Dropping to one sleep?

Just recently my DS has only been having 2 small (30-40 min) sleeps a day. Before this he was having a 40 min - 1 hour sleep, and a 1.5 hour sleep a day.

He seems happy enough straight after he wakes up, but then it doesn't take long for him to start looking tired again.

He is able to stay awake for longer periods, so I guess I'm wondering if maybe I should try keeping him up longer in the hopes that he'll have a longer sleep that actually refreshes him properly.

When did you LO go down to one sleep a day?

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk at one sleep :lol:

DD1 dropped the second sleep at 16 months, id try and keep the second as long as possible if i were you!

I've been wondering the same thing about my DS. He's been a terror when trying to get him to sleep at night - just doesn't seem tired. So I thought I would try skipping the arvo sleep, providing he had a long sleep in the morning. Didn't work :( I'm yet to work out a good solution, but the past 2 nights have been better (not really sure why). I know my nephew didn't drop to 1 sleep till about 15 months, so I really don't want to drop to 1 yet. It's too soon!!!

Good luck!

remember that sleep creates sleep, the better the day sleeps generally better the night sleeps!

My DS1 was 18 months old when he dropped his second nap and DS2 was 15 months. I remember my MCHN said it was normal for them to drop the second nap at 18 months of age.

DS was 14 mnths when he went to 1 sleep.

Right - so he really still needs two. I just wish he'd sleep longer - he needs more, but won't sleep any longer. These days he's only getting an hour sleep through the day.

DD dropped a sleep @ 11 months. Now she has one sleep of 3-4 hours rather than 2 of 40 mins.

Try it.. u will soon learn if hes ready or not.

DD has only just dropped to one sleep most days @nearly 15 months. I found that she was only sleeping for 20-30 minutes each sleep before. Now she sleeps around 2 hours or most sleeps. Other plus is that she is actually starting to sleep through the night since we started the one sleep a day. :) Not every night but most

DD#1 dropped a sleep at about 12 mths - but then she would sleep for a good 3 hrs so it worked for us. She stopped day sleeps altogether at two though!
Do whatever works best for you :)

DD2 has just turned 1 and she dropped to one day sleep at around 10.5 months, although prior to that she was doing small sleeps a few times a day. Now she sleeps for 2 to 3 hours once a day and is sleeping much better at night too.

DD1 also dropped to one day sleep at 10 months, then cut out sleep al together during the day just before she turned 2. All the best:)

Im wondering the same thing about DS. He used to have a 2ish hour sleep in the morning and then another 2ish hour around lunch. The last week that morning sleep has gotten shorter and shorter. This morning it was only 30 minutes. i hope he isn't dropping it, i like my two sleeps a day!

Hi Sterla,

We're currently in the yucky phase of going to one nap a day and DD is 11 months old. This all started when she was getting close to 10 months old (in fact, probably about 9 months old or a little earlier, but I was avoiding it lol), so I just wanted to say that it can really vary hugely from baby to baby at what age their day sleep needs change, and I got some good advice off lovely ladies here at BB that you really just need to try and follow your baby closely as to when they are really showing that they are properly in need of a nap.

I was trying to prolong the two naps a day as long as possible, but it meant that some days DD had around 40 minutes sleep in total for the day (2 x 20 mins) and still wasn't tired at a reasonable time for bedtime. She's just able to stay awake for quite long periods now, and even if she gets a tiny catnap, that's it, she's ready for another huge spell of awake time (usually 4-5 hours). But only having that little amount of sleep in the day was causing her to sleep erratically at night (yes, back to sleep creates sleep!)

So we're having a good whack at one nap a day now and we sometimes have an earlier nap and and slightly earlier bedtime if she's flagging before a decent time for a middle-of-the-day nap, and sometimes she is able to have a great morning and last until after lunch before she needs a nap, and then it's bedtime as usual. Her naps can be a little unpredictable with how long they last, but generally when she's not overtired she can sleep for 2+ hours and then have a great night's sleep after that.

Sometimes she still needs a little catnap in the morning and then a shorter afternoon sleep, so some days we are back to the older "routine" if she needs it.

I'm personally finding it a hard transition as every day can be quite different (especially depending on when she wakes up for the day, which can be quite variable at the moment with teething), but if you follow your DS's signs, then you should be able to work out if he's ready for longer awake spells and it's definitely worth trying to see what happens IMO and whether he can take a longer nap - you may well find that he sleeps better for a longer stretch of time awake! It is a transition though - in my experience it doesn't just happen where your LO is suddenly able to have one great nap a day - some days are like that which is great, and some days are not.

Good luck, hun! Hope my experience of it helps :)

DD was 11months old when she dropped to one sleep, so unfortunately that golden rule of 18months from the MCHN's is only a guideline! Each bub varies so much. I knew DD was ready because her day sleeps were shorter and her nights went down hill again briefly.

I just began by stretching out her awake time in the morning, so she would go for a later nap. Some days it would take alot of distraction - so if we were out and about in the garden or something she was ok, but just begin inside she'd really get whingy. And like Acacia said, if she started to get tired and grumpy, it was bed time, even if it meant that she would then go to sleep early at night, or even have a quick 30min nap around 4 or so.

And whilst most bubs who drop to one sleep start sleeping for marathon lenghts of time, it's not always the case - DD quite often only sleeps for 1.5 hours at the most! Sometimes I'm lucky to get an hour! Although yesterday, she did surprise me with a 2.5 hour!! I was almost in there with a mirror to check she was breathing!

Thanks for all your replies. Seems like (with everything) there's a lot of variation.

I am actually testing out the one sleep today, though it sort of happened by accident. DS woke up at 6.30am, and then I was busy making pancakes for breakfast, etc, so I didn't manage to get him down for a sleep until 10.30am - so he'd been awake for 4 hours.

I'll see how he goes - it will be nice to know one way or other :).

DD was around 9.5 months when she started refusing the arvo sleep. Now she is up for 3 hours in the morn before a 2 hour sleep and then is up until about 6:30pm, when her eyes fall out of her head! lol.

I try and encourage an arvo sleep, in the pram etc, but it often makes her refuse bed until 8:30 or 9pm, which is waaaay too late imo.

HTH