Is it time to drop a nap??

[Lilybett]

Much as I hate to admit it, I think it's getting to the stage where Lottie is getting ready to drop her afternoon nap :hissyfit: :cry: Although she happily goes down for her morning nap and practically always sleeps soundly for a good 1.5 - 2 hours, her afternoon one is getting very erratic and its becoming a real fight to get her to take it, even if I know she is tired :rolleyes: This afternoon she battled for 30 mins before she fell asleep and woke up 15 mins later :yeahright: and yesterday she didn't go to sleep at all, just played in her cot for 30 mins then moaned and screamed for another 30 mins :no: It's been a struggle for the last couple of weeks really if I'm honest.

Problem is that it seems a bit early for her to drop it, I was under the impression that LO's didn't drop to one nap until they were about 1yr old? And I'm also not sure if I will be able to get her to lunchtime without her falling asleep during the morning, she usually goes for a nap 3 to 3.5 hours after she wakes up.

God I wish this parenting lark came with a manual! :rolleyes: What do you think I should do? What age did your LO's go down to one nap a day?

[Ms Sunflower]

We gave up Tinys afternoon nap a while ago. We've only just picked it up as she is teething/growth spurt and is knackered. If her normal self then I'd have the same scenario as you do when you put Lottie down. It honestly sounds like she is ready to drop it. It does however make them very tired by bedtime. Which is a godsend if they mess about at bedtime normally! However I did to move dinner backwards a little bit. Tiny was very tired by dinner and as such wasn't that interested (and kept rubbing her eyes while food covered)

[popinjay1]

I would cut back on her morning nap to no more than an hour. That should get the afternoon nap back on track. When Claire was around Lottie's age I found she would have a short catnap in the morning but a massive 3 hour nap after lunch. Then when she got a year she dropped the morning nap.

[Moffgal]

I'd agree with Popinjay. For a while I had to orchestrate Con's naps. At one point he was having anything up to 1.5 hours in the morning then after lunch not sleeping much at all which meant he was really tired by about 4pm. So I never let him sleep past about 9.30-9.45 in the morning so he'd have a decent pm nap.

In the last few weeks he's dropped the morning nap altogether and it's only this week or so that it's been consistently the case. Now he goes right through till 12.15-12.30 and has a real good sleep for a couple of hours, which is lovely for me too!

Hope things settle down soon, it's a difficult few weeks at this stage while they transition over.

Moffgal

[Puddy C]

H started to get more difficult to put down for her morning nap around 12 or 13 months and only really had a 15 minute cat nap around then which was just enough to get her through to lunchtime when she would take 1.5 to 2 hours after her lunch which was enough to get her through to bedtime. She pretty much dropped her morning nap altogether when she was 14 months old.
Would Lottie settle better for her 15 minute cat nap in the afternoon if she was in the car or in her buggy? It might be that she only needs a little cap for the next couple of months until she is happy enough to get through the whole afternoon without getting overtired? The other thing I was going to say was that H did go through a stage before she got really active (you know crawling, standing, criusing loads) when she seemed to need less sleep during the day but she has now gone back to needing more especially now she is walking.

Puddy

[Lilybett]

Thanks ladies, I'm going to try a few options over the next week or so and see what works best for us - including just one long nap at lunchtime and two shorter ones during the day as you've suggested.

Today I'm going for a just one nap as we've been out this morning and she's still going happily even after waking up at 6.45am so I'll put her down after lunch and hope for the best!!!

I hate these transition periods, just when you've got into a good routine suddenly it all changes again!! :rolleyes: