My daughter will be one year old in 2 weeks. Lately she has been fighting her naps so hard! She goes to daycare 4 days per week from 8-2:00. At night she sleeps from 8:30-7:00am, I still breastfeed but she sleeps through the night without feedings. Her naptimes are 11:30 and 3:30. We keep to her same schedule at home and daycare. At daycare, her longest nap would be half hour, often less, and often skips her nap. Lately she has also been very very fussy at her afternoon naptime, thrashing, crying, and getting very upset. If she skips her morning nap or has very short one- she will take her afternoon nap. It has been very frustrating to get her to nap- though she needs it!
She has never been a good napper, she will sleep for half hour and wake up, always been this way....now she is not even managing these short naps!
My questions are- what can I do to get her to nap better? Although I respect other's views, I do not believe in letting her "cry it out".
Also, at what age did your kids go from taking two naps- to just having one? And what times?
Thanks!!!
I would give up one of the naps, and perhaps try an earlier bedtime if you feel she needs it.
My son is also 1. months old. He sleeps from 7:00 p.m. to 6:30-7:30 a.m. He gets one nap, usually from 1.:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., although some days he sleeps for only 45 minutes or so. He abandoned his second nap a few months ago!
Sounds to me like she is ready to give up a nap. Every kid does this at a different time, but it's worth a try at this point is sounds like! You may have to move her afternoon nap up a little if she just can't handle waiting that long, but I'd say it's worth a try to give up the morning one at this point!
Hi,
I didn't read the other responses so I might be repeating others advice. My son will be one in January as well and he's moving toward one nap per day IF that. He just doesn't seem to require a lot of sleep. It is hard because as moms we rely on our kids napping so we can get a break which we need! Try to cut out the AM nap and have your child nap about 1:00 everyday if you can. This seems to be the best bet for my son and he still goes down at night (about 7:00 or so) w/ no problems.
Good luck!
My two year old went from 2 naps to 1 nap when he was still an infant, I believe. But he sleeps for 2 hours when he naps in the afternoon.
Maybe it is time for her to only have one nap?
My son naps from 1 - usually. After lunch time so his belly is full. Sometimes when he's really tired he naps earlier. Sometimes he sleeps for 3 hours.
I do agree though, she needs her sleep.
She's ready for one nap. At 1. 1/2 months my daughter wouldn't sleep for her morning nap anymore, so it happened to be on her first birthday that I kept her up in the morning and put her down for her nap at 1:00. She's been sleeping from 1 to 3, sometimes 3:30 ever since and she's 20 months now.
I agree with a previous poster that her naps at this age should be closer to 9am and 1pm with a 7am wake-up to prevent her from getting overtired. I don't know if this is something that you could change with her daycare provider. My daughter will be one in a month and she sleeps from 6:30-6:30 with a nap from 9-10:30am and again from 1-2:30pm. The past couple of weeks she has been playing longer in her crib and slightly fighting the afternoon nap, but I think she still needs it. My older daughter was never a good napper and went from 2 naps down to 1 at 13-14 months and gave them up for good at age 2...though she does sleep 12-13 hours at night! When she went down to one nap a day it was from about 12:30-2:30pm.
I think she is ready to have only 1 nap. When I switched my kids over to 1 nap I had them take their afternoon naps earlier. Also, some children just need less sleep than other children. I have 3 children and 2 of them just don't require as much sleep as the other one.
We have what we call "room time" where my children have to stay in their rooms to play or take a nap if they want for an hour (we had to work up to that and have activities for them to do while they were in their rooms that they could do by themselves). We transitioned from naps to room time by reading stories just like we did before naps. Then I talked with them about what they wanted to do while they were in their roooms and helped them get the items they needed. Then we set a timer and put it in a place were the kids could hear it. I told them that they could come out of their rooms when the timer went off. I let them come out of their rooms to go to the bathroom or getting a drink. They sometimes come out to ask a question or get a forgotten item. But for the most part they do really well about staying in their rooms. Also, the child who needed a nap could just climb in bed and take a nap. My youngest child only sometimes needed a nap (just like my oldest son) so rather than forcing her to take a nap she didn't really need she had room time like the others and sometimes took a nap.
I hope this helps. Even if she doesn't sleep it is important that everyone gets rest from everyone else and time to learn to play and explore by themselves.
Hi, my son is 14 months old. His daycare switched to one nap a day when he was 1. months old. It has worked great for him - as he was never a good napper before. His new schedule is a nap right after lunch. So that means lunch at 11am, nap from 1.:30-1 (the other kids sleep until 2pm).
In your post you mention that your daughter doesn't go to bed until 8:30pm. You could try laying her down earlier and see if she still sleeps until 7am. I've read about earlier bedtimes helping napping habits (however backwards that seems). My son, sleeps from 6:30pm-7am on most days with his one nap.
I have a daycare. I just cut my one year old at daycare down to one nap. He comes at 7:15. Breakfast at 730, snack @9, Lunch at 1., and he naps from 12-2:30. The good news is that now he is sleeping through the night whereas before he wasn't. Sometimes you have to just go with their needs are. There maybe a bit of transition period where she's really tired in the morning. Just keep her busy and have lunch ready early.
We started letting our daughter only sleep for one nap before a year. She wasn't taking long naps and she was getting up so early that only having one nap helped with that a little. You could try just having a little quiet time during one of the nap times, especially if she is only sleeping 30 minutes or none at all. It is amazing at how they will let us know that they are growing up and ready for change!
My daughter was only taking one nap a day at this age. She took longer naps in the afternoon that way. She would lay down for her nap about 1 pm and sleep for a good hour or so.It may be helpful to just try skipping the morning nap for a week and see what happens with the afternoon nap. It may turn out that her afternoon naps will end up being longer. Hope this is helpful.
My son is 1. months and I think that he might be transitioning to one nap soon too. Lately he does not want to take a morning nap. I also have heard that moving the bedtime up a little can make nap times easier. It does sound strange, but I guess it works for some people. My son usually goes to bed at around 7 pm and sleeps until 7am or later.
Sounds like she's ready to transition to one nap. All kids are different, but I think it's typical to transition at about age 1 or shortly thereafter. My kids were in the 13 month range. Usually they go down right after lunch. Good luck.
She is probably just going down to one nap. It happens to a lot of kids at that age. I think my daughter was 12 or 13 months when she switched to just one afternoon nap a day.
Keep nursing and follow her cues. Watch the child, not the clock or calendar. When in doubt, go to AskDr Sears.com There is a ton of great info and advice.
Do not let your baby cry it out. You are the only person that they know and have learned to trust. My kids gave up naps at way too young, but that is all the sleep they needed.
Lay down with her for quiet time, read and let yourself snooze for a bit. You will both feel better.
Enjoy your little one! The days are long but the years are short...
Good Luck,
J.
My son is 14 months and is transitioning to one nap a day. Also, when my first went to daycare and returned after a summer off (I'm a teacher), he was 15 months and they expected him to be down to one nap a day. He wasn't ready, so they went back to two, but they've been doing daycare for 15 years, and they generally showed excellent judgment, so I'd trust them more than I'd trust myself!
Sounds like she is ready for one nap. We had a little bit of work transitioning with our 14 month old a within the last month. Ever since he has dropped his morning nap he is taking his afternoon nap like a charm. He sleeps for about 2 hours and 45- 3 hours in the afternoon and goes to bed at 7 pm and sleeps until 7:30 or so.
I agree with everyone else in that she is probably ready for just one nap. My son who turned 2 in October was ready for one nap around your daughters age. He takes a nap shortly after lunch at home and daycare (only goes 2 days a week). This doesn't always occur, it may be a little later in the afternoon depending on what we are doing but he never misses a nap. He goes to bed between 7 - 7:30 and is up around 7am and his naps usually are from 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. I hope this helps.
I think she only needs one nap a day. When my boys started fighting naps I took that as a signal to drop down to one nap a day. For my oldest, that was at 8mos. He would only sleep 20mins in the morning and 1/2 hour in the aftrnoon, but once I cut out his morning nap, he went to sleeping a good solid 2hr stretch in the afternoons. My youngest was the same way, about 10mos he started fighting naps, and when I cut out the morning nap he would sleep a whopping 3hrs in the afternoons!
You may have to make the afternoon nap earlier, so instead of putting her down for a nap at 1.:30am, give her lunch, let her play a bit, and put her dow nat 12:30pm.
Hello!
It sounds like she's ready for one nap. When my son turned 1, we changed him to just one nap a day - he'd have lunch around 1.:00am and then go down for a nap from noon to 2:00/3:00pm. The first week takes some adjustment - good luck! Let us know how everything works out!
I dont have any solid advice for you but you are not alone. My son is 9 months old and has never napped well though he sleeps 13 hours at night. He used to nap at 10:30 and 3 pm for half hour each He is starting to take no morning nap as i have found if i let him skip the morning nap he sleeps 1-3 hours in the afternoon. But one thing that i have found that worked for no cry naps and bedtime is a lovey of some sort. My son has had a soft stuffed monkey since he was born and he uses it to go to sleep everytime since he was 5 or 6 months old. When he stays at my moms he has a lamb made of very soft material. Perhaps your little one just wants company. I hope you get it all worked out and remember even after all the advice you get there is no wrong answer the way you choose is the way it should be.
Her napping times seem a little off for waking at 7am. Usually kids of that age nap around 9/9:30am and 1/1:30pm. Maybe she is becoming overtired by having her morning nap so late and that is effecting how she sleeps during her naps? You could try moving her naps earlier in the day and see if that helps.
Kids generally lose the morning nap around 18 months. Some earlier, some later. Once kids are down to one nap it generally starts around 1pm, give or take a half hour.
