I was wondering if there are any moms out there who have heard of a baby dropping the morning nap before a year old. My almost 9 month old little girl has been sleeping 11 hours at night and 2 naps for about 2 months. All of a sudden the last 2 or 3 days she will not go down for the morning nap. When I lay her down it takes 20 or 30 minutes for her to finally drift off and even when she does she is back up 20 minutes later. She seems very awake at that normal naptime and pretty happy and alert for most of the morning. I'm reluctant to drop the morning nap but not sure what to do. Do I give her "quiet time" or should I consider dropping that morning nap and giving her a long nap around lunchtime? Anyone whose heard of this I'd certainly value your comments.
I just wanted to send a note and thank everyone for the great responses. After a day or 2 of only one nap, she was tired enough to go back to 2 naps. I guess she was just going through a phase. She might also have been too stimulated by the cahnges in our house recently. She is doing great now though. Thanks a lot everyone.
S.,
My daughter, now 19 mos. old, did the same thing. It's very hard (for us) to give up that morning nap. I would just start putting her down earlier for her afternoon nap. She'll prob. sleep for a long time. I will warn you that if she's like my daughter, she'll start refusing naps all together on certain days starting around 16 mos. When that happens it's hard to get anything done. Good luck!!
-A.
I had a niece who dropped ALL naps around six months! Then a grandson who NEVER took a morning nap. Every child is different, if she is not wanting to sleep and is not cranky, just get used to it! Be glad she still takes an afternoon nap and sleeps so well at night!
If your child is sleeping 11 hours at night count your blessings. She is not tired by the morning nap. I would suggest that you just do the lunchtime nap and it will be longer and give you time to do whatever you need to do. Sounds like your are wasting your time with the morning nap and causing both of you to stress. As for quiet time in the morning let her play.... she will only be little once and the time flies. Hope this helps.
My son was about that age, but he began dropping his PM nap after only about an hour and a half in the morning. He'd wake up hungry and then never go back to sleep. I had to totally rearrange his schedule - moving lunch to about 10:30 and give him an earlier nap. But, he ended up sleeping longer and it really worked better for the daily routine with the rest of the family (two older sisters). Pretty much, if you can find a timing that works with your daughter to get her to take a two to three hour nap once a day she'll be getting plenty of sleep and you'll have a much freer schedule!
My daughter, who is now 16 months old, went through this phase at about 11 months where she didn't appear to need a morning nap anymore. For a few weeks, I just put her down for one long afternoon nap, but I could tell at the end of this few weeks time, she was acting very sleepy in the morning again. I went back to putting her down for morning naps and she adjusted right back to it. Her morning nap is not always long -- sometimes only 30 minutes -- but she still usually does better with a short morning nap. I am trying to phase her into one nap a day now, but it's a slow process. Sometimes she takes one a day and sometimes still two. It's not the most predictable schedule, but I kind of call it based on her attitude, sleepy signs, and how long she slept the night before. She's a great night time sleeper, so I don't sweat it much. I remember being so concerned about a rigid nap schedule with my son (who is now 3 1/2) but with my daughter, I've realized that her night time sleeping routine is the most important, so I take each day in stride and let her determine the nap schedule.
my dtr did the same thing! i have two sons that both quit napping at all by age 2.5 years, and my dtr is 16 months younger than my middle child. she had already gone down to one nap a day before first b'day, but then when she was 15 months old, and her brother quit napping at all, so did she! i had a 4 yo, 2 yo and now 15 mo old - NOBODY NAPPING! I was apparently the only one that needed a nap anymore! :D
But what I did was make them have quiet time after lunch, stay in their rooms with a book or quiet toys. If they were tired, they would sometimes fall asleep, but then I would notice they didn't want to go to sleep at bedtime, which was more important to me at that time! So I just let their body clocks work they way they needed to, and we all adjusted to less sleep! :)
All the best to you!
A.
Remember children need 12 hours of sleep. so count the number of hours they are sleeping. Yours is sleeping plenty. They are eventually going to give up the morning nap. You're doing a great job!
M. -Mother of 4 (18 yrs-9 yrs)
Teacher-elementary
Every child is different, and if she is happy and alert as opposed to just being stubborn, then you could be causing her to oversleep by forcing her to nap when she doesn't need it. I know it's hard to give up our mommy time or chore time, but from what you have said, she doesn't sound to need it. I would cut out that nap. You could try replacing it with an extra tv show or book time or blocks or something else she can occupy herself doing while you do whatever it is you normally do at that time, just with a more watchful eye. Hope this helps and Good Luck!
Both of my kids dropped their nap before they were a year old. At first I didn't like it, because I was used to their routines, but I soon realized that one nap meant one *long* nap, and I actually could get more done at that time than I could by trying to break up projects into two different nap-times.
If the nap is important to you for right now wear him out before the nap. Encourage him to craw/walk everywhere. If 1 long nap sounds good to you then do the same. about 1 hour before nap time encouage him to play hide and seek with you and the okids, let him crawl around chasing after everyone. You may just get a nap for everyone after a game like that.
You're lucky she takes a nap at all. I went back to work when my daughter was 9 weeks old and there were several days during that 9 weeks that she didn't take a nap all day. I know that's incredible, but it's true. By 10 months she nearly never took a nap, no matter how long I rocked her. etc. and it just wasn't worth the time and effort - I'd fall asleep in no time, but she rarely did. If she finally went to sleep, she was back up in half an hour and full of energy, good for several more hours. When she was a year old, I just gave up. She was content to stay in her crib and play and look at books for an hour or more - so that's what I did. She never tried to climb out and was perfectly happy with this arrangement, so I was too. When she was in preschool, she got into trouble because she not only wouldn't take a nap, she refused to lie down and went around waking the other kids up!! When she was a teenager, of course, she'd sleep late like they all do. My son was completely different. He would take a morning nap and afternoon nap til he was about 3, and then still needed one nap til he was past 4. Both my kids are now grown and like to stay up late and sleep late.
This is normal, as she gets older she will not need as much sleep, she may be getting to much sleep at night, maybe try and wake her up a little earlier in the morning, so she will be tired for a morning nap, I don't remember my child taking 2 naps or even sleeping through night. You are very lucky. My child is 4 now and I have to make him take a nap, he takes a 2 hour nap at school. Good luck.
S. -
Two of my three children gave up there morning naps before they were one. Occasionally they would nap but I found it great to have them sleep through the night and take a nap in the afternoon. I was always able to tell when my kids were getting tired and I would just have an early lunch, read a book and straight to the afternoon 'quiet time'. All my children had quiet time in the afternoon. As they got older I explained it was a time for them to play by themselves and for Mommy to rest. I would put on the timer and the kids knew that they could come out when the timer went off. They also knew if they came out before the timer went off, it was reset. I often had all three of my kids asleep in the afternoon. I would not worry about the morning nap. Personally I always felt blessed that my kids slept through the night.
Yes! My daughter never would really take two naps. When she was very small she'd take a quick cat nap and one real nap, but I'd say she was about six months old when she dropped the second nap. However, she's over 2 now and is still taking one long nap per day, so it isn't indicative of them dropping naps altogether.
.
I agree with Dawn, if she is sleeping that good at night she may be getting all she needs until the afternoon. As long as she feels good and is alert and still keeps her afternoon naps she is adjusting her own schedule according to how she feels. At nine months just read her cues and you can tell if she needs quiet time or stimulation. Sounds like she is just a good sleeper and can maintain on a good nights sleep.
If she will still go down for quiet time- do that. If not, plan an early lunch, like 11, and then put her down. Is she standing? Is she very active? Do you go out every morning AND walk? If she is busy, she should be ready to eat and nap. When you get her up, she will have to have another good snack.
The other option is skipping the am nap, lunch at 12, and a good, maybe 3 hr afternoon nap. That would give you time for a nap, or a respite.
My son is almost 10 months... he usually sleeps until about 8:30am (sometimes longer), takes a nap around 1:00pm and then goes to bed between 7:30pm and 8:00pm. As long as your little girl is happy there is no reason to force her to take a nap. Hope that helps. Good luck.
When my oldest was 11 months (he is now 10 years Yikes!!) and I was 9 months pregnant with our 2nd child, he decided to stop napping in the morning (I couldn't believe this). It didn't matter what I did, he wouldn't sleep. He would cry -for a long time and only a few times did he fall asleep. Since I had a newborn, I couldn't really do much, so I let him have quite time in his room... he did take an afernoon one for about an hour or two. My 2nd son loved his naps until kindergarten. My 3rd, who is 18 months now, loves his AM nap, but wont nap in the PM... I guess they are all different... I would consider dropping the AM nap and giving her a good nap in the PM...
My daughter stopped taking her morning nap at 10 months old. While I was sad to see it go, I started to enjoy the freedom to do more things outside of the house in the mornings. We were suddenly able to leave the house for more than 1 hour at a time! She also took a 3 hour afternoon nap for me - usually from 1-4. It ended up being a great change for us.
