Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Tell Me How ... To Transition to One Nap

I'm long overdue for another "tell me how" post. This time, I need you to tell me how to transition Spencer from two daily naps to one. He's such a good napper... well, was a good napper. He'd go down at 10, sleep for 1.5 hours, wake up so happy and pleasant. Then he'd go down around 2, sleep for another 1.5 hours, and wake up happy and pleasant. I loved the pattern of our days. This past week has been a whole 'nother story. He's driving me crazy.

I got sick and then he got sick, too, so in fairness, the week was crappy to begin with. When he gets sick, he doesn't sleep. Won't nap, and wakes up frequently at night. So it was a long week. He seems to be getting over his cold, but he still won't nap. He won't go down for a morning nap, but by 12 or so, he's super tired and ornery (and so am I!) I put him down and he sleeps for 1.5 hours but wakes up still tired and ornery. He's used to getting 3 hours of sleep during the day, and now will only sleep 1.5. By 5 in the afternoon, I'm frustrated and ready to sell him, cause he's tired and cranky and clingy and all other fun things. I'm sure this rhetoric sounds familiar to many of you...

So... what do I do? All the stupid "help" books say when you make the switch to one nap, they'll sleep longer to make up for only taking one, instead of two. HA! I'd love him to continue to take 2 naps, since we had such a nice pattern to our days. Now it's chaos. Maybe he'll go back to taking 2 when he's feeling all the way better, but probably not. He's 14 months, so close to the average that kids transition to one nap (it's 15 months, according to some sleep expert dude).

What time(s) do your kids nap? One or two? How long do they sleep? How did you know it was time to make the switch to just one nap? I realize that all kids are different... blah, blah, blah... but please help anyway. Your own personal experiences are welcome. Or if you don't have advice, feel free to bid. Like I said, he's driving me crazy... :) Good thing he's so adorable and I love him like mad... otherwise I really might sell him.