Do you think your daughter or son is ready to move from 2 naps to 1?
This was my favourite time with my toddler moving to 1 nap as it meant we had a nice long morning to do something fun together and then we both got to have a nice long rest in the afternoon.
Signs to know if your toddler is ready:
Happily taking her morning nap which is nice and long.Afternoon nap is starting to become at struggle, playing, fussing for an hour in her cot could be a sign.Struggling with afternoon nap 4-5 times a week for 2 weeks
It is important to monitor her afternoon nap for 2 weeks as you don’t want to move to quickly with this, this transition can take time and can be tricky. My reason why I ask you to monitor this for 2 weeks is because at this age there are a lot development milestones which can cause sleep regression, if after 2 weeks’ afternoon naps are not happening then go ahead and make the switch.
How to make the switch?
Move morning nap 30 minutes every 3 days until it hits 12.30pmOffer a snack at his normal nap timeAfternoon nap, bridge the gap try for a nap in cot, pram or car for a cat nap 3/3.30 as he won’t have the stamina to hang in there to bed time with just the morning napBring bedtime earlier, this is just for the short term, over the 4 weeks you can slowly start moving bedtime back to 7pm.
This transition can take up to 4-6 weeks until you start seeing some great naps. It can take time, the body has to learn now to consolidate what used to be two separate naps into one big one don’t panic if he only has 1 hour or so for the first week or 2 it’s only a matter of time.
You will also find that your toddler seems tired at her usual morning nap time and that makes people a bit worried that maybe they have done it to soon or maybe she’s not ready but once you’ve have made the decision to do this, my advice is to just go for it You are going to get the body clock in line with it much faster if you stay consistent instead of waffling back and forth.
Good luck!
Love Sleep, Lisa Lamb x