Happy Friday, friends!
Today’s post is an answer to a recent reader’s question regarding how and when our girls transitioned from two naps to one. For the life of me, I can’t remember how this transition went with Hadley (it’s probably buried back in an old post somewhere like a good chunk of my girls lives, haha!) which must mean that it wasn’t too big of an ordeal.
Since I wasn’t exactly sure when Hadley gave up her morning nap, I wasn’t quite sure how or when to start pushing Sadie toward one nap. I knew that she’d be starting her little Child’s Day Out program at 16.5 months old, and she’d be taking an afternoon nap there around 12:30. So at the beginning of last summer, right when she was around 13 months old, I made it my goal to have her on a decent nap schedule of sleeping every day from around 12:30-2:30.
Giving up that morning nap was a gradual process that took a few months. She used to go down for a morning nap around 9:30, so I slowly started trying to keep her up little by little, laying her down 15 or 20 minutes later than her norm. Over time, I was able to keep her awake (and somewhat pleasant) until around 11.
Once she started going down for a nap around 11 a.m., that became her one nap of the day. She’d usually wake up around 1 or 1:30, so keeping up awake until 7 p.m. was hard.
So we just kept pushing back the time we’d lay her down little by little until finally her nap time would start right around 12:30. We really got into our groove with this when she was around 15 months, and she’s still pretty much on this schedule.
She wakes up at 7, naps from 12:30-2ish, and then goes to bed at 7 p.m. I’ve mentioned in a previous post that I worked with a sleep trainer when she was 10 months old because she was a total diva and the WORST sleeper, and one of my biggest takeaways from working with her was that little ones desperately need the same sleep routine every single day. They can’t tell time, so they rely on their little bodies to follow a circadian rhythm to help them know when it’s time to settle down and wake back up. Consistency, consistency, consistency, even when creating these new routines bring tears (and not just for the baby). It’ll be better for everyone in the long run.
I’m sure most mamas transition their babes to one nap similar to how I did (by slowly pushing back that morning nap until it’s late enough to be the only nap), so I didn’t do any reinventing on the wheel here. 🙂 Hope this is helpful to the sweet mama who asked as well as those of you with infants who will be navigating this before too long.
More: Transitioning Sadie from co-sleeping to her crib at 9 weeks old
Let’s chat!
What time do your kids go down for their afternoon nap?
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo