If you’re here reading this post, it’s likely because you’re struggling with naps, your baby and the dreaded sleep schedule.
See all my motherhood posts here!
I got lucky with Hailey, our first daughter. She was a great sleeper, almost right away. In her second week of life, she was sleeping predictably and only waking up once during the night. Her naps became predictable after a few more weeks and after that, she smoothly transitioned from one sleep stage to the next.
Until she hit 11 months old.
I had a nap evader on my hands!
[Tweet “Signs your baby may be ready to go from two naps to one.”]
OK, that may be a bit dramatic, but around this age, Hailey’s 2 hour nap in the morning and 2 hour nap in the afternoon started changing. She had trouble falling asleep as easily. Her naps consisted of choppy sleep, not solid naps. She woke up earlier than usual.
I started to notice a pattern developing. From sitting up, she would go to rolling around and looking bored.
Followed by a few attempts to sleep.
…but her eyes would be open. Then she went to crying and wanting me to come back in.
I felt like it was too early to transition to 1 nap. But after some thorough investigation (on twitter), I realized that many babies dropped to 1 nap at 11 months…And that some still took 2 naps at 20 months. To each their own.
I decided to research further and look up:
Signs Your Baby is Ready for One Nap
Your child consistently does not sleep well for both naps.
Yes, Hailey struggled with both, not sleeping as solidly as she once did.
Your child takes one nap well and totally resists the other nap.
Though Hailey usually struggled with both, sometimes she would snooze solidly in the morning, then fight the afternoon with all her might.
Your child can go for car rides during the morning without falling asleep.
If we were on a long trip (4+ hours), Hailey usually slept for a bit at her normal nap time; otherwise she stayed awake just fine.
Your child cries or fusses for at least 30 minutes when you try to put him down, then falls asleep but only takes a short nap.
Usually true.
He/she begins sleeping later in the morning.
Yes. Our old 7am wake up moved closer to 7:30 or 8:00.
Your child can remain happy and energetic until bedtime when he/she skips a nap.
Yes. I let Hailey skip her afternoon nap a couple times when we were busy and she was always been fine until bedtime. However, one time, she took a terrible morning nap and skipped the afternoon nap, which led to a cranky, yet cuddly baby girl.
Moms and dads, when did you transition to 1 nap?
What were the signs your child was ready?
How old was your child?
chelsey @ clean eating chelsey says
I think it totally depends on the child, and from those “signs”, it looks like Hailey is ready!
Susan @ Real Life Travels says
It totally depends on the kid. Caden has been “in between” for months now. Sometimes he’ll take two, sometimes he’ll only take an afternoon one. Good luck but don’t stress she’ll get there sooner or later!
Kelsey says
S started waking up later 8 or 830 and then she would take an am nap but then would resist the pm one. So I started gettin busy in the mornings to keep her from wanting to nap. If she is tired we will take a jog or walk so she can doze for a short time. We then will do lunch around noon so she is ready to nap by 1 and will sleep till 330 or 4. It’s actually nice to be able to have the mornings open ! Good luck :$
emily s says
Parker is consistent morning napper…he prefers a morning nap still (for 1.5-2.5 hrs usually). I put him in his crib around 230, but he never falls asleep so it’s just quiet time. I have been back and forth about switching him to one mid afternoon nap, but have decided to leave it as is until he doesn’t nap well i the a.m.
Jenny says
G was the same way so we are down to putting him down for 1 nap after lunch during the week. He’s always been an early riser always waking up between 6 and 7 sometimes earlier but hardly ever later so we play and have breakfast then go for a long walk an he will usually snooze about 20 min on our walk but that holds him over til after lunch, and he naps at least 2 hours in the afternoon now. But is still ready for bed between 7:30 and 8. Weekends tend to be a bit different because we don’t really have a set schedule on weekends so we’ll put him down when he shows signs of being tired he’ll sometimes slant in the morning an afternoon or just the morning and sometimes just in the afternoon. Totally depends on the day. He dropped to 1 nap pretty much after I changed my daily routine around and he was 1
Paulina says
My daughter is a few weeks younger than Hailey and she has been resisting her morning nap for about a month. She will play quietly in her crib and sometimes will fall asleep, but usually for 20 minutes tops. Her afternoon naps are still about 2 hours long. I’m also trying to drop one feeding/day which I think might be related. She now eats a bigger breakfast followed by a cup of water in place of her mid-morning bottle/nursing.
Mike @ Midwestern Bite says
I think we’ll be watching this one closely to see how it works out for you. Our 9.5 month old still has *some* days where both naps go well, but not everyday like it used to be. He’s also waking up a little later this week, and I had no idea that was a sign. Keep us posted so we can use you as the guinea pig! 🙂
Kelly @ Runmarun says
I’ve been out of the loop for a few days and wondered what you and H had been up to with your sleeping schedule. This is really helpful information, thanks for posting. I hope it works well for you. Those pictures of H sitting up in the crib are so cute!
We’ve been on vacation so L’s naps have been pretty bad (she struggles with being out of her environment) so once we get back on track, I will be curious if she starts heading in this direction.
Have a good day!
Katy says
KG has been a 1 nap kind of girl since 9 months. I love it. It makes it so much easier to do things in and out of the house. At school she usually only goes 1 hr and 30 mins but on the weekends she will usually squeeze in a 2-3hr nap. I think you and Hailey will both adjust easily!
nicole @ making good choices says
love all of your posts like this. thanks for sharing. keep us posted on H’s naps! 🙂
Danielle says
We switched to one nap right around 11 months so C could transition to the toddler room at daycare. He wakes at 7, has lunch at 12:30, then naps from about 1:30-3:30. It did make weekends much easier when he didn’t need to be home for 3+ hours for naptimes! Good luck, looks like baby girl is ready!
Liz @ IHeartVegetables says
Haha I Was that baby that never slept 😉 mwahaha
I’m sure payback will be pretty bad when I have a baby!!! hehe
Chrissy says
My boys (11 months) are going through the same transition as Hailey. Some days they might take a morning and afternoon nap (but both naps aren’t as long as they used to be), but then other days they’ll skip one of their naps. We are slowly trying to push their morning naps later and later in the day so that they’ll eventually go down for 1 long nap in the early afternoon.
btw…thanks so much for the digital invitation idea from La Petite Party Shoppe. I bought the boys’ 1st bday party invitations through it and they were so nice and helpful! 🙂
Elaine says
Oh man, I could have written this post, it sounds so much like our house right now. Even your video pictures mimic exactly what my 15 month old daughter is doing. I really, really like our current morning routine and am a little sad that it appears to be changing. Apparently, 1 nap often means a 3-4 hour nap but I just don’t think we’ll be that lucky since my daughter looooves to fight sleep. Good luck to you!
Maria says
No Hailey! Stop growing up so fast and enjoy your naps while you can still take them! 🙂
RhodeyGirl says
I hope Raffi is one of the kids that keeps the 2 naps for a long time. When he drops to 1 I’ll have to have 3 days of childcare rather than 2 most likely.
Ashley says
When did you switch from the eat/play/sleep/play to specific nap times?
Shanna, like Banana says
Bean is a great sleeper too, no credit to me either 😉
He usually does 1 short nap (45-60min) and 1 long nap (2 hrs)..hard to plan around, but love getting stuff done in that time.
Those pics above are TOO CUTE!
Melissa says
Our 1st dropped to one 2-3 hour nap at 12 months. It takes some getting used to but really opens up the mornings for playdates and things!
Ashley M. [at] (never home)maker says
I think it definitely depends on the child. Ada was never, ever a good napper. Until recently. So, a lot of these signs were happening for us for months — but it was mostly that she just couldn’t settle down from waking to sleeping on her own very well. She’s super awake when she’s awake, so that transition is difficult for her. Though they are always changing. It’s so hard to keep up!
Jen@HealthyFoodandFamily says
It’s been a few years, but I’m pretty sure Aiden stopped 2 a day naps right around the 10 or 11 month mark. From that point until he was about 3.5, he slept every day from 1-4.
Tara @ A Daily Dose of Fit says
Hannah is 7 months old and takes a solid (2-3HR) nap in the afternoon, but rarely ever sleeps in the morning as she’s in the nursery at the gym where I work. Bedtime is typically at 8PM, and she sleeps through the night. Although, lately she’s been fighting bedtime, so I’m not sure what that’s all about…
blackhuff says
I think it was round about the age of 18 months, where my children was ready for 1 nap. Also, them both being in a creche, they also don’t have more than 1 nap for the children per day.
Melissa @ Fit 'N' Well Mommy says
Oh, how I remember those days! Keenan transitioned to one nap between 13 and 14 months. He did all of the things you describe Hailey doing. It was a rough transition (harder for me, since I’m not so good with dealing with change), but in the end, it was easier going out and doing things with 1 nap. To help with the transition (since he was still better off with 2 naps), I started shortening his morning nap to 45 minutes and then down to 30 minutes while putting him down for his afternoon nap early. As soon as he was waking-up on his own after taking a 30 minute nap in the morning and sleeping 2+ hours in the afternoon, I cut the morning nap out all together. Now, Keenan takes one nap (going down between 12:30 and 1 p.m.) and sleeps for 2-3 hours (depending on how much activity we have done in the morning). It is nice to be able to get out in the morning and get errands done, go to play dates, doctor appointments, etc without having to coordinate with a morning nap. Hang in there!
Renee says
Thanks for posting the way you transitioned! My daughter is between 13 and 14 months right now and seems like she could go either way. Both naps have gotten shorter and less consistent but she seems tired all the time. I’ve tried a variety of things and I think combined with teething, it’s just a transitional period. We’re moving AND having a baby in a few months (she’ll be 17 months old), so I’m trying to decide whether to just tackle the nap transition now or later.
Is it common when you are first transitioning for the 1 nap to be shorter until they get used to sleeping a longer period of time? Also, what about bedtime. She used to wake closer to 7 or so, but now it’s around 6. 🙁 We leave her in her crib till 7 but it makes for a tired girl in the morning. Bedtime is around 7. I’ve thought about pushing it later, maybe with the spring time change, but i’m just not sure what’s best for her.
Any suggestions/ advice welcome!!
mougeh says
Hey there… how did your transition to one nap go? My daughter lily has started to nap at strange times making it difficult for us to put her down early enough in the evening. She has been waking around 7 but won’t go down for am nap until 10 (altho doesn’t seem that tired per say) and then she will snooze so I end up waking her in order to get to nap again around 230, but then she will go til around 430 ( i have to wake her again) and doesn’t get to sleep until 8 ish. I feel like something is up because I shouldn’t be needing to wake her each time in order to keep with the 2 nap schedule. Today, I put her down around 1145 and going to see if this helps consolidate the naps. I know they easily spiral into being overtired so i am worried to be making this transition early. But feel like something is up. Did you gradually shift the nap to midday?
Thanks so much!
Jazz says
I can’t believe you got 2 – 2h naps for so long! jealous. We are in the process of dropping to one nap too, exciting stuff!
Megan says
My daughter is 11 months in Tuesday and she has been having 1 sleep of a day lately and has been going to sleep at bedtime better and staying asleep the whole night and the 1 nap seems significantly longer
Cathy Gray says
I’m soooo glad I found this blog. You have given me such relief. I couldn’t understand this week what was happening with my granddaughter as she was not taking morning naps and getting up a little later in the am. I was dumb founded that she wasn’t tired although she rubbed her eyes off and on and I would try to put her down. She just wouldn’t sleep. Now as acting mother but a grandma I will have to come up with more activities and things to do in the am. We have a nice park near by so we will be visiting that. Thank you for your help! God bless.