More Sleep Issues

Maybe she's not ready for one nap? From what I've heard/read, from 12 to 18 months is when they transition from 2 to 1 nap. My little guy is 14 months and his daycare tried to move him to 1 nap but he was doing exactly what you are talking about and I asked (begged b/c we couldn't stand the early and sporadic sleep) them to continue with 2 naps. So he goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes around 7. Goes does down for nap 1 from 9:30 – 11:30 and nap 2 from 2:30 – 3:30. Supposedly they should sleep about 11 hrs at night, nap 1 for a max of 2 about 2½ – 3 hrs from wake, nap 2 for a max of 1 hr about 3 – 3½ hrs from nap 1 wake, and then about 4 hrs b/w nap 2 and bedtime. And don’t transition until she has a lot of trouble taking the nap 2. To transition from 2 naps to 1 nap you slowing push nap 1 later (take a week to push it back 15 – 30 minutes) until nap 2 dwindles away, slowing decreasing it my 15 – 30 minutes. Make sense? And easy book to follow is The SleepEasy Solution. Go to www.sleepyplanet.com and click on Tips&Tools. Hope this helps. Good luck. Get some solid sleep soon.

I put my youngest two ages 16 months & 2 1/2 yrs to bed between 8:00 and 8:30 consistently every night, they fall right asleep (do not fight me) they wake up between 7:00 & 7:15. They are both ready for a nap by 12:30 or 1:00 and sleep for 2 hours. My kids are getting around 12 hours of sleep a day. They are both extremely happy well adjusted kids.

On Friday Nights we let them stay up until 9:00 and they sleep in until 8:00 the next morning.

To me it seems that anyone that puts their kids to bed before 8:00 has trouble with them waking up around 5:00 or 6:00 (whick is way to early for me!)

I would suggest two things: Push the bedtime to a little later (7:30 or 8) have some good bedtime activities that give her some good one-on-one time with both parents (reading, bath time, quiet games... something calming that will help her go to sleep) then put her to bed.

Second: She probably doesn't need 3 hours at her naptime during the day. After 2 hours, gently try to wake her. If she doesn't immediately wake up, give her another ten minutes, and perhaps a second ten minutes if she's not ready the second time around. Then get her up and do some quiet activity to help her waken, then give her a small snack. By the time she's finished her snack she will likely be fully awake and ready to play.

If these ideas or some of the others suggested don't work, you might want to ask her peditrician to check to be sure she doesn't have a health issue.

Hi A.,

I have the same problem with my 15 month old daughter. She is down to 1 nap too. She just wakes up early. It is like her internal clock. If we put her to bed at 9pm, she wakes up at 5:15-5:30. If we put her to bed at 8pm, she wakes up between 5:15-5:30. If we put her to bed at 7pm, she wakes up between 5:15-5:30. See the pattern?

Well, we just decided to put her to bed at 7pm if she is going to get up early anyway. More rest for everyone!! I am hoping it is a phase because it is hard to keep her quiet while my 4 year old is still sleeping until 7:30!!

H.

My daughter is 20 months old and sleeps from 7:15-6:30 or so. She did the early waking thing at around 15-16 months with no real reason. She did get some teeth around that time. It only lasted about a month and then we started around 17 months going to one nap from about 1-3 (sometimes 12:30-3:00) and then she seemed to actually sleep longer at night. There was an adjustment phase when we switched her naps, but she is sleeping great now. What time are her nap? Also, have you tried letting her fuss for a little bit and see if she will fall back asleep (my daughter does this often).

Push her naps back and her bedtime back. Because she is only getting 1 nap for 2-3 hours, she is ready for bed early. Couple things to try, add a nap in the morning around 10am for and hour-hour1/2, and the second nap around 2pm and up around 4/5pm. Bedtime around 8:30pm. You will be amazed at how much later she sleeps by adding in a nap and pushing her bedtime back. All my girlfriens and myself put our kids to bed no earlier than 8pm, any other time is too early. If you want the 1 nap, push it back and push her bedtime back. Make sure you have a routine in place.