Going down to one nap...how?

Sadly it seems the time for just one nap a day has come upon us. Lately when we put Peter down for two naps, usually one of them he won't sleep or sleeps a very short time. And yet on the days he does only have one nap, he is soooo exhausted by bedtime (although then he does tend to sleep in a tiny bit extra in the morning...woohoo!).

It just seems like neither two sleeps or one sleep is right for him atm. Do I persist with trying just one sleep, and he will adjust? Or do I keep trying two sleeps- argh!!!

I've heard the transition to one sleep can be a bit rocky, but I just feel all out of sorts. We had such a nice routine going! (control freak, routine oriented woman here....and on top of all this, we have JUST moved our office out of home, so everything seems to be in a major mess).

TIA for your advice!!

Ugh, I know how you feel! It is so hard getting them down to the one nap. DS2 was 14 months when he dropped a nap, I wasn't ready yet LOL!

It does take a while for them to get used to it and to sleep a bit longer for their one nap, but they do get there. I used to stretch DS2 out until 11am (he used to go down at 10am for his first nap) by playing with him outside or feeding him and then put him down. When he started coping with longer wake times I started stretching him out to 11:30am, etc. until he eventually went down between 12:30 - 1pm and would sleep for 2-3 hours.

Hang in there, it does get better eventually :hug:.

For DS dropping to 1 nap happened gradually, as in, some days he would have one, and some two. I would put him down at 9am and leave him for 20 mins in the cot. Sometime he would sleep, other times he would get up after 20 mins. We then timed the midday nap round that... If no sleep then he usually went down at about midday but if he had an early sleep it was later (more like 2). Also, DS lead this process himself at about 11mo, and by 13m he was really only having 1 nap a day, and maybe once a week he still has two.

He is now a midday napper. And goes down to sleep between 12 and 1 and can sleep for 1-4 hours.

I think that you have to be flexible in making that adjustment and I know it is hard, as I like a routine myself, but for me, it seems to have worked out ok. But I do miss that time a 9am when I was able to have a shower and get the washing on and stuff... I just have to now do it with DS...

Oh and sometimes if we are having a terribly grumpy afternoon a walk in the pram at about 4pm helps give DS some down time without actually sleeping...

DD1 dropped hers at 16 months, she went from2x45-60 min sleeps to 1x 30-40 mins, it was horrible!! only way i could get her to sleep longer was to give her a bottle of milk, something shed never needed before when it came to sleeping, it worked and she used to sleep for around 9o mins.

goodluck , you might be surprised and it goes very smoothly!

It's kind of sad isn't it? I remember mourning the morning nap... I'd say try and stretch him out till about 11am, then put him down. Eventually, after a couple of weeks, you can move the nap back to midday-ish. Unfortunatley, at first it will feel like a loooong afternoon and your LO will be knackered by bedtime, but they adjust quickly.

I found it was earier for us to cut from two to one in one foul swoop- I'm a bit of a control freak too, and I just couldn't hack the "maybe he'll sleep, maybe he won't, and if he doesn't there will be screaming, and if he does then he won't go to bed till 9pm" uncertainity of trying to accomodate two naps.

Thanks all! I think we will try just going to one nap on a regular basis, simply because DS is about to go from 1 to 2 days in FDC, and he only has one nap there. If I can be consistent, that would seem to be good. If its not working, we will revert to two naps when needed. Hopefully he settles in well, change is tough!

quick question tho..... if u put them down at 11 and they were used to lunch at 11:30-12 when they have 2 days sleeps, when would u feed them lunch? seeming in theory they will sleep longer on a full tummy. DD eats breaky about 8-830am.

We normally do b/fast and morning tea just before a nap, then a big lunch after...

I've been wondering about this too Hollye. I would like DS to have lunch before his nap if at all possible, even if it means an early lunch. Peter eats breakfast earlier than Mia (about 7:30am), so its no real trouble for him to eat an earlier lunch. But if he's too tired and goes to bed before lunch, well, so be it.

The other thing I am confused about is milk. DS has been having a bottle before each nap- this is pretty much the only thing he will drink, so I don't want to cut out a bottle. But I'm not really sure how to do it with one nap... he has such a sleep association with some warm milk.

We always cut out the bottle, or in the later arvo when one of the girls got cranky, we would let them have a lay down on the lounge with a bottle, so it wasn't a sleep but was a "rest".

I also started feeding them lunch at 11.30 and then straight to bed when they went down to 1 sleep, or I would feed lunch at 11am and less morning tea, or morning tea at 9.30 and lunch at 11, but lunch wouldn't be huge, just enough to encourage a good sleep. DD1 went to 1 sleep very roughly, took us a month to get it right, but DD2 had a very smooth transition over a weekend. Goodluck!