r/Mommit • u/icecream_peach • 1d ago
How old was your LO when they transitioned to one nap?
My LO is only 10 months so I feel she is too young for just one nap but I’m also at a loss for what to do. She has been a catnapper since she was 8 weeks old. At 8ish months we started contact napping for all naps in order to get any naps, her naps then ranged from anywhere between 30m - 2 hours. If the first nap is long then the second nap is battle and she just ends up falling asleep at like 7pm and napping then. So in the last week or so I’ve tried cutting both naps to about 30mins (I feel so mean waking her) because it’s taking hours to get her to sleep at bedtime. Today she woke just after 9, napped 12:30-1 then 4-5pm. Showered at 8:30 and she’s finally gone to sleep at 11pm. Hindsight I probably should have capped the second nap too but she was fast asleep. We’ve had a consistent bedtime routine since she was a month old (shower, milk, bed) this has never mattered 90% of the time she will not settle for bed. I don’t put her to bed awake, she falls asleep on me (usually nursing but it might take more than one attempt) because she will just cry in her crib if she’s awake Her first nap of the day she settles for really well about 3 hours of being awake so I just don’t think she’s ready for only one nap yet. But she just never seems tired enough at bedtime until we try for hours and then she’s over tired.
This post is a bit rambly, I’m just one tired, stressed out first time Mumma wondering what to do (please no CIO advice that is not an option for us)
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u/cottonmouthfarm 1d ago
11 months! It was a massive life improvement for everyone and he still got the recommended amount of sleep.
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u/KirasStar 1d ago
I agree! My son was a rubbish napper but when we moved to one nap at around 10/11 months he would suddenly do one glorious 2-3 hour nap a day for the next year until he dropped it.
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u/Shellzncheez689 1d ago
If she’s walking at 9am then 11pm sounds like a normal bedtime to me. My first had this exact same routine (late sleeper, cat napper) and went to one nap around 18 months/2 years old.
My other kid is almost 2. She’s up around 6am, bedtime is 8pm, she’s transitioning to 1 nap right now around 12 but is struggling because she’s used to napping at 10am.
I will say I know kids who napped until they were 6 yeses old and others who dropped all naps at 1 year old. Kids are different. Try doing one nap and see how your day/night goes!
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u/MelodicNegotiation77 1d ago
Agree with this! My now 23 month old wakes at 6 and goes to bed at 8; we switched to 1 nap around 18 months (12-2). She’s never been the best sleeper and we never sleep trained, but we’re in a good groove for now. I think 10 months is a LITTLE young, but do what works for your family!
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u/McSkrong 1d ago
11mos and it worked so well for us. She’s 27mos now and still solidly on one nap, so dropping to one early doesn’t have to mean they’ll drop naps early altogether (thank goodness)
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u/pickymarshmallows 1d ago
My first switched to one nap at 18 months. My second is almost there, not quite, at 15 months. For two naps to happen he has to be up by 6:30/7am since we target a 7pm bedtime. Naps from 9-10am then 1:30- around 2:50pm.
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u/Brunchovereverything 1d ago
Literally 12 months.
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u/Life_Performer_9452 1d ago
Same here! I noticed our little guy taking a crappy afternoon nap so I followed his cues after his really long morning nap. He now goes to bed around 8:30 pm, wakes up around 7:30 or 8 am, eats breakfast, plays, lunch and then goes to take his nap around 11:30 am. He then wakes up around 2 pm.
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u/Mimichkaya83 1d ago
Good morning, my baby has been on the rhythm of one nap per day since he was 10 months old. I wanted to get him to take 2 naps a day but it had become impossible (he struggles to sleep). I let him adopt the rhythm of 1 nap per day. He has always had very long waking times for his age.
Here is its current rate (at 12 months): Up at 6 a.m. (he wakes up by himself) Nap between approximately 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Fall asleep in the evening at 7:30 p.m. after bottle bath and cuddles. During the night 2 wake-ups for bottles (it compensates for the fact of not eating much during the day). He doesn't fall asleep alone in his bed, he falls asleep in his arms.
What helps me put this “grown-up” rhythm into perspective is that he doesn’t seem to have a sleep debt. He is not irritable, his complexion is very pink, he is active during the day, plays and has normal development (babbling, standing against furniture, recognizing words, pointing at objects, etc.).
I hope to reassure you.
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u/lala8800 1d ago
Around 11 months for us as well. However my child used to wake up way earlier around 6 am (yes ik 😵💫). First nap was 9-10.30, second nap 14-15.30 more or less. Bedtime 7-7.30 pm. When he stopped falling asleep in the afternoon we moved the morning nap forward until we reached 12 noon and we‘re still there now. 12-2pm or 12.30-2.30 is nap time.
He‘s never slept through yet, however, so we might be doing something wrong anyway 😭
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u/icecream_peach 1d ago
My LO doesn’t sleep through either (but resettles quickly thank goodness). It does feel like I am doing something wrong because I never know if I should cap her naps or not? She only contact naps atm and consistently wakes at the 30min mark but if I give her more milk she could sleep up to two hours. I don’t know if the goal rn should be getting her to nap in her crib (and should it be longer than 30min?) or just making bedtime easier. And it’s daylight saving here so I’m planning on waking her at 8am (which will feel like 9am to her) and bringing everything forward an hour but idk if this is the right move if I’m thinking of dropping one nap 😩 and if i drop to one nap it will have to remain a contact nap to get it to last more than 30min 😩 lol I know you don’t have the answers for me but it just feels better getting this off my chest! I love mommit on days like this.
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u/Mindfullysolo 1d ago
Definitely bring everything an hour earlier. She needs to get used to her crib and I don’t understand the 30 min, that’s way too short to get any good rest. It’s sounds like contact napping and trying to settle her at night are not even working the best for you both. I agree with the other commenter, do your research, create a new schedule and stick with it, it can take a week or two for them to adapt. I know this may sound odd but have you tried just putting her in the crib without so much assistance to fall asleep? My LO sleep improved tremendously when I started just laying him down, no rocking, no bottle in the bedtime routine.
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u/icecream_peach 1d ago
I don’t understand the 30m either 😩 she just won’t sleep longer than 30m unless she is on me (even then she will still wake at 30min and i resettle her with milk). So idk if my goal is getting her to sleep in her crib during the day because the nap will only last for 30min, or if I keep letting her contact nap and sleep longer, but then is this effecting bedtime 😩 We have tried putting her in her crib awake a few times but now that she can stand she just stands and cries out.
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u/lala8800 1d ago
My child used to wake up after 30 minutes as well. I gave him more milk (breast) and he fell asleep again for one more hour. I definitely don’t have the answer lol 😂 he still sleeps only next to me, not in his crib, he‘s 18 months!! But I honestly don’t care anymore in the meanwhile, as long as he sleeps I’m happy. One day I will teach him how to sleep on his own but not now…
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u/x0Rubiex0 1d ago
This makes me feel so much better. My 9 1/2 month old is down to 2 naps now because she started fighting naps so much. I realized she just wasn’t tired enough so she now wakes around 8-9, has her first nap at around noon, then a second around 5-5:30 then we try to have bedtime between 8-9. She’s just so little, I feel like she should be napping more😂
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u/thatscotbird 1d ago
13 months old, refused up until then. But when I went back to work & she started nursery (daycare), that helped!
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u/PrancingTiger424 Mom 6💙 4💙 infant💜 1d ago
My oldest cut his morning nap around 10 months. My middle closer to a year. My youngest at 9 months.
My youngest just turned 1 this week. Her sleep schedule is:
Weekday: 630 I wake her for to get ready for school 1245-330 afternoon nap 7 bedtime
Weekend: Natural wake up between 7-8 1245-330/4 afternoon nap (I don’t let her sleep past 4pm) 715 bedtime
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u/labrador709 1d ago
Mine started daycare around 13 months and was kind of forced to transition due to their schedule. It was a little early, but she did well! She would nap around 11:30 and then go to bed early, like 6pm some nights. Eventually she was able to stay awake until after lunch and now at 20 months, she naps from 1-3 and goes to bed at 7:30.
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u/Nervous_Quinn 1d ago edited 1d ago
Our LO (11 mo) recently transitioned to 1 nap at 11 am. He usually goes to bed at 8pm wakes up for a milk snack at 1am and gets up between 5:50 am and 630 am.
I've always let him lead the way and kind of adjusted as his needs changed.
My oldest is 11 yo and she was always a sleeper. 9pm to 7am. No wake ups and had 2 naps until pre school. At 11 yo she'd sleep until the afternoon.
Each kid is so so different.
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u/Green4eyes44 1d ago
Not until 16 months! He loved his sleep lol. We tried many times before then, but he was always crankier than the 2 nap days soooo
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u/jodamnboi 1d ago
I would suggest moving her second nap up. I’ve found with my 8 month old that we have to stop naps by 4 or 5 at the very latest or else she doesn’t sleep.
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u/Spiritual_Patience39 1d ago
You've got nothing to lose if you give it a try. Mine was 16 months but my mom is telling me by that age I was not napping at all
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u/StupendusDeliris 1d ago
I wanna say we dropped ours around 18-20m. Between 20-21m she flipped flopped deciding if she would do nap2 or not. But now she’s 1 nap.
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u/supportgolem 1d ago
Around 11 months and has stuck to it, barring an occasional 2 nap day if we're out and about. Our MCH nurse said he's a little young to drop a nap but it's not unheard of... so far no issues and he naps for 1 - 1 1/2 hours.
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u/g0thfrvit 1d ago
Mine was around a year. Sleeping til 9 AM is likely your problem. We wake him up by 7 AM so that it doesn’t mess up the nap schedule and so he’s not going to bed super late like that.
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u/ThisgoddamnKitty 1d ago
Our babies are similar when it comes to sleep/naps. He’s 11 months. Definitely more of a low sleep needs baby. He’s still on two naps though. He just can’t make it to bedtime with one nap. I’ve also realized when we skip second nap he sleeps much much worse with several false starts. I was contemplating transitioning to just one nap though because he’s a notorious 30 minute napper but will sleep sometimes 2 hours if I lay with him. I thought maybe if he goes down to one nap that one nap will be longer and enough. Sometimes he would get more sleep with the one nap than he would with two. But again he would struggle to make it to bedtime. Anyway, for your situation I would not cap the first nap but would cap the second nap. I don’t like baby to sleep after 4:30pm because he needs a solid 3.5-4 hour wake window before bedtime. That puts his bedtime around 8-8:30. Which I still think is too late. But he’s very difficult to put on a schedule because his sleep is all over place. Sometimes he naps for 30 minutes sometimes 2 hours so I’m constantly shifting. I’ve also kind of noticed if he gets more sleep he’ll sleep more and better. I’m surprised when he’ll go down 3 hours after his first 2 hour nap.
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u/books-and-baking- 1d ago
My oldest only ever took one big nap a day until she was 3, when she gave it up altogether. My youngest napped twice a day till he was 16 months, and is still taking one 2-3 hour nap a day at almost 3. Every kid is different.
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u/Kosmo_katze 1d ago edited 1d ago
At about 9 month, he was fine just having one nap. Overall he is sleeping around 12-13 hours in 24 hours (he is now 11 month old) 10-11 hours during the night and 1:30- 2 hours for his nap. I was freaking out because I thought he doesn’t get enough sleep. But he is fine. I read somewhere that you should write down how much she actually sleeps for about a week. That tells you how much sleeps she needs. And then you can plan accordingly. Maybe she is one of those kids who really don’t need that much sleep, like mine. Baby’s only sleep the amount of time they need. So it actually might help to drop the second nap, to get more sleep during the nighttime.
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u/Tiny-Yak-7974 1d ago
13.5 months for both kids. I’d recommend an earlier wake time and earlier bedtime if that schedule works for your family. 7-8am would be ideal. I capped naps at one hour before switching to one nap. We had 7am wake. 10-11 nap. 2:30-3:30 nap. 7pm bedtime.
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u/Logical-Poet-9456 1d ago
9 months! Worked very well for my babe. Low sleep needs children are a real thing.
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u/defectiveadult 1d ago
If you want her to sleep earlier, her schedule needs to be adjusted. Try downloadning HuckleBerry app, and get the free trial. It will help you adjust