2 sleeps to 1?

I'm just wondering, at what age did your baby (or should I say toddler?!) drop from 2 sleeps per day to 1? What were the signs that they were preparing to do this? Did you initiate this or did your baby? (By that I mean did you detect that they were going to be dropping back to 1 and started to make that transition with them, or did you just wait until baby no longer went to sleep at their normal time).

What time of the day did they have their big sleep, and did you find the transition to 1 sleep per day hard (i.e. did they get a bit grizzly from being awake for longer until they adjusted?).

ok....(cracking knuckles)....

Matilda has always struggled with sleeping, but I always persisted. In early July she would sleep for a long morning nap and have a really short arvo one (she was 13 months). Gradually there would be times she didn't sleep in the arvo at all but laid in her cot for an hour chatting. She was tired and showing tired signs, but wouldn't sleep. We went to a sleep school in the end of July (mainly for night sleeps) and while she was there she went crazy with her day sleeps, refusing to sleep at all with hours of everyone trying to settle her. Finally the nurses said "Let's try one sleep a day" They told me it was far too early but we would try. Around 10am she would get really grizzly having missed her normal nap time, so I would take her for a walk or try to preoccupy her until 11am when I would feed her an early lunch and put her to bed. She did really well.

From that one day on we have had a few days on/off where we settle her for two sleeps, depending on her night etc, but sometimes when she's been sick she's needed two.

Otherwise I keep her up and have lunch around 11.30-12 and then read a book & to bed for her nap. Her usual sleep time is 2-3 hours and she sleeps really well now. Maybe one day of struggles with daytime sleeps, where as for the first 3 weeks of July I would have 6 days of struggling with her to get her to sleep.

SOOOOO to make an epic post even longer LOL

At what age?She dropped to 1 sleep at 14months

What were the signs?The signs were that she wasn't sleeping during one of her sleeps just complaining through the whole thing.

Did you initiate this or did your baby?She initiated dropping a sleep, but I had to initiate waiting until later in the day for the sleep (otherwise she would go to bed at 4pm!)

What time of the day did thay have their big sleep & how was the transition?She has her big sleep around 12-12.30. And after a week of transition time (grizzles) she has done really well, much better than ever before with day time sleeps.

HTH! :D

hi melinda

with jay he was around 15mths old - he used to have 2 naps a day am was (same as lani atm) 9 till 11 then afternoon 2 till 4, at around 15mths he started taking a while to drop off to sleep at his 9am one not crying or anything just amusing himself in his cot however when he did drop off he slept till around 1pm - so i gradually started putting him down about 15mins later every few days so within around 1wk he would have lunch around 11.30 then go down for a nap around 12 till around 3pm - it was heaven. as he got older his nap time changed to around 1pm and i used to have to wake him up at 4pm - these day sleeps completely stopped at the age of nearly 4yrs old, when we were discovering when we went in at night to tuck him back in before we went to bed that he was still laying there awake at 11pm, even now when he is tired i just encourage him to watch a video and lay down for a bit and sometimes he drops off - golly gosh he is going to find school hard.

good luck - you know you may even find that if you put jacob on 1 sleep a day his night time sleeps may go back to normal for you who knows give it a try, can't hurt hey.

Both my boys dropped to 1 sleep not long after turning 1.

Lachlans 2 naps a day were getting shorter ie approx 40 mins for each nap, so I wasn't really getting a break. So I decided how he would go if I could keep him up to 11am. Playgroup helped this as he would go down for his first nap @ 9am but we had to go to playgroup.

So he started going to bed as soon as we got home from playgroup, and slept for a good 2-3 hours. I then decided to keep him up till 7pm (his bed time) as if he was to have another nap he would be up late and I didn't want to start doing that. He did get cranky around 5pm but it was tea time anyway and that would keep him quiet, then bath, pyjamas and bed 30mins later.

Now a few months on he is still going down for his nap basically straight after playgroup or on a non playgroup day usually after he has had his lunch. His naps are getting a bit shorter again now though, but still anywhere from 1.5 - 2 hours. Sometimes only 40 mins as well but thankfully not that often.

Kameron had given up daytime naps by the time Lachlan was born at 2.5yrs old.

Love

I can't remember exactly how old Angus was when he dropped his morning sleep I think he was around 14mths.
He was always happy to go to sleep previously, but would cry when I put him in his cot and if I left him he would go to sleep but only for about 20 mins.

So I tried putting him down for his afternoon sleep at 12:30 soon after lunch and he still is in this habit. He has a good 2 1/2 hours.

Theresa, I am so glad that you posted because Jacob has just started waking earlier and earlier in the morning as well. I'm talking 5.30 am!!!

I was actually just going to do another post to ask about ideas for this. Perhaps we should try 1 day sleep for Jacob too and see how he goes?

I'm not sure what to do now! LOL Jacob will sleep well for his 2 daytime sleeps (no problems getting him down) but is waking up at 5.30 am as I mentioned.

Any suggestions on what I should do?

I don't think I should make any changes right now as he's unwell, but considering his daytime sleeps are at this stage ok (he's obviously tired or he wouldn't sleep)....it's just the early rising at this stage that is a worry!!

Suggestions on what I should do.....anyone?! LOL

I'm not sure if since we can get him down ok for his daytime sleeps, if we should change them now or not????

Mel,

I know this doesn't help but my kids are getting up a good hour early at the moment cause of it being lighter earlier.

They just seem to know they have more daylight LOL

Love

Thats a hard one Mel.... how are you going??

With Matilda, last year she got up with the sun around 5.30am-6am and I couldn't cope very well.... we got into the pattern of giving her a bottle & changing her nappy & putting her back to bed with toys. So if she didn't sleep she could entertain herself for at least 30 minutes of laying down for me. DH would do it and I would stay in bed until I had to get up...She's now in that pattern, this morning she got up at 6am DH gave her a bottle & nappy change & she laid in her cot & chatted for 30 minutes until I got up to her... she's pretty happy with that and so am I (anything for an extra 30 minutes in bed!!!)

Jacob wakes up very happy as well, and we are reluctant to go in there whilst he is happily chatting to himself, which he will do for up to an hour!!! We are trying to make sure that he understands that we won't go rushing in there to him when he is happy - we will go in if he's upset, that's for certain. We also don't want him to think that the minute he is awake, that his day begins IYKWIM?

So what we're doing at the moment is holding out until around 6.15 - 6.30 and then he's up for the day.

I have to admit I'm feeling pretty tired......we're used to him not waking until at least 6.30 most of the time. I wonder if it's just because he's sick with a cold??? Not sure......

Hopefully thats it too... because it tends to get colder just before the sun rises, so maybe thats irritating him :-k even with heaters on the air gets that chill to it...dunno just hoping for you that this doesn't continue!!

We have the black sheets up too & found it did make a difference having the room completely dark for sleeps

His room is very dark too, as he has blinds and curtains in there.

It is much lighter in the mornings though ATM........argh. What to do, what to do?! LOL

What sort of curtains do you have? We have blockout curtains and it works a treat, I would trip over stuff if I went in there when the curtains are closed. Another thing to do is (this is going to sound extreme) but make sure the curtains are tucked in so no light can be seen through any cracks LOL! I made sure Paris' curtains where slightly wider so I could do this.

Spotlight has some cheap blockout curtains that are really really good!

*hugs*
Cailin

They're not actually blockout curtains, but are something else....I can't for the life of me think of what it is called now, but they are still very dark, even regardless of the fact they're not blockout. Obviously blockout ones would have been perfect, but when we were looking for material to make them, we couldn't find any blockout material that was suitable! I do the same thing though - make sure there are no spots where the light can creep in!!!

God I am feeling SO tired though....he's pushed it back even further, to 5.15 am!

Thank you SO much for this post! I have been pulling my hair out trying to figure out what was going on with my son. He has been having two sleeps during the day and sleeping 8-8 at night. The last week (since i found out i was pg again!) he has been horrible with his sleeps. He's been going down for his morning sleep fine (10:30) but his arvo sleep (3:30) has been a nightmare! i think he has mabey had one this last week. the other days have been a battle. And at night he has been taking up to 1 1/2 hrs to go down.
SO i think as of tomorrow we will be trying only one nap a day! Cause i am SO tired and can not handle the battle anymore!
Wish me luck!!!
Bec

Wow....I've just looked at your signature and you have a son, Jacob. So do I! He was born on 18 August, so only a few days older than your Jacob!

What an excellent choice for a name!!!!
What ended up happening with your jacobs sleeps?
My jacob has just gone down recently (12:30). So it'll be very interesting to see how long he sleeps for. He woke up at 6:30 this morning...nearly killed me!
I must confess... i did get a slight sense of satisfation keeping him up till past his normal nap... i can see why he might enjoy keeping us up!
Fingers crossed he sleeps better tonight and that thias will sort out his early rising as well.
I am just getting SO tired... I guess this is probably a good time for him to change over to one nap a day... cause i'm only going to get tireder as the pg progresses and i don't think i could handle this in a few months time!!!
Thanks again for all your help!
Bec

Daylight saving did seem to be a factor.

But we did drop his sleeps from 2 to 1 but it happened on a day when we least expected it. I had to go visit a friend who lives maybe 40 - 45 minutes drive away and I deliberately left at his nap time so he could have a sleep in the car, but he didn't sleep and he stayed up until around 12.30 and he had just the 1 sleep that day and then had a great sleep overnight! So we took from that, that he was certainly fine with the one sleep and continued on with it, although he would go down at around 11 - 11.30 and sleep for around 2 hours on average. He's just started pushing it back a bit though so it's more like 1 - 1.30 that he goes down now.

It certainly sounds as though your Jacob may be ready for just 1 sleep per day if he is really getting upset about going down in the afternoon and just doesn't want to go down in the evening as well.

Good luck!

Thanks for this post, Melinda.
Gabby is no where near ready for 1 sleep a day but I was wondering what age she might be. Looks like I have a while to worry about it, hey?
Glad to hear that Jacob's sleeps have improved. I don't blame you for going nuts with all those early wake-ups!

Marisa (as a baby) and sleep you wont find in the dictionary. She stopped sleeping at all during the day before she was one. No joke. Why I remember this is I was so shocked that she slept on her 1st birthday, I had to wake her up for her name day ceremony and she was still sleepy - but the reason why the next day - she'd gotten tonsilitis and wasn't well. She didn't do it since then unless she is sick - it's the only time she ever day sleeps and even now.

Elijah has dropped from two sleeps to one for the last five or six months (he is 15 months) - he used to have two smaller sleeps (about an hour) but now has one big one at lunch. It's now harder to get him settled at lunch and he's more likely to sleep after lunch, for less than he used to. So I am thinking this sleep is going to be getting smaller and smaller. He always wakes at 6.30am regardless and still wakes in the night.

Matthew still has 2 naps but this thread is great as it shows me what signs to look for!

Matthew wakes up in the morning ready for the day around 5.30 - 6 as it is. I hope he doesn't get any earlier! In fact I am waiting for the day I can sleep in!

But of course there are 5 days out of the fortnight that we all are up around 5.30 as both DH and I work so that doesn't help poor Matty at all.

Kelly - a close friend of mine's daughter, also stopped sleeping well before she was 1!! There was no way she could get her to have a sleep during the day. She has done for the past few months though (she is the same age as Jacob - 17 months) - I think it coincided with her wearing herself out from walking LOL. But yeah, there was no way known that little girl was going down for a sleep!!!

Deb - yep, the early morning rising is a hard one!! I was so glad when i discovered that a lot of it was just due to it being much lighter in the mornings, but definitely changing to one sleep per day when he was ready seemed to help things - he now sleeps for around 11 hours on average (give or take). Jacob went on to 1 sleep per day at 13 months.

Nell - it's great when you know how to pick up a few signs that they are ready to drop a nap, otherwise it can get a bit stressful and you're wondering what on earth is going on! LOL

This whole sleeping thing... or not sleeping thing is killing me. Jacob only slept for 1 1/2 hrs yesterday arvo and took over an hour to get to sleep last night... He woke during the night at 3 and it took us till after 4 till he finally went back to sleep! Both my hubby and i are like zombies today!
He woke up at 7am (an improvement on yesterday!) and went down at 12 and has been asleep now for 1 1/2 hrs... but i can he him starting to stir...

How long did it take for your kids to adjust to one slep a day?

I'm going nuts!!!!

Awww Bec! Things can get a bit wobbly for a few weeks whilst they adjust. It seemed to take Jacob a few weeks before he was really settled into it.

A 1.5 hour sleep for Jacob is pretty good - but he quite often averages 2. I'm not worried if he only sleeps for 1.5 hours though and he'll do this a couple of times a week I would say.

When your Jacob woke at 3 am, what was he doing? Was he upset and needing your help to get back to sleep, or was he happy and just kind of chatting or something like that? The reason I ask is that it's not uncommon for our Jacob to wake in the night and have a full on conversation with himself (the longest this ever went was 3 hours!). But whilst he is happy, we leave him to it.

We had a break through!!!! \:D/ Jacob only took 30mins to go to sleep last night...And he slept the whole night until 7:15 this morning. I don't know if it was a fluke or what, but things don't seem so bad this morning after a solid nights sleep! He went down for his nap at 12:30, so we'll see how long he sleeps for.

When he was walking during the night it was a very unhappy awake... he would scream his lungs out, so one of us would go in an comfort him and put him back to bed... then 10mins later (or even less) it would start again until he was finally asleep. This could go on for an hour - an hour and a half. Very exhausting...

I read my hubby what you said Melinda about your Jacob and his night time chats... we had a laugh... which was a really nice change... thank you SO much for your help and just being there to listen... i really appriciate it! :flower: It makes it a bit easier to know that other people have been through this and survied!

He slept for 2 1/4 hrs....Yah!!!

Awww! You're welcome Bec! I'm pleased to hear that he had such a solid sleep during the day (he's probably worked out that he's now officially dropped to 1 LOL) and he's probably tuckered out come night time, hence the long sleep.

And you're right, things seem MUCH clearer and easier to handle when you've all had a good night's rest!!!

Here's hoping it continues!

Pity last night was a shocker for us (despite the two before that being GREAT) and it will be again tonight as Jacob's just started getting a cold (he was only unwell a few weeks ago...argh!). It seems that ever since I started taking him to playgroup and to the neighbour's house who does family day care to play one morning a week, he has been getting a few bugs! Poor sausage!