(P.S. Chase turned 14 months old yesterday!)
Here’s our predicament: Chase will still take a phenomenal morning nap (often nearly two hours) from 10 a.m. to noon but then basically refuses to nap in the afternoon with the exception of three or four days in the past two weeks. He’s SO cranky and exhausted by the end of the day (and so am I!). I tried pushing his morning nap back to 11:30 a.m. this week and he woke up after about 90 minutes and was still totally zonked and ready for bed at 6 p.m. (<— 60-90 minutes before his usual bed time). HELP meeeee! I don’t know what to do and I just feel defeated. I cannot seem to get anything done at home right now and I feel like I’m living in the middle of a toddler guessing game all day long.
Chase has never been the best nighttime sleeper but our boy has always been a pretty stellar napper, so this is completely flipping our routine upside down. I feel bad because I cannot seem to figure out what he needs/wants right now and I hate to see him so fussy and exhausted at the end of the day. I welcome any advice you guys may have if you’ve been there before and come out successfully on the other side!
Okay, clearly Chase’s naps are on the top of my mind right now, but rather than write a bazillion more words about baby sleep battles, let’s focus on the good and dive into your usual Things I’m Loving Friday post! Below you will find a short list of things that made me smile this week and I’d love to hear about the little things you’re loving this week in the comments section of this post. Have a great weekend, my friends!
Things I’m Loving Friday
- Easy Cherry Tomato Olive Oil Pasta Sauce with Shrimp and Tortellini
On Monday night, I made the most delicious tortellini dinner with an olive oil cherry tomato sauce we absolutely loved! It was so easy to throw together and while I initially shared the recipe on Instagram and Facebook, I wanted to share it here as well just in case social media isn’t your thing!
To make the sauce, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add 1/2 cup olive oil, 2 teaspoons freshly minced garlic, 2 cups cherry tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring regularly. Add 1 cup chopped asparagus, 1 cup chopped fresh basil and more salt and pepper to taste. Cook for another 8 minutes or until tomatoes begin to burst. Add 1 cup of fresh spinach and 1 pound cooked shrimp (peeled and deveined). Pour in cooked tortellini and toss to coat!
- “The Longest Time” by Billy Joel
You know those songs that instantly put you in the best mood and make you break out in song whenever you hear them? “The Longest Time” by Billy Joel is one of those songs for me.
Oh, oh, oh
For the longest time
Oh, oh, oh
For the longest
If you said goodbye to me tonight
There would still be music left to write
What else could I do
I’m so inspired by you
That hasn’t happened for the longest time
LOVE IT. I’ve recently been digging through old CDs to play in my car and this song popped up as I left the house to meet up with some girlfriends for drinks on Wednesday night. I ended up playing it three times in a row! So catchy and fun to belt out!
After I fell in love with my fun holiday phone case last December, I knew I wanted a festive phone case to last me through the autumn months this year. My pumpkin case arrived earlier this week and every time I just love the extra fall flare! Bring on pumpkin everrrrything!
- Latest Thrive Market Order
I know I’ve mentioned my love for Thrive Market on the blog a couple of times before, but I wanted to highlight my most recent order because I found my favorite dissolvable collagen for $4 cheaper on the Thrive Market website than what I usually pay on Amazon. Since I know a bunch of you are on the collagen-lovin’ bandwagon with me, I thought it might be of interest! Thrive Market is the best!
This popcorn was an impulse buy at Target last week and it was a total homerun! Ryan and I will often split a bag of microwave popcorn on the couch when we watch movies together and Quinn microwave popcorn caught my eye because it claimed to take “all the weird out of microwave popcorn” and remove the traditional chemical and plastic-coated microwave popcorn bag and the hydrogenated oils and artificial flavors found in traditional microwave popcorn. Making our first bag of Quinn popcorn was actually kind of cool! I popped the popcorn and then added small packets of oil and butter and sea salt for flavoring and it was AWESOME. Ryan and I both said the popcorn had more of an artisanal taste or a farmer’s market feel and it was wonderful. I cannot wait to try the other flavors!
- Friday Flashbacks
8 Must Try Fitness Apps (A roundup of some of my favorite fitness apps – Perfect for travel or at home workouts!)
60-Minute Boot Camp Workout (Complete each station in the below workout for three minutes before moving onto the next. You will likely finish all of the exercises in each station before three minutes are up, so simply repeat the exercises over and over again until three minutes are over.)
Question of the Day
- What is one thing you are loving this week?
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oh girl. we went through exactly the same thing with naps. i tried and tried to push his morning nap back for a solid 8 weeks. nothing worked. i couldn’t do any of the normal morning toddler classes because he was up early and ready for a nap by 9:30 or 10 and then we had some lonnnnnnnng afternoons. unfortunately i never found a good solution. basically i toughed it out for two months, kept trying my best to push it back and eventually we got to where we are now which is him going down for a longer nap around 12:30/1pm. hang in there and good luck. i know how hard it is to get work done during this time!
Thank you for your encouragement! <3 It's tough because he's SO ready for his morning nap but then fights the afternoon one with everything in him! I'm sure we'll get there eventually, even if I pull out half of my hair in the process. 🙂
My almost 14 month old is going through the EXACT SAME THING. I can’t push her nap back any later than 10 as she is just so tired, but then she refuses her afternoon nap, and is exhausted by bed time. Occasionally she will take a later afternoon nap, but those are rare and not ideal. Following for tips as well!
When Chase goes to bed at 6, does he sleep through the night? My daughter, 13 months, doesn’t usually take long naps and she will often time go to bed anywhere from 6-7; however, she does sleep through the night. Maybe you could rethink your work time and do it once he goes down in the evening instead of during the day. I know this isn’t the best for Ryan, my husband rarely sees our daughter at night since he works long hours, but it’s what’s best for her. Keep your head up. You are doing your best.
Hi Julie! I am a long time reader with a little boy who’s almost three and wanted to post my two cents on the nap transition! It is so hard!! BabyCenter has a wake time chart in a google doc (I would post the link but it’s huge, you can quickly find it by searching) that has tips for gradually moving the morning nap later until it reaches 1 pm or so. Following that worked really well for us, although it was a frustrating few weeks of unpredictable days until he fully made the transition. It is such a big change for everyone and I feel like you just have to hang in there and adjust expectations until it passes (like with teething or anything else). Good luck!!
Thank you!!! I’ll look for it! 🙂
And now I’m singing that non stop!!! Thanks for the morning smile 🙂
Caaaan’t stop! Love that song so much!
It’s a tough transition. I read that at this age, if they wake up after 12pm, they will not go back down until bedtime. I’d keep pushing the “morning” nap a bit later by 15 mins every day starting with 10:30 and letting him sleep as long as he can. That’s what we did until we stuck with a 11:30 nap for a couple months, which eventually turned into 12, then 12:30 and now about 1. (My son is 20mo). During the transition, early bedtimes. Good luck!
Another option- if you just don’t think he’s getting the sleep he needs and isn’t ready yet- wake him from his morning nap at around 11:30 so he’ll still have a PM nap. I just remembered I did this for a bit too. It’s all about trial and error!
I like the idea of pushing the morning back gradually! Thanks for weighing in!
I’m not a mom so I have no advice about the naps, all I can say is good luck! And that pic of Chase is so adorable! Popcorn is also my favorite snack. I have been loving the Boom Chicka Pop slightly sweet popcorn. It even satisfies my sweet tooth.
Boom Chicka Pop is so delicious!
Oh, that transition is for the birds! My son was and still isn’t the greatest sleeper. You aren’t alone!
Try to push back by 10-15 minutes every few days. Put him to bed earlier at night, if needed to offset the missed afternoon nap. It will get adjusted. Austin naps 12-2/2:30 now, he is 26 months. That works for us. He goes to bed 7:30.
We are now dealing with the transition from crib to big boy bed. If I’ve learned anything…if it’s not one thing, it’s another! best of luck! Love reading your blog!
Haha! I believe it! Right when you get through one challenge, another one pops up. Thank goodness they are so darn cute! 🙂
Hi Julie!!!
Oh man, so sorry you are dealing with this tough nap situation!! When my youngest was around 12-13 months, I transitioned her to one nap a day b/c her older sis (who was two) was taking one nap and I also WFH and needed the naps to coincide. I recall it taking a few weeks to adjust and it was tough. So my only advice is to hang in there!!!!! LOL, I know, not much help! But just try to keep him up and push that nap back to 11:30 (or even 11!) like you’ve been doing. He will adjust!!
And…if it encourages you…once my younger one did adjust they would both nap about three hours which was GLORIOUS! They are 4 and 3 now and still both nap about 2 – 2 1/2 hours!! I’m so big on naps b/c it’s the only way I can work lol!
Hope you have a fantastic weekend, Julie!!
-Sarah http://www.thefrugalmillionaireblog.com
I’m actually in the same boat with my 14 month daughter. On the days when her nap goes past 12pm and she gets really fussy later on, I will “put her down” for a nap but really it’s just quiet time in her crib. After about 45 minutes she will let me know she is ready and we are both pretty rejuvenated. Sometimes quiet time works as good as a nap!
I’m going to be blunt. His nap schedule will suck for a month or so until you get get his naptime pushed back and transitioned. What we did was move naptime back by about 30 minutes a day one week at a time. Eventually their little bodies will fall into a routine of where they want to nap naturally but it isn’t fun getting there.
Currently Lane gives me a good 2-3 hour nap each day and it’s awesome. As he’s gotten older, he’s able to go down a bit later in the day but our schedule now is awake at 7am, nap from 12:30 until 2:30 or 3:00 and bedtime at 7:30.
Good luck!!
I’m so sorry youre having such nap struggles 🙁 I know that when this would happen at the daycare (i worked with infants and toddlers) we would still make them stay in their cribs at the time we were shooting for. We gave them books, put on relaxing music, kept the lights low, and only picked them up if they were really really upset. After a while of doing that, they seemed to take to that nap time.
This week I’m loving fall weather thats hitting PA!
My son transitioned to one solid nap at noon around 15 months, but started around the same time as Chase (14 months). For the first week or so, we did 11. He would only nap an hour (as opposed to a 2-3 hour morning nap), and then would go to bed super early around 6PM. We eventually got to 11:30AM, then 12, etc. It took about a month for his one nap to lengthen to about 2-3 hours. So, for about a month we had to deal with one, one hour nap and early bedtimes. He’s 19 months now and actually moving nap closer to 12:30!
I think jumping a full hour and a half may be tough. Sounds like he is getting too tired then not naping well as a result. What worked for us was pushing naptime back in small 15 min increments. So day 1-3 10:15, then 4-6 10:30 and so on. Best of luck!!! 🙂
I have seen that popcorn a few times and wanted to grab some but haven’t. We’ve got a Target run planned tomorrow so I think I’ll finally bite the bullet! Thanks for the reminder!
Good luck with the sleep transition with Chase!
For the time being, our 14 month old still takes 2 naps and needs them! We let him sleep 9-10 and WAKE him at 10. Then he’s ready to go down again at 1 or 1:30. I think having a SET schedule really helps! THey know what to expect then. But waking him so he’s awake for 3 hours or so and playing hard is key for us! Until it doesn’t work anymore and then i’ll be coming back to read these comments closer! haha 🙂
I am with the mommas who reccomend pushing nap back a little by every day for a slower transition. I have had 3 babies (the most recent not even a year ago) to go thru this, and it never gets easier! Something else that worked well for me, was to get outside or go do something fun around the time they would have previously been napping. This kept mine more entertained, whereas if we stayed home, it was very hard to keep them happy bc they were tired and grumpy. In fact, I would also schedule my workout time at the YMCA around 10:30/11, so my baby could be in childcare (and thus entertained) to help hold off until nap time around noon. Lastly, be prepared for an earlier bedtime. It is very common and necessary (IMO) for a baby to need to go to bed at least an hour earlier when they go from 1 nap to 2. At 18 months, when my kids usually switched to 1 nap, our schedule was typically wake up 7:30, nap @ 12:00, bedtime @ 6/6:30. Good luck!
We are in the same predicament. Our babe is 14 months and in daycare, and he has been on one nap there for about a month. At home its a little different. He usually does 2, but we make the morning one like 20 minutes and it is usually in the car. Then we nap around 1230/1 and sometimes it can be 3 hours. He takes 2 hour naps at daycare for the most part (which is pretty good considering it is a stimulating environment) I have heard this transition can take months and months to get on a solid routine. Honestly I wouldnt worry about sticking to a strict schedule but rather follow his cues during this transition and be ready for a 6pm bedtime more often than not. He will adjust,just like they always do! Good luck! Toddler/baby sleep is such a stressor/anxiety for me.
Sounds like he really needs to ditch that morning nap. With my now 2.5 year old I started waking her up after an hour and then just had to push through to keeping her awake until 12:30 or so. I followed baby wise, if that helps.
Our kiddo just transitioned to one nap a few months ago (she’s 16 months). Daycare replaced the nap with something fun and different like outside time and a snack, something that took their attention and then she slowly just started taking a longer afternoon nap. Mornings around 10:30 are still a little rough, but getting better every week. The other important thing to remember is that they are also entering the full on toddler realm where they aren’t yet verbal, but have opinions, so get frustrated easily! Good luck!
Hi Julie, my twins are 8 now so I don’t recall exactly but I used to use Happy Sleep
Habits, Healthy Child my Marc Weissbluth.
I used it like a bible because midway in, he has schedules for each age. Mine were preemies so I had to use the schedule a couple months back but I found it was always spot on. Any time their naps were off, I went back to the book, transitioned the times and it was fine again. I tried to go online to find it but didn’t see anything however I did read that he suggests early bedtimes, as early as 6. Up until a few months ago, mine always went to bed at 7pm. Sounds like transitioning by 15-min each day like other moms suggested would work best and I recall that’s how the book suggested as well. Good luck, Mama! 😉
We transitioned at daycare cold turkey going from 2 naps to 1 starting at 11:45. The weekend before I tried pushing it a little later each day but I’m sure 3 days of transition didn’t do much. Anyway, she definitely gets less daytime sleep than before. Naps are 1.5-2 hours and she’s ready for bed at 6:30! I feel like her bedtime will get pushed a little later eventually but for now we just put her to bed around then which of course results is 6:30am wakeups! (A little earlier than we’d like)
It’s easiest if you push the nap back by 15-20 minutes every couple of days so that the change isn’t quite so drastic. Of course, he’ll probably get cranky, but do your best to distract him if he’s getting tired at his normal nap time. His nap should lengthen as he adjusts and settled into his new schedule. Also, don’t be afraid of an early bedtime! He needs to get his sleep one way or another and the last thing you want is an overtired babe. It makes the transition so much harder.
Have you read the precious little sleep blog? She has great tips for everything and uses the big name sleep people’s research so you don’t have to read their books. There is also a Facebook group and podcast. I have found it very helpful as I have a great night sleeper but terrible napper.
Ok, now I’m convinced I need a fall iphone cover…I’m also currently in a battle with myself to avoid buying ALL the fall decorations at Target.
We just went through this. We stayed out of the house active during his normal morning sleepy time and slowly pushed back naps until 11:30. Most days we get 2 hour nap which is normal for babies that age. Sometimes we get 3 and of course off days that are just over an hour. I would say slowly transition back or you can wake him early from his morning nap. I think at their age 2-3 hours of daytime sleep is all they “need” so Chase is just getting that in early. You could try letting him just sleep 1-1.5 hours and see if that helps him nap again. But the sad real story is the days of two two hour naps is just a thing of the past and part of the growing up. It’s a brutal transition but know it’s one everyone goes through and survives!! Also it took us 4-6 weeks of some two naps a day,some one morning, some one afternoon before it leveled out and was more predictable. And the positive side is less daytime sleep will most likely mean better night sleep for him. Hopefully.
Also don’t be afraid of early bedtime! We put our 14 month old down at 7 every night. And if he has bad nap day sometimes closer to 6 and he will still sleep until his normal wake time. Bonus we get more husband/wife time. We love it.
Julie, is Chase on the verge of walking? There can be a regression around the time they start walking and it seems as if they are transitioning to one nap. My twins boys are about 3 weeks younger than Chase so we are in the same boat. I actually started capping their morning nap at an hour to preserve the afternoon nap. They nap from 10-11 and 2-3:45 and sleep 7-7. I have found a few good articles about the transition and I’ve linked them here. Good luck, parts of me aren’t ready for one nap because the morning would be so long but I’m ready for the flexibility to be able to get out and stay out longer. Love the blog, I’ve been following for years so it was so fun when we were pregnant at the same time and now have boys the same age. I also did the BOSU work out on Wednesday…butt kicker!!
http://www.bubblesacademy.com/blog/transition-to-one-nap/
http://sleepwiseconsulting.com/article-02/
Oy, baby sleep! My son is younger than Chase, so I don’t have advice from experience, just solidarity! Our bud is starting to improve a bit overnight (and also starting a hilarious half-crawl), and it seems to be completely messing with his naps. He’s up at 6 every morning, bed around 7/7:30, and had been taking two 45 minute to 1 hr naps at 9 and 1…On Tuesday he only napped from 1:30-2 but was happy as a clam all day long, laughing and scooting around. Other days this week he’s had 2 naps, or one longer one, and has been cranky as can be and tougher to get to sleep at night. It’s mind-boggling!
We just emerged from three weeks of teething pain and then a nasty cold, so it truly is one thing after another!
I don’t have any advice for you with the naps, but I feel for you and I hope you find something soon! That pumpkin iphone case is so cute, and tempting since I’m getting a new phone. That popcorn looks really good. I’ve had some of the regular orville or whatever kind of mini bags in my cabinet a while, but the really oily taste puts me off.
We went through the same napping situation around 14 months. What ended up working for us was waking him up from the morning nap so he’d be tired for an afternoon nap by about 2. I would first let him sleep an hour, then 45 minutes, then 30 minutes. Eventually, he dropped the morning nap (occasionally now, even at 21 months, he’ll take a 10 min cat nap in the morning if he’s in the car or stroller, but does completely fine without the morning nap and naps most days from about 1-3:30 or 4). Good luck! He’ll get there. I was so sad to lose 2 naps but the one nap actually made planning our days a bit easier.
Oh boy, my almost 14 month old has been doing the same exact thing for the past week – it is so tough to know what to do! Glad to hear I’m not the only one dealing with sleep woes at 14 months. Good luck Julie! Keep us posted ?
I feel like all the advice above is great. I didn’t really have an option as his preschool dropped his morning nap when he turned a year old. I would still let him nap on weekends in the morning but we usually just went and did something to distract him (park, zoo, aquarium, etc) He at one was waking at 7am, napping from 12-3pm and then going to bed at 6:30-7pm. He still follows this schedule at 2 years old. Good luck and hang in there!
Have you tried shortening the morning nap so he’s ready to take more of an afternoon nap? It’s more or less how it worked for my son. Although even after we went down to 1 nap, for a few months, you could tell he was starting to get nappy as nap time approached.
Hey Julie! I’m sure you’ll get a lot of tips but my friend’s daughter transitioned from 2-1 nap at 15-16 moths (can’t remember exactly but it was recently). Anyway, she was a rockstar napper like Chase but had started getting up earlier and showing signs of dropping a nap. So she used to nap at 10:30 and my friend kept her up til 12:30 and started putting her down. The first few days-weekish the naps were only 60-90 minutes. Then they started extending. I remember her saying that it takes a few weeks for them to get used to it and now she sleeps for 2-3 hours! I think it’s just time and being consistent, but my daughter hasn’t really ever been a good napper and NEVER been consistent so I have no idea! ha I’ve always been slightly jealous of those 2 hour naps Chase gives you 😉 lol Good luck, though! Short naps and rough kiddos who are tired are SO not fun!!
Try the Maple Quinn popcorn. It’s a great salty sweet combo & totally addictive!
That’s the next one on my radar!
You beat me to it. I second this suggestion! 🙂
I feel your pain! My little guy is 15 months and we are just coming out the other end of the second nap drop. Like you my son dropped the afternoon nap and loves his morning nap. My advice would be to try to push the am nap back 10-20 minutes and and keep slowly increasing from there, I think putting him down a lot later than hes used to will lead to an overtired baby and overtired babies are terrible sleepers. Let him go to sleep earlier too. I found that regardless if my LO went to sleep at 630 or 8 he always wakes up around 630 for the day. Remember like everything else in babyland its a phase. We had a lot of trial and error over here but now my LO wakes around 630, naps from 10-1030 to 1230-1 and goes to sleep at 7 for the night. At daycare he naps from 12 to 2! Your doing a great job and its ok if your house is a mess, mine is a disaster I’ve totally embraced it!
Things I’m loving—YOUR CHUNKY CHICKEN SOUP!!!
I hate cooking, but my husband wasn’t home last night so I gave up and made it. YUMMy!!! So good! definitely a recipe I (or he) will make again and again!
And the other afternoon on the way I home, I heard “For the Longest time!” My mother always loved that song and played it over and over for me when I was younger…so we had a good time jammin’ to it in the car on the way home from work.
I’m so glad to hear you liked the soup recipe! YAY!
We have an early bedtime at our house (around 6) that works wonders. I know it is so exhausting but be thankful that you are able to stay home with Chase and go through these struggles with him vs him be all day at daycare. Sometimes I am so stressed I forget that other moms would love to be home with their baby worrying over nap times during the work day.
lol, I am happy to be at work while daycare is dealing with my son’s napping issues!
I hear ya, but then we get to deal with the ‘oh sorry he only took 1 – 35 minute nap today (and every day all week) rampage’ this week has been a battle! I’m actually looking forward to the transition to the room with one scheduled nap.
At his age, one nap is normal. Just push his morning nap back a little each day until you get to 12 or 12:30, then you can do bedtime by 7.
My oldest transitioned at around 15 month. Have you tried doing lunch at around 11:30 and then putting him down at noon? Maybe by filling him up before his nap he’ll sleep longer. Good luck! The transition is always rough!
Love The Longest Time too and now it’s stuck in my head!!! lol.
I went through a similar situation with my now 18 month old. He rarely took two naps, but his morning nap was always great. Afternoons brought a monster child who wouldn’t nap and then would want to crash a few hours before bedtime, which could ruin the whole night! His morning nap also used to start at 10, but now I have it at 12 noon. What worked for us was to gradually move the time back, in 15 minute intervals. So that might mean 15 minutes of more play after you get back from a walk or reading a few extra books before putting him down in his crib. My son was also self weaning from nursing around 16 months, so he cut out the nursing at nap time 🙁 . That actually helped the transition for us. He might wake up earlier b/c he wants his lunch, so a little snack before nap helped us too. Good Luck!
p.s. I had technical difficulties, so hoping this didn’t post twice!
Hi Julie,
Less nap time (and later in the day) at this age is totally normal, always abide by your child’s cues. Most daycares have the nap timing perfected for a reason- they deal with ALOT of kids! When kids hit 1 year old, they move them to 1 nap- directly after lunch. A morning nap is way to early in the day for them at this age, they haven’t fully worn themselves out. Plus, if the one nap is in the morning, there’s too much time between wakeup and going down for night sleep. My daughter is two and she thrived with this change- we keep her on the same schedule as daycare on the weekends for a reason. Her nap since she was two is generally 12:30-2 or 2:30 max (some of the kids only make it to 1:30 for their nap). Two hours has been her magic nap time for a while now.
I have two suggestions 😉
With my son we just started putting him to bed earlier when he dropped second nap. This helped with the crankiness and getting things done. He seriously went down at 6 pm and woke around 5:30/6 am.
With my daughter we just never created a schedule for her. She fought whatever we tried to do. We let her nap when she would fall asleep. This is probably not very practical for you since you work from home and try to work during nap time, but it helped with the crankiness. I have so many pictures of her just falling asleep in the middle of snack time in the high chair, sitting in someones lap. She just would fight so hard being put on a schedule that I would just go to till she crashed.
Best of luck. I’ve learned it’s all just a phase and as soon as you feel like you can’t take it any longer – you find the light 😉
I have been dealing with the nap struggle with my 18 month old for about 4 months now and just read this great article a couple of days ago which I wish I would have found a long time ago. Has helped us to only let her sleep for 45 minutes in the morning so she sleeps again in the afternoon. My daughter still isnt ready for 1 nap every day. Some days she can handle it but others she needs a catch up nap day. If she gets too overtired she starts waking up at 5am for the day like the article says.
http://sleeplady.com/child-early-rising/rise-shine-the-early-waking-toddler/
Sorry wrong link! That one was for early risers. Here is the nap link: http://sleeplady.com/child-early-rising/toddler-sleep-2-naps-or-1-530am-rising-help/
Our daycare did this pretty cold turkey. At one yr they transition to a toddler room, so a few weeks before that, he started doing 2 days per week in the toddler room. I would try and get him to sneak a 20 min nap on the way to daycare (which he does often even if I don’t try), and they would keep him up with various activities, etc. until 12/1230. Then he slept for 2.5 hours.
Our kiddo was not a good napper for a while, he just started getting the hang of it. And now he does very well with the long nap at 12/1230.
I would just recommend that whatever you decide, be consistent — that’s the beauty of daycare (at least for us!). Our daycare has a very consistent routine and it’s worked well for us.
Happy Friday!!! Have a lovely weekend!
Transitioning to 1 nap is hard. My son had to stop cold turkey last year at one due to daycare and it was a rough month. I will say it took him awhile to go from longer than 90 minutes for one nap but eventually he did. My advice would be to keep him up until lunch time and then put him down. Also even if he wakes up after 90 minutes let him stay and play because sometimes they go back to sleep. Also don’t be too hard on yourself…just when I think I have it figured out with my 2 year old he does something new. You are doing great:)
I’m loving time with my family and working from home today! I get to snuggle my puppy!
Try just moving his nap gradually from 10! So one day, put him down at 10:15, then 10:30, etc. if you just go from 10 to 11:30, in one day, that shocks them and they have trouble figuring it all out! This is what we did and it worked 🙂
We went through the same deal with the two to one nap transition. It honestly took about a month to get it sorted. I would delay the a.m. nap progressively 15-20 mins later every 3 to 4 days….so down for nap at 10:30 on Monday, 10:45 on Thursday, so on and so forth. Keeping the activities a bit more low-key in the a.m. (no crazy stimulating/tiring activities) helped keep the cranky at bay. I also went ahead and bumped her bedtime up. At 14 months she would go down between 6 and 6:30–sounds crazy early but because she needed the extra sleep it actually improved her nighttime sleep, too, which in turn helped prevent the late afternoon meltdown. Don’t be scared by early bedtimes, they really do make SUCH a big difference! You just have to say goodbye to your evening social life for awhile, but you get lots of work done and time with hubs!). Eventually it leveled off and her new normal became a 90 min-2hr nap around 12/12:30, bedtime 7pm. Hang in there mama, sleep transitions take time but you will get there!
When my 13 month old started daycare at 11 months, we were kind of forced to have him drop to 1 nap because he only took one at daycare. It was a ROUGH 2-3 weeks and now he is doing much better and will usually sleep 2.5 hours. I usually try to get him out of the house in the morning (when I’m not working) and go to the store/target as a distraction and it helps SO much. He’s usually up around 7:30 and is going down for his nap somewhere between 11:30 and 12. It’ll get better!