9-Month Old Baby down to 1 Nap a Day?

I would start keeping track of his sleep patterns in a sleep log. Use graph paper or excel to mark down his wake and down times, etc. You need to know how much sleep he is getting in 24 hours. If it's around 14 hours total, then he may be down to 1 nap very early. I've heard of 10 and 11 month olds down to 1 nap. It took my son a bit longer. He's 15 months and can mostly do 1 nap, every so often he does 2 naps.

Have you checked out Marc Weissbluth's "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child?" I'd check it out from the library. It has some useful information about a healthy sleep cycle for children at different stages in life. When the morning nap usually starts, etc. If the morning nap starts too late in the day, they won't be sufficiently tired for a second nap, but they might be too tired by bedtime.

As for putting a baby down at night, check out some of the other lengthy threads. A lot of moms have asked this recently.

How many hours total is he sleeping in a 24 hour period?

My 1 yr. old started fussing around that age due to teething. If he's cutting teeth, then he might not go down for his nap as easily as he did before. They sometimes need something to chew on in their crib to fall asleep. My daughter has her small teething toy and small stuffed animal. At night, I usually have the room dark without any lights and I would just sit and burp her for a good half hour. Then I would put her down and if her diaper's not wet and she doesn't have anymore gas bubbles/burps, she'll go down peacefully. If there was a lot going on during the day, she might cry for a good 10 minutes before settling down for the night. So allow him at least 10-15 minutes before going in and checking on him if he's crying. Sometimes a good cry will help him settle down and sometimes crying means a wet diaper. But waiting does help you figure out what he needs. Hope this helps.

What time does he go to bed at night, and what time does he get up? My daughter just turned 1 and she takes 3 naps daily, they vary from 1-2 hours. All children are going to be different of course, but they say 14 hours of total sleep at that age I believe is best. I have never been the mom to let my children "cry it out", I am too wimpy for that, but if he is truly fighting it and really tired, maybe try something to soothe him to sleep. I got this conair sleep machine, it's awesome, when she was still in our room ,I even loved it. I have it on rainfall and she sleeps 100% better now. It's silver and walmart has it for like 14.99. Great investment. Hope this helps.

I found that our kids found their own sleep patterns,so you too may have to adjust.If he cries at bed time it could be he's too tired or not tired enough, due to the nap change.How long is his sleep at his new nap time,how long between 2 naps did you put him to bed at night.does he have a favorite (safe)cuddle toy? Sometimes that helps too.

My son did the same thing and at 18 months was DONE with naps altogether, and continued to sleep the same amount of hours at night! He had always had a 6/6:30 bedtime, which was great for us since my husband worked out of the house and got to see him all day (point being he didn't need to stay awake to get to see Daddy).

If he seems happy, then he is probably getting enough sleep. My older daughter gave up her morning hap around that age. If he seems cranky and tired, then he still needs that second nap. Sometimes when babies learn a new skill, such as pulling up, cruising, walking, they have a very hard time settling down and going to sleep. Life is just too exciting!

I highly recommend "Baby Wise" with regard to your sleeping at night question. It really saved my sanity! It was recommended to me by a close friend who used it with both of her kids, and I have in turn recommended it to many of my friends. We have all had fantastic results.

Good luck to you!

Consider yourself lucky, now you don't have to work around both naps and are able to get errands done. My first took 2 naps till around 15 to 18 months. Stoped right before his new bother was born. The second one started to take one to two naps a day around 9 months and was down to just 1 2 to 3 hour nap by 1 year. What matters most is how many total hours is he sleeping through the night and at nap all together.