I recently have had two Moms contact me saying that their almost 18month olds are waking up at 4am ready to start the day!! Wow, 4am, that is still the middle of the night to me. I can’t imagine starting my day at 4am every day!
When I inquired about how their naps were going the response I received didn’t surprise me at all. They were both napping in the 3.5-4 hour range. So in effect they were still getting the correct amount of sleep that they required. Just some of it was during the day instead of at night.
This may be the first sign that your toddler is getting ready to switch to one nap per day. Or it just may mean that your toddler needs his naps cut shorter for another few months before you transition him to one nap per day.
Here is how you should solve the problem:
If you feel your toddler needs only one nap per day and is ready to transition please follow these suggestions:
The switch to one nap is rarely a one-day occurrence. Most often there will be a transition period of several weeks when your child clearly needs two naps on some days, but one nap on others. On some days you’ll have no idea if it’s a one-nap day or a two-nap day. Here are a few ways to cope during transition time:
1. Go with the Flow
Watch for your child’s sleepy signs, such as rubbing his eyes, and put him down for a nap when those indications first appear.
2. Move to one nap
Choose a single naptime that is later than the usual morning nap, but not as late as the afternoon nap. Keep your child active (and outside when possible) until about 30 minutes before the time you have chosen. Then, give your child a healthy snack and begin a wind-down period and pre-nap routine. It may help to break lunch up into two parts, serving half of his lunch before nap and half when he wakes up. For a few weeks he may be fussy or whiny that last hour or so. Just be patient as he adjusts to the new schedule.
3. Earlier bedtime
On days when a nap ends up being early in the day, move bedtime earlier by 30 minutes to an hour to minimize the length of time between nap and bedtime.
If you feel that your toddler still needs two naps per day, please follow these suggestions.
1. Transition slowly
Deduct 10 minutes off your toddlers napping time during each nap ever two days until you get to 1hr and 15 minutes for each nap.
2. Expect your child to be grumpy
Please try not to worry about it but your toddler will most likely be a bit grumpy on the first day, until he starts sleeping later in the morning just expect a bit of grumpiness and unhappiness..
I know this will solve all of your problems and happy snoozing!!
