Ending Morning Nap?

Updated on June 12, 2008
M.K. asks from Bartlett, IL
14 answers

I have a 14 (almost 15) month old daughter who I think may be ready to give up her morning nap. I think she may be shifting her sleep schedule to too much during the day and not enough at night. She goes to bed around 7 and up until recently would fall asleep right away and not get up until around 6 or so. Now, when we put her down she is up for almost an hour (not fussing, just talking to her animals in her crib) and we think she is getting up quite a bit earlier. Again, she doesn't fuss, but when my husband goes to get her at 6 she is wide awake and by 7:00 looks like she is ready for a nap. She takes her morning nap around 8 and will be down for almost an hour. She is taking her afternoon nap at around 1 and is down for 2. Her morning nap used to be later and shorter which makes me think she is not getting enough at night. So, my questions are 1) How can I tell if she is really ready to give up her morning nap and 2) Any helpful hints on how to go about it - do I go cold turkey or does anyonr have any other methods that worked? Thanks in advance

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J.G.

answers from Springfield on

Changes in sleep patterns can happen so fast at this age that it an be hard to keep up. It doesn't sound like there's really anything wrong, though. Kids at this age are very smart. They sleep when they need to and eat when (and how much) they need to. I would try not to over think it. As long as so doesn't show signs of being overtired, it's probably safe to just trust her and go with the flow.

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M.C.

answers from Chicago on

Well I'm plugging in here at the end of the day, but your best bet is to let her set the pace. I wouldn't worry about her not sleeping enough at night. Since she is content to be alone and talk to herself and play with her animals in her crib, she is an exceptionally wonderful child, probably very intelligent and creative. Since you are home and have only her to care for, you can go with the flow for a few weeks at which time she will probably settle into a new routine. When and if you have another child you will indeed be fortunate if he/she is as easy. More active children want to get out of the crib and run around as soon as they awaken, add to that an early riser and you're looking at a very tired M..

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C.P.

answers from Chicago on

This time was the most stressful for me, cause I hated going from two naps to one, I loved my time in the morning! But it does sound like she's ready to go to one nap.

I wouldn't go cold-turkey though. It'll be hard, but you can try to push that morning nap slowly more towards lunch-time. Make sure she's well-fed in case she konks out right before lunch, but don't worry about it, she'll eat when she gets up.

You kind of have to just play it by ear at this point. Push her in the morning till you can't take it anymore and just have to put her down, then let her sleep. This may cause her PM nap to be later (dinner-time), but push that one too. See if you can get her to go past dinner-time and then put her down for the night, or let her go down for 1/2 hour to an hour, wake her up for dinner, and put her back down.

It sounds cruel, but really, it works. It's hard for a while, but if you can successfully move her nap to after lunch, she'll be on a good one nap schedule. And if she's truly ready for it, it'll be easier than it sounds.

Good luck!
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
(Proverbs 22:6 ESV)

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H.C.

answers from Chicago on

Sounds like your daughter is still taking two naps. I don't buy the "she has to nap only once a day theory." She may also be transitioning to days where she needs one and days when she needs two. At your daughter's age, my son went from one nap a day for a couple of weeks back to two naps a day. Now he's transitioning again. Up at 6:30/7am, and usually needs a nap at 10/10:30 but sometimes not until 11 - 12pm, sleeps for 2 - 2 1/2 hours and then in bed by 6:30/7. If he doesn't get a good nap in the morning, he may need "quiet time" in his crib around 4pm or 4:30pm. And sometimes he still needs an extra full nap in the afternoon.

I say ride out her schedule, since she still seems to have one. Maybe put her to bed a little later if she's not quite tired yet, as long as it doesn't mess things up.

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L.P.

answers from Chicago on

I have one daughter and she is now 21 months old. I was clueless on morning nap, afternoon nap and ending one of them. A friend asked me "is she off her morning nap yet" and wasn't sure of the significance of it....my daughter just ended the morning nap on her own. Since she was at the 16 month mark, she has been taking one nap and the nap time has shifted from 11-1 to now from about 1-3 or 1-4. However she goes to bed much later than your child. She goes to bed at 9pm and wakes at 7. She is awake for 6 hours, naps for 2 (sometimes 3), awake for 6 more and then sleeps for the night. Try holding off the last feeding longer so that she'll take more and be more tired. You may want to use the overnight diapers as more milk before bed may lead to wetter diapers. Good luck!!

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K.N.

answers from Chicago on

Why not just go with the flow? Sometimes my 15 month old takes one nap and sometimes two naps. Sometimes he goes to bed at 8 pm and sometimes 9:30 pm. I let him sleep when he is tired and play when he is awake.

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J.C.

answers from Chicago on

My little boy is 14 1/2 months and I think we are starting to go through the same transition. My daughter was around 16 months when she did it. It was tough. You should expect it to take several weeks, and she will probably be tired & crabby a lot. When I finally cut out the AM nap altogether, it took her a while to lengthen her afternoon nap. So we had a couple of weeks of one 45 minute nap a day. I was worried that was how it was going to be from then on out, but she figured it out and soon lengthened her one nap to about 3 hours. She started out going down from 11 AM to 2 PM (and going to bed at 6 PM for the night), but now at almost 3 years old she goes down around 12:30 and sleeps until 3ish, going to bed at around 7:30 for the night. Now we have the transition to no nap at all to look forward to! Aaagh! :) Good luck & just try to stay flexible. Check out a copy of "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child" if you haven't already. That book is invaluable IMHO!

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L.K.

answers from Chicago on

My son is just a little bit older----19 mmonths. I just recently went through the same thing with him. I try to keep him up until 10:OO or if I can eat lunch at 11:00 and then put him down. Since I've been doing this he has been taking a good 2i/2 hour to 3 hour nap and then going to bed on time. I also learned from my older daughter though that schedules are contantly changing. I would try a few things and see what works. Good luck!

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K.J.

answers from Chicago on

My 17 month old son has pretty much given up his morning nap as well (unless he is sick). He now wakes daily around 8/8:30, is up until about 12:30/1, sleeps about 2 hours, and then goes to sleep around 9 and sleeps through til the next morning. Every baby is different, but this seems to work well for my son. Your daughter seems to be giving you cues, with her wake time in the crib and earlier rising, so you might want to try to cut the a.m. nap and see how that goes.

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A.M.

answers from Chicago on

she may not be ready to go to 1 nap. when she is, she will just not look tired at nap time and go straight through until the second nap. My little one is 13 months and sometimes she manages only 1 nap and sometimes she needs 2. She also talks to her animals for up to an hour at night. I go by a "nap on demand" principle. She goes to bed at 8 and gets up around 7am but I think there is some animal chatting in the 8-7 window :)

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C.M.

answers from Chicago on

My son was doing a similar thing when he was about that age. We ended up going cold turkey, which was painful at first, for the first week or so, but then it was fine, and he transitioned easily into one 3-hour nap in the afternoon, bed by 8, and up at 8 in the morning. Good luck!

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D.W.

answers from Chicago on

Sounds like morning nap is gone. For me, we had to do an earlier lunch, like 11 or so, then afternoon nap. It messes up your day initially, but it worked for her sleeping through the night and later in the morning the next day. You may have to push her bedtime too, but you will be able to judge that from mood as day wears on. Her nap, when changed, became two hours then for us. She is now an afternoon napper, around 1 to 2 o'clock and then down for an hour. The other option that my friend did, was feed her child a snack around 10, lay him down for nap and then lunch was later, depending on how long slept. I liked my way better (tried both) and although at first fussy before lunch, worked better for the rest of the afternoon and bedtime. God Bless!

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K.

answers from Chicago on

My son gave up his morning nap around that age. For him, we just kept him up in the mornings until he looked tired and then we'd put him down. His nap crept back from 9:00 to 10:00 to 11:00 and eventually it just sort of "merged" with his afternoon nap. 11 hours of sleep at night sounds about right to me. If you push back the morning nap you may find that she starts to sleep later in the morning, too.

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S.K.

answers from Chicago on

I agree with Kate. I would try to keep her awake longer-start out at napping at 8:30 and then in a week or so postpone her nap an extra half hour until she can nap at the desired time like around 10 or 11. I wish you the best.

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