Should my son be taking only one nap a day?

Kristal - posted on 05/02/2012 ( 5 moms have responded )

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My son is just about to turn 14 months old and this past week has been nothing short of frustrating. He's never been a very good sleeper and he has always been a very fickle eater, but, for the past few days, he's been even worse. We've been trying to sleep train him since he was 4 months old and, no matter what we've tried, the longest we've been able to get him to sleep through the night is a week. That was 4 months ago and he hasn't done it since. He won't take a bottle anymore when he wakes up, so it's definitely not because he's hungry. Recently, he's also refusing to even go to sleep unless I rock him for 5 minutes, then put him in his crib. He's also fighting his naps most of the time (he usually takes 2 naps a day). By fighitng, I mean that he is tired, but won't go to sleep on his own anymore. It's like I have to do it for him. But, he's cranky all day long, like he's ridiculously tired, but he just won;t let himself sleep anymore. Should i be encouraging him to only be taking one nap a day now? It just seems backwards to me that i would take away one of his naps if he isn't sleeping through the night yet. But could the fact that he's taking two naps a day be what is keeping him from sleeping through the night?

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5 Comments

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Lacy - posted on 06/19/2012

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my son takes a nap at 12pm everyday. And he'll sleep anywhere from 2-3 hours. We put him to bed at 8pm and he'll sleep till 7-8am. the only time he gets off schedule is if he's up crying from teething pain. and if he misses his nap at 12 he wont take one at all, which makes for a very cranky little boy.

id try keeping him awake through the second nap, to see if he sleeps better at night. best of luck to you and your little one!

Liz - posted on 05/31/2012

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By saying you have been sleep training... not sure which method you are using... with my daughter, once she was 6 months, I read she didn't HAVE to nurse at night, so i stopped that pretty fast after that. Then I would nurse on occasion at night, but tried not to because yeah I knew she didnt need to eat. Anyway, so what worked for me... nighttime routine like they say even though not sure if that helps bc my daughter usually doesn't act tired at bedtime with or without a routine. Then I say goodnight and put her down and SWIFTLY walk out of the room without even looking at her... and I have a mobile that plays music and puts lights on the ceiling for awhile. Sometimes, esp at first, she'd scream for a bit. But then she'd be quiet and I'd look on the monitor and she'd be lying down asleep. Now, if she cries, its not for very long. Is your son crying for more than 5 minutes? More than 10? Might try the Ferber method? where you let them go longer and longer in betweeen the times you'r checking on him.. but I found cold turkey worked a whole lot better bc then she wasn't expecting me to come back in to check on her so went to sleep. Takes a LOT longer when I rock her etc to get her to sleep. And sometimes she'll wake up then as soon as I put her down. So it didnt even change anything. On a side note, rocking for 5 minutes isn't that long and pretty normal.. I know lots of ppl that do that. Sounds like he is ready to start learning to put himself to sleep... might have to get some headphones and let him learn?

Leanne - posted on 05/19/2012

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Possibly, try just making him nap once during the day, my daughter goes around lunchtime for her 1 nap of the day and we get 2-3 hours sleep. Plus she goes for this nap easier than she used to go for her 9.30am nap as she is a lot more tired. I hope the situation gets better for you soon!

Bridget - posted on 05/18/2012

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My daughter goes to bed at 7:30, wakes at 6:30 and takes 2 naps- one at 9:30 for about 1 1/2 hours and another around 3 for another hour to 1 1/2 hours. Luckily she is a good sleeper BUT my oldest was just like your son. Her sleep was always a challenge, and her problem was that she was always overly tired and that made it harder for her to get sleep. It isnt logical, is it? The more they sleep the better/more they sleep and the less they sleep the worse/less they sleep. I am fortunate that i am a SAHM and I decided to make my daughters sleep my main priority- I spent as much time as it took to get her to sleep as much as possible . As soon as she showed any sign of being tired I took her to her room and put her down, sometimes Id rock for a little bit, but mostly just put her down and let her fuss for a while. I didnt let her cry much, she would vomit after a minute or two so it wasnt worth it. After a while she started getting better sleep and got herself on a good solid schedule. Then we worked, slowly, on sleeping through the night- not to discourage you but she started sleeping through the night regularly at 18 months, and now at 2 1/2 she still wakes 2-3 nights a week for cuddles. To this day I am rigid about bedtime and our routine, any disruption and things get thrown off.

I dont know if any of this is helpful but if you have questions about what we went through let me know! I feel for you. Good luck!

Jemma - posted on 05/04/2012

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hi my daughter is 13 months old and she still has 2 naps a day she gets up at 6 am then is dropping off at bout 9ish she has about a hour then awake till bout half one then has another nap till bout 3 then i wake her otherwise i wont b able to get her to bed for 7.30pm,i wont let her nap after 5 tho coz i know she will b up till gone 11pm