Update on Afternoon Nap

Every child is different. My daughter went to one nap early on before a year, and gave up naps all together right around age 2. We institued "quite time" instead. She would spend this time in her room playing quietly, sometimes she would actually fall asleep.

My son went to one nap around a year and held onto that nap until about 3. After that it was hit and miss. He just over 4 now and will still fall asleep on the couch in the later afternoons now and then for a little power nap.

It is said that everyone needs a specified amount of sleep but I don't believe it to be true. I think everyone has their own "schedule" and the amount of sleep a person, even a child, needs is unique.

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My son started really, really fighting his afternoon naps at about that age. He would seem tired about 2 hours after he got up and went down really easily for that one, but would not go down for the afternoon nap. What we did was start giving him a snack during his morning nap time and that really seemed to help and try to take him out and about during those hours (he's a very social guy and forgets he's tired if he's outside the house). Then we gave him a very early lunch 10:45-11:00 and put him down for his "afternoon" nap and he started taking really long (2 1/2 hour) afternoon naps. He's 17 months now and we pushed those afternoon naps back to 12:45-1:30. Anyway, it might be the cold, but he might just be ready for one nap.

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yep

about that age they start to realize that they "miss" things when they are sleeping--and even if they are almost putting themselves to sleep, any stimulus or something they remember in their brain can jerk them back to being awake ...

with all four, I just let the naps disappear as the kids decided to have that happen. I recently read good advice which I accidentally did on those days when _i_ needed a nap, which is that if _you_ lay down with him (calm, darkness, yadda yadda naptime scenario set up) and take a 20 minute nap, he will go to sleep because he sees YOU do it (this was a book that was heavy on the "kids learn by imitation" truth ;) ). The theory is that you wake up 20 minutes later and they sleep for an hour ;) ... I never noticed that I was ready to wake up 20 minutes later, but perhaps if I had done it every day, LOL ;)!! ...

anyhow, I can't imagine being the mother of a 12 month old and not needing naps ;). I know the "take a nap when your baby does" is newborn advice, but seriously, I still sometimes do it and my youngest is nearly 2!

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At this age many babies/toddlers transition to just one longer nap. I would suggest trying to keep him up a bit later for his "morning" nap and trying to turn that into one long early afternoon nap. When my kids transitioned - including the ones I nannied for and worked with at Kindercare - I started putting them down for a nap around 11:30/noon. Most kids this age are good for a 2-3 hour nap. Use the morning to go to the park, or an indoor playland to run out his energy:)

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My daughter also stopped taking 2 naps about that time. She is now 3 and usually will only take a nap if we go somewhere in the car at mid day. So pretty much from 2-3, we would take a little drive around the county so she would take a nap. Otherwise she would be cranky and miserable all afternoon and evening. We are now going through the same thing with her last remaining nap. She wont fall asleep unless we take a drive. Sometimes she will fall asleep in the evenings at around 5 and either stay asleep for the rest of the night and get up between 5-6 am, or wake up after 2 hours and be up really late. Either way, not a great prospect. But whenever she doesn't have a nap she is cranky all evening. So best of luck to you on transitioning out of naps. My son just stopped taking naps altogether at 2, drive or no drive, and was fine. So all kids are different, even siblings. So you can try a timely drive in the car when it is nap time, until that no longer works, and by then they are probably ready to give it up altogether.

I also had a small comment on your elimination of dairy. So many kids (and adults) have milk allergies I applaud you for recognizing it. But I did want to mention that soy milk is high in estrogen, and not a great alternative. Also unless you buy organic, it is most likely genetically modified, as it is the largest crop this is utilized on. Almond milk, rice milk, coconut milk are much better alternatives, and all taste great. Good luck

T.

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Kids aren't always predictable. But both of my kids stopped napping twice a day long before they hit 12 months. (sorry!)

My daughter kept her afternoon nap until she HAD to stop napping for PM kindergarten, when she was FIVE. Yet my son was right around three when he stopped napping at all.

Every child is different. He should nap as much as he needs to.

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Be patient, 6 days and counting, right. Both my kids were down to one nap a day at one year old. My doc suggested putting a pillow under one end of the mattress so one side would be higher than the other. Put this head on that side. It would give his sinus' etc. a chance to drain.

Eventually he will sleep more and his temper will even out.

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I cut my daughters nap time exactly during the month of her 1 year birthday. I just tried to keep her busy during the morning, then fed her lunch and put her down. She'd usually sleep about 2 1/2 to 3 hours in the afternoon. I put my kids down at night at 7:30 and they sleep until about 7am the next day. A lot of depends on when you put your kids to bed at night - to decide how much they need to sleep during the day. Best wishes! I'm sure things will work out.

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He is probably trying to transition to one nap a day and is having a bit of a hard time. It may take a few weeks for him to finish the transition.

All children are a little different with their sleep needs. If he is getting a lot of sleep at night and one nap during the day, he may be getting enough sleep. I have one daughter that needs a lot more sleep than the other one. The one who needs less, does not take naps every day.

As always, if you think that something else, healthwise is causing him to fuss more and not be comfortable, talk to his doctor about it. God bless you and I hope he gets better and less fussy soon.

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My 12 month old went to one nap a day about a month ago, just before she turned one. Initially she was real grumpy, but refused to nap, just as you're describing but within the last 2 weeks she has gotten better. I think she just needed to get used to it. She gets up around 8:30, naps around 1:00 pm and goes to bed around 8:30. It seems to be working just fine. Some days she gets tired still, probably 3 days out of the last month she's taken 2 naps. So I think he'll regulate himself.

I have to say though, that lately my good sleeper has turned screamer. She used to go down without any problem, but she'll protest now. You might want to see if he's just protesting. Give him a minute or two and see if he calms down. Sometimes I think there's no way Nora will go down, and then she cries for 30 seconds and then goes to sleep. That's my experience, hope it helps!

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My son also switched to one nap right around that age. I believe he was 10 1/2 to 11 months when he started the transition. He would wake around 8:30 and be ready for his morning nap by 10:30. He would sleep for 3 hours (rather than the previous 1 1/2) and be up until bed time at 8. Relatively happily, but a little cranky if he didn't have some afternoon quiet time. As time progressed (he's now 18 months) he eventually pushed his nap into the afternoon on his own. Now he naps around 2 (though sometimes as early as noon, if he's cranky). When he goes down earlier, he sits and plays quietly for an hour or so, then decided it's time for his nap and sleeped for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

I was a little concerned that he wasn't getting good sleep when he went down to one nap a day, but he's still just as happy a kid as he was before. Each child is unique, and does things at his/her own pace. Good luck!

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My son was such a bad napper and sleeper that I switched him to one nap a day at about 11 months old just so he would go to sleep at night! While he still woke up in the middle of the night and still didn't nap all that well, it did seem to work better. He ended up napping longer after a while...

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1) You're adding dairy to what? Are you mixing soy based formula with milk, breast milk with milk? The mixture could be upsetting his stomach. A thought.

2) He's 12 months old, he's growing physically, mentally and emotionally. He's yearning for control in his little world, control over his environment and his body. Bear with him. It's not easy growing up.

3) He's got a cold. He's sick. So he's fussy. Spend some quiet time with him. Read him a book, rock him, cuddle him. Increase his fluid intake to help with the cold, doesn't necessarily mean milk/formula.. but juices, jello water.

4) As your pedi said, he's getting a sufficient amount of sleep. His body clock is making sure of that. It sounds like you want him to sleep during the day at times when you'd like sometime to do somethings. Kids don't always work out that way. Again, quiet time when he was taking naps before, just to center and calm him down from a lot of physical activity, a rest break. Turn on some soft music, turn down the lights, no tv... it will work wonders for the both of you!!!

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If your son is transitioning to one nap by himself then that might be all he needs. When my kids went through that (I don't remember their exact ages) we kept pushing back the morning nap until it fell around noon. We would do lunch around 11:30 and they would sleep after for a few hours. My older son was a better napper than the younger so it all depends on the child.

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Both of my kids went down to one nap after they turned one. Now they are 4 1/2 and 2. My 4 1/2 year old goes to preschool now and only takes naps ocassionally on the weekends. When he does, we sometimes have a harder time getting him to bed at night. My two year old sleeps through the night until about 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning. she goes down for her nap at about 12:45 pm (when we get home from taking her brother to preschool). I'll wake her up at about 2:10 pm (in time to pick up her brother from school). On the two days a week that her brother doesn't have school and on the weekends, I let her go two hours for her nap. Then they go to bed around 8:30 pm. This has been our schedule (or pretty close) since my daughter was one. Except when she was one, my son was 3 1/2 and still took a nap in the middle of the day at the same time as my daughter. I hope this helps. You might just have to move time around a little until you find something that works to make it an easy transition! Good luck!