Advice needed on day sleeps

[~kellie~]

My 15 month old DD usually naps for about 1 - 1.5 hrs around 9.30 - 10ish, and then the same in the afternoon around 3.

However for the last couple of days, her morning nap has lasted 3 hours and then she wont go to sleep in the afternoon even though she is grumpy. Do you think she is telling me she is ready for 1 sleep? and if thats the case, do you think I should stretch the nap till around 11 - 11.30 so the afternoon awake time isnt quite as long?

[Rivlas]

Kellie, it sounds like her sleep pattern is changing. I would try and keep her up in the morning as you suggested and if need be put her to bed at night a little bit earlier.

If she gets grumpy in the afternoon get her to have a rest on the couch with a couple of toys or a few books. Quiet often she will fall asleep, wake her up after a short time by making a lot of noise.

It's just one of many routines that will change over the years.

[Arimeh]

yeah I agree - sounds like she is changing - I think DS stopped having 2 sleeps when he was about one - would just scream and scream if I tried to put him down for the second one. I just extended the time of the first nap by 15 minutes every week - and it was 11.30 until just after xmas - now he has no sleep (yay for me!)

[Willow]

Yeah, Kellie I think she's probably dropping to one. DS transitioned the same way, he refused a second sleep for a few weeks so I figured he was ready. That was probably at about 14 months.

What i did with DS was give him lunch at 11 (he was fine to be awake for this long in the morning, he usually gets out of bed between 7.30-8.30am) and put him down at about 11.30am. He has slowly worked this back half an hour so that he has lunch around 11.30am now and is in bed by 12pm.

Hope she keeps sleeping for 3 hours, that'd be awesome! DS is only doing 2 most days, occasionally 3. But he's sleeping for about 13 hours overnight now so can't complain too much!

[~Trish~]

Hi Kellie! K started doing the same a week or so ago. He was refusing his second nap so we have changed his nap time to around 12:30 - 1pm (we have to because of Joel's kinder pick-ups/drop offs). Today he slept for 3 hours, it was lovely!

So yep, it sounds like she is ready to go down to one nap. I have found the transition a bit painful, it took him nearly a week to learn to stay awake for longer (I would take him outside to play and then give him lunch early to try and buy some extra time), but he copes fine now. The problem with K is that because of the change he is putting up a bit of a fuss when I put him to bed which he never used to do. He cried for about 1 minute today and then just fell asleep, if he was really distressed I would have gotten him up and tried again later. Other times I've just let him stay up and by 1pm he has fallen asleep on the floor anyway LOL!

Good luck!

[~kellie~]

thanks everyone, we were out this morning and she managed to stay awake till 11.15, so I think I'll work hard at amusing her in the morning until she can stay awake longer by herself. I just hope she still sleeps for 3 hours today!

Is 3 hours normal for this age? she is sleeping overnight about 10 - 11 hours?

[sneakysparkle]

yep that sounds right to me! the transition might take a couple of weeks even, so hang in there. I used to give DD1 her lunch at 1030am so she was ready for sleep by 1130am.
In the last 2 wks she has given up on day sleep altogether so enjoy it while it lasts!