Moms, Dads, Grandma's, Grandpas, Sleep Experts,
Carter has been fighting his second nap for 2 weeks (and a day) now. Grrr. For those of you who have spent time with me as a mother, you probably know my obsession with his sleep schedule. I know that about myself. Don't worry! I'm obsessed. You may have noticed how he and I cooperate wonderfully together in our daily schedule:
Carter, you're tired?
(He falls into his blanket).
He sleeps for 1-2.5 hours.
I have time to, relax and gear up for out next play session.
Ahhh....bliss.
I have learned to love this little simple, pleasant, no-hassle routine. After all, it took some persistence and hard work to get to this point!
Now, here we are at almost 15 months...and about 4/7 days he has skipped his second nap. The first time this happened, it was scary and bizarre. We did our normal sleep routine, then I went to lay him down and he flipped out, hysterically in my arms. He clinched onto me like the crib was going to eat him alive. Crazy! I tried to calm him down but he just squirmed out of my arms, ran to the door, ready for more play. Like that had been enough relax time. What??
The few days he has napped it has been after LOTS of coaxing. It hasn't been easy.
All of the books (I have 3 sleep pattern books I refer to constantly), say this happens around 13-17 months. So I guess that isn't really the issue. But most books say they drop the Morning Nap first. They suggest that while they transition out of this nap some days they will take two, while others only one. If they skip the first nap, just move their second nap up earlier that day! Simple!
However, Carter is fighting his second nap. So, if he resists his nap, that makes for a very long afternoon for him. His spirits are up, but he is pooped.
Here are my thoughts for an action plan tomorrow:
1. Just jump officially to one nap by bumping his morning nap back 30 min a day? (4 days before we fly to Thailand, mind you)
2. Shorten his morning nap and try to "grow" his afternoon nap.
3. Or since he is napping (as I type) try again tomorrow for two naps. Don't change the schedule before our trip.
Any thoughts? I need help! (For his sake!)
I would do your first plan. You don't ever want to wake a sleeping baby so trying to shorten his nap might backfire. Plus usually if you get them to take one it usually is a little longer. Sometimes so much so that you can get stuff done and take a little rest yourself :) Good-luck!
ReplyDeleteWhat worked for us was keeping Davis up through his normal first nap (I tried to keep him out of the car or stroller so he wouldn't fall asleep) and then I moved up the second nap to right after lunch. At first I hated losing the two naps, but now we can leave the house more and sometimes Davis naps 3-4 hours! That's a huge and wonderful break! You might want to do this before your trip, just so that you aren't having to work with an unpredictable nap schedule.
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah! Elise dropped down to one nap at 16 months. She still slept well at the morning one and wasn't sleeping long at the afternoon one, so for the transition, I kept her up as long as I could in the morning (ran errands, played at the park, etc) and then put her down right after lunch (around 12). Sometimes lunch had to be early. Then I put her to bed at 7 instead of 8 because she couldn't make it any later. She still kept the 8 am wakeup time. It took about a week before her sleep adjusted completely, but she ended up going from two 1.5 hour naps to one 2.5-3 hour nap and going from 12 to 13 hours at night. She kept the 13 hours at night until age 2ish. Hope that helps! Maybe this is a good time to try it since their sleep gets a little messed up with traveling anyway? Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWhen Aubrey went to one nap (around 13 months) she dropped the AM (I would say we did this together bc her AM nap was getting so short I just took it out) and started going down after lunch for one big nap...at first the nap was REALLY long (3.5-4 hours) and a few months later it went down to 2 hours. As she goes thru growth spurts and depending on how busy we are in the morning it changes but typically its 3 hours now (she is 22 months). Anyways my suggestion is to stay on the same schedule until after your vacay and then try to hold him off on the morning nap and combine it with the afternoon...maybe early afternoon at first and then push it back as it "grows":) Gosh its so hard to figure out what to do and every child is so different! I wish God gave me a "Aubrey instruction manuel" ha ha! I am a total freak about nap too, Aubrey has always been a good sleeper and I think its bc we stick to the routine no matter what! This might change with a new baby which makes me NERVOUS:)
ReplyDelete