often around a year is when many babies are ready to switch to one nap (usually a longer nap) each day. What I'd suggest is not putting him down to nap at 9:30 - he should be able to go more than a couple of hours without napping after he gets up, give him an early lunch and try to get him down around noon. When they go to one nap, it's often 2 to 3 hours. Then they're tired when bedtime comes and often sleep a little later in the morning - I'm guessing your son is probably an early riser?
Good luck
It sounds to me like his afternoon nap is too early. If he is sleeping for an hour and a half in the morning, you're putting him down only about 3 hours later and maybe he isn't tired enough yet? Do you have a set bedtime routine (i.e. something that includes stories or rocking or whatever it is?) the reason I ask is because we try to follow some steps of the bedtime routine before naps also so he recognizes it's sleepy time you know? We try to read a book or rock and sing the same songs as at bedtime. He seems a little young for only one nap but every kid is different. Good luck!!
HE probably doesn't need a 2nd nap anymore. My daughter dropped her afternooon nap around the same age. See how it goes without a nap. He might want a short power nap later in the day, around 4pm, for a while, and then will probably just drop it all together.
Sounds like he is ready for one nap. All three of my girls switched to one nap at about 1 year old. Try putting him down around 11 or 12, and he should be able to sleep for 2-3 hours once the routine is established. Good luck!
L.,
He may just be ready to have one nap rather than two..He is getting bigger and maybe doesnt require so much sleep. My kids were all different. MY 2 year old hasnt taken a nap on a regular basis for a good 6- 8 months. My other two took naps up until they were 3 and a half. She seems to do fine without the nap. As a matter of fact if she does take one for more than a half hour she is up til 11 pm.. Cant handle that!! Some days she does take one others she doesnt.. Usually if we are in the car she will but not if we are home because she is too busy. It is okay though because she goes to bed a lot easier without a nap. My kids usually go to bed about 830 and usually get up between 7 and 8. Hope this helps. Just try him out with one nap and see how it works instead of trying to fight with him about taking a second one. If he does fine on one i dont see any reason to make him take another.
A.
for teething, try Gentle Naturals Homeopathic teething drops (i found it in Target-has Winnie the pooh on package). it is basically chamomile and works wonders. have you tried skipping the morning nap and just doing a nap right after lunch? he might be ready for 1 nap. my kids were all about 18 months when then drop to 1 nap, but your guy may be ready.
the fact is that kids starting about 1 year move to 1 time nap during the day. So i think that's what is going on. Sorry I can't advice you on how to put him to bed the second time because I think you should work on the new routine. The good thing is that his 1 day nap will be longer (usually about 3 hours).
My dgtr was never a great napper up until that age actually. But - he may be ready for one nap. Give it a go and see what happens - wait a little longer in the morning before you lay him down and see how he does. It may work a couple days - and then you see a few days later that he's exhausted around "normal" am naptime - lay him down and likely - he'll take two naps that day. It's normal for kids to switch things up a bit and you'll find that you're going back and forth between 1 and 2 naps a day for a little bit. He'll find his groove - if he's REALLY tired on the days with only 1 nap - you'll know he's not ready. I also agree w/ Amanda B - do the SAME routine whether naptime or bedtime. I sang (still sing and she's 2 yrs now) "Hush Little Baby" right before I laid my dgtr down nap/bed - she was so used to it so early that I just had to begin it and she'd crawl up into my arms and rest her head on my shoulder! Of course, I had to make sure I didn't start to sing it ANY other time when it wasn't sleep time b/c she'd get upset and say "No seepy's"!! LOL Good luck - remember - once you get settled into a routine - they change it!!!!!
**Oh - one other thing - my dgtr went from 2 naps - 1 1/2 hours in the am and 1 hr in the afternoon - to 1 nap of only 1 1/2 hours with NO change in nighttime sleeping (although that usually was a solid 12 hours or so). I saw one person wrote how the 1 nap was a longer nap - just don't be surprised if he doesn't do that!! My little one just really never napped great (until recently when sometimes it's 2-3 hours - she's been swimming and climbing and all sorts of exhaustive activities and I don't know what to do with myself on those days - but I quickly figure something out!!)
Hi L.,
It sounds as though your son is ready for either only one longer nap in the afternoon, or just a cat nap in the morning and one in the afternoon. In my experience it's usually better to hold off until at least 12:30-1 to get them to nap around that age b/c they'll sleep for a good long while. My third child, 9 months, is now napping for about 15 minutes in the morning, around 11am and then he plays for a bit more. We then have lunch around 12:45 (we're definitely on a later schedule during the summer LOL) a bottle and then he's off to bed around 1:30 and sleeps until 5pm. Now keep in mind all kids are very different, but if he's giving you that much trouble with it, pick the time of day you'd really like to have the free time more and stick with that. Good luck!!!!!
Hi there. My daughter gave up her morning nap right around her one-year birthday. She was always solid in the morning but afternoons were always challenging and sometimes short, so I figured we'd give the one nap thing a try. After the transition she started sleeping much longer in the afternoon, usually at least 2 hours. One intermediate step to try would be waking him up from his morning nap after an hour, no more than an hour and a half. If he still seems awake in the afternoon, I would experiment with dropping to one nap. The trick is to gradually move the one nap later and later in the day, because he may still want to go back to sleep at 9am. So over the course of a week or two, keep him up til 10, then 10:30, then 11:00, until you can get the nap to move until mid-day. During this period you should put him to bed extra early, to help him adjust and still get his sleep needs met. When you drop to one nap I would definitely put him to bed by 6:30 or 7 at the latest. These are not all my ideas, I learned everything I know from "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," by Dr. Weissbluth. It's a good resource, especially since it sounds like he has been a challenging sleeper all the way around. Good luck.
