Hi,
My son is almost 10 months old. He has been on a nap schedule for about 4 months of napping at 9 am and 1 pm. Last week, putting him down at 1 pm resulted in him playing quietly in his crib for up to an hour and then crying for awhile before I got him up. So, I've tried putting him down later (usually around 1:45 or 2) and he'll sleep, but then he wakes up unhappy and crying after 40 minutes, so I don't think he's well rested because he usually wakes up and plays in his crib instead of crying. Have any of you experienced this around 10 months? Should I try a different schedule and if so, any recommendations? I know it's common to go down to one nap around 12 months, but I really don't think he's ready for that. He's generally fussy around 1:30-2:00ish; I know he needs the sleep but don't know how to help him take this afternoon nap easier. I've been trying to get him outside a lot and give him time to crawl around and play actively before his nap, which I thought was helping, be he's still waking up after 40 minutes unhappy. Any suggestions or insight would be great! Thanks!
Some kids are ready to go from two naps per day to only one around that age - you might want to try putting off the morning nap until a little later...my daughter went from two naps to only one - from noon-2:30 or 3:00. She's now 20 months, and still does one nap, but not until 1:30 or 2:00. Good luck!
Ah, B., it sounds to me like he's giving up the afternoon nap. When my daughter did the same, around the same age, I just kept her awake until "naptime" in the afternoon, and then she'd take a good long nap. Sleep schedules evolve & change, we can only work with it, not control it.
Good Job Mommin'!
I would try keeping him up a little later for his morning nap and seeing if he took a longer one, then letting him rest around three, but the later one would eventually be gone.
It changes, when he is tired let him sleep, and try to keep him up after 4 or 5 pm so he will sleep for the night. Trust his clues and your gut.
Good Luck.
S.
Mother to Kai
www.HomeWithKai.com
I think it's pretty common for kids to lose their morning nap at around this time. If you take away the morning nap, he'll probably sleep a lot longer in the afternoon and still go down around 1:00 or 1:30! Good Luck! Those naps are important!!
Have you tried letting him cry for a little bit when he wakes up unhappy after 40 minutes? My kiddo will sometimes wake up early like this, but if I leave him alone, he will go back to sleep after 5-10 minutes and sleep for another 45-60 minutes. It might be worth a try before just deciding to drop a nap. If it doesn't work, then maybe he really is ready for just one nap.
My son dropped one of two naps around this age, too - I ultimately wanted him to take an afternoon nap, so I worked to keep him distracted during morning nap time and put him down a little earlier than his usual 1 pm for afternoon nap. After he got used to this, I just started bumping the afternoon time back until he was regularly going down around 1/1:30. For a while, he would occasionally fall asleep in the car in the morning (or in the stroller) if we weren't doing something active, but now he takes a 3-4 hour nap in the afternoon only.
Hi B.,
I have gone through that with my 14 month old at different stages. I would make his morning nap a little later (like 15 minutes) then I would make his afternoon nap later as well. I would put him down at 1:15 or 1:30. You don't want to put him down too late because then it could backfire on you. It may take a couple days up to a week or two for him to get used to a new schedule. So, don't assume it isn't working but don't expect it to work the first day. If you want to ease into changing his schedule instead then only change the nap time to 15 minutes increments every couple days.
Hope it works out for you. Just remember he is trying to figure it all out too.:)
