How Do You Know If It Is Time to Drop the First Nap?

You are so lucky. My son gave up his first nap around at 11 months but kept the naptime at around 10 which made the afternoon really long and cranky. What worked well with my daughter was to get her outside if possible to avoid the morning slump. It would keep her energized to stay up a little later.

Our son had a terrible time transitioning from 2 naps to 1. Our daycare center started the transition at 13 months, but we found on the weekends that he still needed 2 naps, until he was 18 months! So I would recommend either distracting her through the morning nap, OR trying 2 naps every other day, then every 3 days, so she is still getting the sleep she needs, but is transitioning to 1 nap slowly (if she needs that). Usually you have to use an earlier bedtime when they start this transition because they're so grumpy and tired!

I own a childcare center and what we do in order to transition the babies to the toddler room is to feed them lunch around 11:15 or 11:30 and then have them down for a nap at 12:00. It takes a week or so because the mornings can be tough but we try to just do some extra activities until we get through the rough time. Some days they just can't make it so we give them a nap. But for the most part within a few weeks we can accomplish our goal. Your daughter is a the perfect age for one long nap a day. They sleep most of the time 2-3 hours and then that is it for the day. I would just try distracting her and put up with the crankiness for a few days while she adjusts. Good luck

You probably need to distract her through the grumpy morning time and adjust her to one nap. Make that nap much earlier than the usual afternoon nap and work her feeding schedule accordingly. When my daughter went to one nap it was at 11:30 so we did lunch after. After some time, she needed lunch first and then a nap. Now, at 2 1/2, she eats at 12 and naps at 1-1:30. It's always evolving - you'll just have to figure out how to work it for you.

all kids are different...my son had 2 naps til he was around 16 months...our 3rd who is now 20 months, well...she gave up that first nap at around a year...move it a half hour at a time...give it a little while, and she'll fall into her new routine...
Best wishes,
J.

Hi,

I toggled between 2 naps and 1 nap right around the same age with my daughter. My daughter is now 2.....I found that if I kept her busy all morning....ie. music class, park, playdate...she would just about make it through lunch..sometimes fall asleep while eating! I found that it was best to get her down for a longer nap in the afternoon...so my suggestion would be to keep her active and force her through...as your daughter is just around the 1 nap a day point...you will find that she will sometimes want to sleep before lunch, but i just planned her mornings out to try to keep her on an afternoon nap schedule. I, personally, love it when i have 2 hours in the afternoon!! I hope this helps.

S.

Hi Z. - I'm going through the same thing.. my daughter is almost 15 mos, and she's been in "transition" for the past few months.. In the beginning I was missing my regimented 9a and 1p naps so I was stressed out about it.. I tried to just give her one nap at 12ish but that dosn't always work.. so for now I take it day by day.. If we are busy in the morning and she seems ok, I give her lunch around 1130 and nap right after.. There are days when she really needs her morning nap, so she will take one around 930 -10 and then I'll give her another one around 230 or so... When she takes her morning nap, she is so much harder going to sleep in the afternoon, but after about 20 mins she will fall asleep most of the time, otherwise I just leave her in the crib for some rest time... In day care three days a week she takes a morning nap and then sometimes takes one in the afternoon (and when she dosn't she is usually really cranky)...
So I think you just need to figure out what works for you, and her.. And I think this transition time is different for every kid, and different every day... For me its taking a long time to establish a new routine, but I feel more relaxed just accepting that. I think you should try both - either the quiet time or the activity/distraction and see what works best for you.. and some days she might need to nap in the am (and it might be a little later than she used to)...
Good luck!

14mo is when both of my children dropped their first nap. make her one nap a day around 11:30, then slowly move it a bit later. my 16mo now goes down at one and sleeps until four. and yes, i would go out and do something in the morning when she usually goes down.

I think maybe the problem is the time you are trying to put her down for her first nap. Once my son started not seeming tired for his morning nap, I slowly moved it up to somewhere between 10:30 or 11:30, depending on how tired he seemed. His second nap is now at 2:30 or 3 and then he goes to bed around 7 or 7:30. Both seem to last about 45 min to an hour. I figure I can continue pushing back the time for the first nap until it ends up after lunch. Then the second nap can be pushed to 3:30 or so. My doctor said as long as he wakes up before 5 pm it should not affect his bedtime. Once he is ready to drop the second nap (I'm hoping this is not for a few more months), I am planning on making his bedtime a bit earlier for a few weeks- maybe 6:30, until he gets used to it. He is turning 1 next week.

Hi Z.!
You made me remember my daughter when she was 14 months... Oh, how tired I was! I don't remember her EVER had that morning nap, and with 16 months she stopped napping at all! Than she was tired about 6-7 pm, but than I had to make her be awake for an hour or two more...
And her older sister was always happy sleeper; she was sleeping all afternoon every day even after kindergarten, without problems with night sleep after that - imagine that!
So, every child is different. There are no rules WHEN something should or should not happen. I felt like my younger daughter is the exception that proves the rule… She still is, now SHE is in kindergarten and she sleeps half the time her sister did when she was 5! First I was worried why her sister is sleeping so much, than I was worried why she is not sleeping enough!
Now about your second question, how to help her, it depends on what you want. If you think that she is tired, engage her in some quiet activity, reading a story or something like that. Try to make it part of her daily routine, so she will accept it and enjoy it. It will not be any more “napping time” but “quiet time” or “reading time” instead. My routine is always first reading together, and than they are reading for themselves – in bed. I give them lots of books and hear them "reading". Sometimes you suddenly hear nothing - than you find a child sleeping in some funny pose. FALL asleep, for real!
But if you think it is better for her to stay awake some more, than go for a walk or dance with her, so later she will be tired and ready for a good afternoon nap.
You try until you find something that is working. Be creative, enjoy, and don’t worry!
Best,
S.

You got some good advice already - but the one thing I didn't see is that sometimes, she will still need the two naps and sometimes she'll be fine with one nap.

My dgtr transitioned from 2-1 nap around 12-14 mos. So, it's not early at all - she's just who she is and she might be ready. On the days when she is good or only somewhat tired - keep her occupied with play or find a quiet moment, and move her afternoon (well, only nap ) time earlier to right after lunch or something like that. If she's really exhausted - give her the am nap and keep the pm one at the original time.

My dgtr always took a great nap in the am (1 1/2 hours), and rarely napped great in the afternoon anyway (45 min, maybe 1 hr if we were lucky). The afternoon one is the one she started to drop. When she was on the go in the am, I put her down around 11:30 (she never napped longer than 1 1/2 hours at a time, even with one nap!!) and moved it to after lunch as she was more consistent with it. When she'd go down at 11:30, we ate lunch after her nap around 1 or 1:30. If she was really tired (usually happened every 3-4 days or so) in the morning, I would still lay her down around 9:30, 10 or so and again in the afternoon. Since her morning nap was always the guaranteed one, and that's the one we moved to a little later, it wasn't a terribly long transition - maybe 3 weeks total.

So - find your groove, and her groove and she'll soon be on one nap I'm sure - it sounds as if she's ready. Everyday may be a little different - some days quiet time will do it and others more active play will be needed to get through the 'slump'!