I know that every child is different, but I'm just wondering if some Moms out there can tell me what age your child stopped taking the morning nap and how you made this transition easier?
My son is almost 11 months and he sometimes won't fall asleep for morning nap. But then when I skip it and put him down for 1 afternoon nap he takes a really short nap (1/2 hour). Obviously this isn't enough because he becomes really cranky. I don't know what to do.
Around 10 months, my daughter started to either play through her morning nap or through her afternoon nap a good portion of the time. At 11 months, I gave up and switched her to one nap, at which point, she started sleeping a longer total time.
My son transitioned around 18 months. I tried real hard to keep that morning nap, but he was refusing the afternoon one. Plus with summertime, we can be out and have fun all morning, and then by 1-2pm, he is down for a good 2-3 hours.
My daughter transitioned out of her morning nap at 18 months. My son transitioned just before 15 months.
Dropping the morning nap was a tough transition for the kids! I went back and forth (2 naps vs. 1 nap) for a couple of weeks -- and it never seemed like I did the right choice on the right day!! I wish I had some great tips, but it just seemed to work itself out over 2-3 weeks. Hang in there!
PS...Here are some research statistics I've been given about naps:
12 months old = 17% of children are taking one afternoon nap, while 82% take two naps
15 months old = 56% are taking one afternoon nap, while 43% are taking two naps
18 months old = 77% are taking one afternoon nap, while
22% are taking two naps
21 months old = 88% are taking one afternoon nap
24 months old = 95% are taking one afternoon nap
If your child is getting 12 hours of sleep at night, then they can go down to 14 hours of sleep by dropping the morning nap around 17 mos old. I know that in daycare centers they do it at 15 mos old, and prior to having my own kids and doing home daycare I thought that was good and that toddlers were just crabby. I have learned that the toddlers don't have to be crabby if they get the right amount of sleep. I have had daycare kids that still took 2 naps (cause trust me they needed it!!) until they were almost 2 1/2 yrs old. I had one quit as early as 13 mos and I truly believe that that was one reason that child had concentration issues his whole.
In my years I have learned that lots of kids don't sleep 12 hours at night, so they have to make that up during the day. Proper sleep makes them happier, more able to learn and remember and helps them grow properly. So don't give up that nap until they are no longer sleeping for it for at least a 2 week period, or until they shorten their afternoon nap, in which case you start waking them from the morning nap but still keep it at least 45 minutes.
I think somewhere around a year old? I can't remember, they were both really different. THe transition will be easy because your child will decide when they are done with the morning or afternoon nap. Sometimes they like to sleep earlier sometimes later. Depends on their own personality. With my second, we just started napping after lunch (usually noon or so) and sometimes we lay down until 2, sometimes 4. It just all depends. My 3 year old has "quiet time" while I lay down with the younger boy for nap. Sometimes it's short, sometimes long. Just all depends on the day and how everybody is feeling.
