12-18 Month Schedules

Hi there K.,
My DD is 17 months and we are finding that if she takes 2 naps a day now, one is significantly shorter than the other. She is in daycare and our provider confirmed what we were facing on the weekends. She has been able to get by on one longer nap, usually after lunch but she can be a bit of a bear when she is up for an extended period of time but it is simply the transition. As far as the scheduling, you just make it works for you. It isn't about "their" schedule. It is what you make it out to be. I was bummed when I realized we were down to the one nap a day. I used that time to work out, clean bathrooms, have mommy/daddy time and now that has been blown to bits :o(
Anyway, here is a typical weekend day:
6/6:30 wakeup with 6-8 oz. of milk.
7:30 munching on Kix or Cheerios
9:30 Yogurt with fruit
if there is an a.m. nap it would be around 10am
11:30 lunch time (noodles, fruit, veggies, milk)
12:30 nap
2:00(if we're lucky) small snack like applesauce or goldfish
5:30/6:00pm dinner time (6-8oz. of milk plus whatever is for dinner)
8pm sleep.
While certainly this is all subject to change but this is usually what a weekend looks like for her. Our DD is a picky eater which stinks but we try to have at least one thing that she will like. Last night she decided she didn't want potatoes which is usually a safe bet for her so she had her apple slices and milk and that was it!
Best of luck with this and don't worry about the pickiness....he won't starve if he decides to be picky!

First of all, relax, most times your kid lets you know when he's ready for the changes. For instance, you put him down for his first nap and he doesn't sleep, or he sleeps for his first nap and not for his second. This lets you know he is ready, and it means that you generally go: breakfast, am snack, lunch pm snack, dinner. My kids varied. My oldest son, once he got out of newborn sleeping all the time, never took 2 naps. Just didn't happen. My youngest daughter was 18 months old before she went down to one nap.

Start offering him a variety of things that are cut small enough for fingers that are relatively tastey. Cut up bananas, microwaved sweet potatoes, apples, toast fingers, waffles, chicken breast cut into little pieces. Basically whatever you eat, as long as it is not too tough or too spicy, offer it up to him. It will be trial and error and you will find those foods that he likes.

A basic lunch for my son was, a piece of ham lunch meat, chicken nugget, sausage link, (one of them, not all), a baked sweet potato, peas, green beans, acorn squash with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar (again, one of them), a fruit cut up that was easy for him to eat. Cheese cubes are an option. Tortilla roll ups with a little bit of cream cheese or laughing cow spreadable swiss, a deli thin piece of lunchmeat, rolled into a tight spiral and sliced thinly.

You are doing great and not all kids hit the benchmarks exactly on time. Some he will hit early and some late, but it's all good. He will hit them. Only if he is SUPER late, should you be worried.

My 18m old still takes 2 naps (9a & 2p). He is up at 6:30a, bedtime 7-7:30p). We have tried to give him one nap and it just doesnt work for him. He either falls asleep and is crabby during lunch, or he is falls asleep and is crabby for dinner. So we went back to 2 and thats what works for us. My oldest son is also a good sleeper, and at over 4 still takes an aftenoon nap. I have friends whose babies stopped taking two naps before a year, and some who have toddlers/preschoolers that do not nap at all. All kids are different. I wouldnt force any change, usually kids will give you the signs when they are ready to lose a nap.

As for milk. My 18m old drinks anywhere between 10-20oz a day. Usually closer to 20. We switched him off the bottle to sippy cups (the ones with the straws worked best for us) right at a year. So he gets his milk with his meals, and usually just water in between.

Snacks, my son loves those happy baby yogurt bites, he used to love gerber puffs but he's too old for that now.

As for meals, I try to give him what I make for dinner so he sees us eating it (my oldest is a picky eater and I vowed to not have another in my house! :)) At 18m I just cut stuff up small. At 12m I would sometimes still puree or "quick chop" stuff so he wouldnt choke.

Talk to your pediatrician about your childs specific needs tho. Again all kids are different.

:)

I have 23 month old twins. At 12 months, they were taking 2 naps per day at around 10:30am and 2pm. Around 12-14 months, I cut back on their milk to 1 sippy cup with each main meal (3 times per day). Now, they are about to turn two, they still have milk with each main meal and nap everyday at 1pm for 2-2.5 hours. My daughter was easy to get to eat everything. My son was (and still is) more picky when it came to starting solids. He loved cereal snacks and I didn't push him per my doctor. I'd say he was around 15 months when he started doing much better eating his meals. Some of their typical meals around age 12-16 months: 1.shredded chicken, black beans, chopped grapes 2.oatmeal, chopped bananas, applesauce 3. ground turkey, shredded carrots, applesauce 4. peas/diced cooked carrots, diced pears, cut up deli meat.