Question about going from 2 naps to one?

Question

I have a baby who is on the verge of going to one nap a day. Honestly she could go one day with 2 naps the next day with one and so on.
But I'm really not sure if she is better off giving up her morning nap or her afternoon nap. Like today she went down for a nap at 10 but most days I try not to put her down till 11:45.
I'm a little scared she is going to be a grouch by the time 8 rolls around

She will be one in a week and a half

Answer 1

Why not have one be shorter while she adjusts? For me if I open her door and curtains part way through the nap, she'll eventually wake up from the house noises (or becuase the dog goes into her room). So if she normally takes two 2 hour naps, try to switch her to a 1 hr and a 2 hr...etc.

Generally if a child has 1 nap, its in the early afternoon, but it should be whatever works for you.

What age is she? There are charts online of how many hours of sleep in a 24 hour period are reccomended for each age group.

Answer 2

Any time there is a shift to a different sleep schedule you will have days when grumpiness is unavoidable. It is generally short-lived even though it seems impossible to deal with when it is happening. I am a mom to 4 kids, a grandma to 1, and I have provided child care in my home for 20 years. It is common and normal for naps to vary from day to day. While most babies do make the transition from 2 naps a day to just 1 by giving up their morning nap, it could be natural for some babies to prefer a different schedule. I took care of one little girl who wanted to be down for her one nap a day by 11:30 and would even ask to go to her crib when she got tired. This lasted until she gave up naps all together a little before she turned 3 years old (quite early to give up naps in my experience). Sometimes an early nap is obviously needed or the child simply falls asleep while playing or eating lunch before nap time has arrived. You know it will make for a cranky evening, but there is little you can do to avoid it. Typically I ease into the transition of 2 naps to 1 but pushing morning nap back to a later time period a little at a time. It is certainly a possibility that your daughter will be grouchy by the time 8 PM arrives, but no need to be scared about it, if it happens, she may need an early bedtime. Right now I am caring for a little girl who will be 4 at the end of this month. She is working on transitioning into no naps. Sometimes she falls asleep at "normal" nap time (typically 1-3 most days). Sometimes she isn't tired at 1:00 yet she falls asleep later and has to be woken up when her dad comes for her which makes her cranky. Other times she doesn't nap at all and ends up cranky at night so early bed time is in the cards. Ultimately, each child is different and they all go through a variety of nap stages until about 4-5 years old when they outgrow the need for regular daily naps.

Answer 3

In my experience the vast majority of children napping once a day nap in the afternoon, sometimes late morning to early afternoon, but more often in the range of 12 or 1 to 3. (And the nap schedule at pre-school is typically a 1 to 3 naptime.)

I would not be so concerned about "which" nap is given up, because the naptime itself will change once a second nap is dropped. As for "which" nap to drop....I would essentially leave that to your baby, to let you know what she needs.

When my twins dropped a nap I was concerned about which nap they were dropping, and what that left me with in terms of when they would nap, etc. I was a bit nervous because it was clear they wanted to drop their afternoon nap, which seemed iffy to me -- I thought it meant that they would end up taking a nap just a few hours after they woke up, and then, once they were up, that they would be UP for too many hours before bedtime.... As it happened, they did drop their morning nap, but the remaining "naptime" was changed, and after a transitional period it turns out that their one nap is from 1 until 3. From talking to other moms that is typical. In other words: If your child naps from 9-11, and also from 2-3....and drops the afternoon nap...you will find that you work with your child to shift the "remaining" naptime, making it later. As a matter of fact everything ends up shifting, in my experience, and you soon find a schedule that works. (In this house, we ended up shifting our milk schedule and lunch schedule when we went to one nap, too.)

Especially since you say that she can now go two naps one day, and only one nap the next, it sounds quite possible that your transition will involve just that kind of...uncertainty...for a little while. Her "tired signs" will tell you what she needs, and she may need different things on different days for a little while. That said, however, don't let it get too varied -- that isn't good for her, and it's not good for you either.

Good luck! Going to one nap is a strange thing...I was happy because it left us with more time to get out into the world and do things, but it is more exhausting in other ways, too!)

Answer 4

With my kids when they were ready to give up one nap I started with the afternoon nap, just so when it was bed time they would go down easier. It's really up to you and what works best with your schedule.

Good Luck