Switching to One Nap a Day!!!

Laura - posted on 10/19/2010

Just keep her up and busy around the time that she would normally take her first nap. Put her down with your regular routine at the time that you would like the second nap start. She may be be overtired and get cranky in the beginning, but the extra activity in the morning should wear her out so that she will sleep longer.

Good luck!

Michelle - posted on 10/07/2010

I went to 1 nap at about 16 months. If you child is just playing in his crib he is probably ready. He has to be that way for more than one day though...I went through a few weeks where sometimes he took one and sometimes two. Now he takes one 3-4 hor nap, but when he first switched he only slept for about 1 1/2-2 hours...You will know when it is time...

Kristy - posted on 09/29/2010

my 18-month-old daughter has oly been having one nap for many months now, but a have a friend who has a daughter the same age and she still has two naps. I think you really need to do what works best for you. Hold her off nap time for as long as possible in the morning. And in the afternoon make sure there is plenty of play time so she's worn out at bed time. That way she should sleep longer hours at night and only need one nap during the day. If you have a hectic afternoon, include her, if you are doing some shopping let her walk to to tire her out, does she have a music dvd she likes to dance to while mum can do the dishes? Any outdoor activities will also take it out of her. Hopefully mum can sit outside and read a magazine while baby girl kicks her ball around. Good luck, remember everyone and their situations are different so just do what works best for you :)

Nikki - posted on 09/29/2010

my son just finnished switching his nap schedule up... i went thru it with my daughter as wel and the best advice i can give you is to roll with the punches she throws. my pedi says that its normal around this age, my son went from two 2 hr naps a day to one 1 -1 1/2 hrs nap a day and it was difficult getting thru the end of the day but i watched him closely for signs he was getting tired and just started putting him down in between what his priginal naps were. i also already moved him into a toddler bed and with the added freedom i can send him to his room for down time and he will play for a while then crawl into his bed and take his nap

Fina - posted on 09/22/2010

My daughter went to one nap a day a long time ago! She was only about 9 months, I think. Now that she's 18 months, she's starting to not want the one nap she still takes, even though she still needs it. When she switched down to one, I just stopped trying to put her down for her morning nap, and the afternoon nap just was moved up a bit. She was grouchy a lot, but if I tried to put her down for that morning nap, she would just wail and wail, which is what she has started doing now with her one afternoon nap.

Renae - posted on 09/19/2010

Most babies switch to 1 nap between 12 and 18 months. There is a transition phase of a couple of months where some days they need 2 and some days they cope with 1. They have usually started the transition by 16 months. When they are first down to 1 nap, it usually needs to be quite early in the day, about 11am for 1.5 to 3 hours. Over the next few months this gets later and later, by 2 they are usually napping around 12.30-1pm for 1 to 2.5 hours. It sounds like your daughter is ready for 1 nap.

Jennifer - posted on 09/18/2010

My twins are almost 18monts, and have had one nap for months. They usually sleep from @10am to @12:30 or 1pm, then have lunch. If she's already adjusting her own schedule by not sleeping, or only sleeping a little, I would think the transition wouldn't be too hard. Just try not putting her down for the afternoon nap one day and see how it goes. Depending on her food schedule, you might move a snack time a bit, so she's eating when she would have been sleeping, and that might encourage her to stay awake, if she needs any encouragement.