How do you know when your child is ready for only one nap? How do you switch to one nap?

Question

My daughter is 14 months and is napping about 1/2 to one hour in the morning. Then she may sleep 1/2 hour to 45 min. in the afternoon. I am afraid her one nap will only be very short, then I'll have an angry, tired baby on my hands. I am very strict with her routine and do all the things doctors say to do to get babies to sleep. This is driving me crazy!

Answer 1

yes i would try cut out her morning nap and let her nap just after lunch, 8 she will bathed and ready for bed

Answer 2

what i did was switch the routine a little bit and push the morning nap to after lunch and that wa the only nap of the day and he slept for about an hour and a half or so. worked really well for him then bed time he was really tired and slept good and slept to about 8:00. good luck

Answer 3

Your baby will let you know when she's ready to go onto just one nap. Routines might be useful but babies will only follow them if they want to! My 18 month old is on one nap a day now-in the morning, for about an hour. he went to this when he started sleeping better at night, a few months ago.

Answer 4

When she doesnt want to go to sleep at night and seems like she's just bursting of energy....thats when you know her naps need to be shorter or cut down to one nap. My daughter just one day stopped taking her morning nap. I would try to rock her and she would wiggle and squirm and wouldnt fall asleep for anything so I gave up and started giving her naps at noon for about 2 hours. She would sleep for 3 if I let her but wouldnt go to sleep until after 10pm.

Answer 5

With my daughter her afternoon nap kept getting shorter and shorter, when it got down to 1/2 an hour or so my wife decided to take action. It was a few days of a tired onery baby, but after she got used to the change her one afternoon nap got longer and longer! Now even at 25 months she is sleeping 3 hours or so in the afternoon! Good luck!

Answer 6

In my experience children will adjust them selves into one nap, both of my children did. They just stopped going to sleep when I put them down for their AM nap. However, they were not on strict schedules, so I don't know if that will effect it at all. My 2 year old moved to one nap at about 12 months, usually from 12-2. She now only takes a rest (usually not sleep, just calm relaxing time) from 1-2 and occasionally if she's had a exhausting day will take a short 30 minute nap at 4 pm. My 10 month old has move dherslef into one nap now, she naps from 12-3:30. This works out well for both my kids, neither of them are cranky and tired. Good luck to you!

Answer 7

I think the most important thing is that she gets enough sleep. It doesnt matter if she is taking 1 long nap, or 2 short ones (As long as it works for the both of you). If you want her to take one longer nap in the afternoon, then just try to keep her awake doing some activities that you dont usually do. Then feed her a good lunch, and put her down for a nap. This may be hard for a few days, but children adjust to new routines pretty quickly. However, If you dont mind the 2 naps, I would say just let her be. She knows how much sleep she needs. Good luck to you.

Answer 8

Ya know...I have thre kids and a ton of neices and nephew so I do have some experience here.  First off you really should let your baby guide you not what all the doctors say. I mean they are basing there information off of their education...you know your child thru and thru.  I don't think there really is a set time when you need to decrease the naps.  It just sort of happens naturely.  I do hear you on the not wanting a cranking baby.  You are going to have to try some trail and errors.  When you go to put them down for the second nap and they just are not tired and not going to sleep then you know that you need to switch it to one..around lunch time.  I put mine down around 12:45 so they had a nice full tummy from lunch but it is not too close to bedtime.  You don't want to be giving the child too much sleep during the day because themn you are going to end up with a baby who won't go to bed at night.  I hope this helps a bit.  Just take it one day at a time...your child really will lead you.

Answer 9

There is that terrible time when 2 naps is too many but 1 is not enuf.  Happens again 1 is too much but none is not enuf. Then they grow up and get their drivers license and crash your car.  Can you add up the number of hours you haven't spent worrying about her.

Answer 10

My son was taking 2 naps a day...1 hour and half at about 11:00 and then a t 4 he would take another hur nap. Now at 10 months he usually takes one long nap after lunch.

Answer 11

My daughter (and the little boy I care for) both around 9-10 months stopped having the morning nap. They are now 16 months and 18 months old. With my daughter, she just wanted to stay up all night, so I knew she was sleeping too much during the day. The first day that I took out her morning nap, I just took her somewhere fun like the park and played for a bit.

When she was younger her naps would be at 10am and then again at 2pm, and she would only sleep for 1/2 an hour to an hour. It drove me up the wall too!! Now she has a nap at 11:30am and sleeps until about 1-1:30! I always take the kids out at around 10am and then they both have a snack and a drink when we get home and are almost ready to take a nap!

Good luck, hope that helps

Answer 12

just keep her awake and play or take her out side keep her busy then afternoon let her fall asleep after lunch she should take a goodlong nap it is gonna be hard but you will get used to the change

Answer 13

The only way to know is to try it.  WIth my kids, they all gave up a 2nd nap around 1.  Instead of having them go to early afternoon, I moved lunch up a little to 11:30 and started the nap at noon.  When he gets a little older, it may move closer to 1

Answer 14

First off, I recommend you pick up the book "Healthy Sleep habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth.  It really helped me understand what my kids needed in their sleep habits.

Generally, 12-18 month olds need two naps.  If she is falling asleep at those times, then put her down for her nap then.  Only when she stops sleeping in the morning should you go to one afternoon nap.  The afternoon nap should continue until about 3 or 4 years of age.

As long as she falls asleep and wakes up on her own, I wouldn't worry about the nap causing a fussy toddler.  She needs her sleep still!

Answer 15

My 19 month old son dropped his afternoon nap around 13-14 months! I would put him down, and he would just cry. So I took him out and thats how that happened..now, he only naps once for about an hour and a half in the late morning..Don't worry too much about the routines. Every baby is different. Let her tell you what she needs. You can always experiment and try keeping her awake in the morning. Maybe she'll sleep longer in the afternoon after a few days. (A few long cranky days!) Try taking her out of the house in the morning to keep her up. She'll let you know what she needs. It may take a bit of getting used to, but then again, maybe shes not ready for one big nap yet! Good luck and try not to stress too much. These times go so fast! before you know it, no nap at all! Yikes! :)