Napping Challenges @ 11 months Old

My LO's have had a really hard time with naps lately! We've been pretty consistent with 2 naps a day up until two weeks ago. Their 1st nap is somewhere around 8-9 am--about 3 to 3 1/2 hours after they wake up. Nap #2 usually occurs around 1-2 pm--again based on when they wake up from nap #1 and about 3-3 1/2 hours after they wake up. Lately they've barely been able to get more than 1 hour at each nap...and no consistency on when they go down. I've been a strong believer in HSHHC, but am starting to question what to do?? Is this their sign that they only need 1 nap a day? HELP--I'm at a loss right now what to do...any advice is much appreciated! TIA!

 

I would set a consistent wake up time so that they go down for naps at about the same time every day. Then, limit the morning nap to about an hour. For us that was morning nap about 10 to 11 then afternoon nap 2 to 3:30 or 4. If they were wiped out, I'd put them down a bit earlier but never let them go past 4 so they could go to bed at 7. Wake up time was 7 am. We didn't have a 1 pm nap until they cut back to one nap a day.

 

we just went through something similar and i was struggling to get them to nap. the screaming and crying was making me crazy so i decided to bite the bullet and switch them to one nap. we have been at it for about a week now and it is going pretty well. but, my LOs don't wake up as early as yours so i'm not sure how you could go to only one nap with such an early wake up time... right now we are usually up at 7, down for nap at 11:30 and up 2.5-3 hours later. then bedtime is at 6:30.

have you tried putting them down a little earlier for the first nap? you could try the 2-3-4 schedule, maybe that would help...

 

By 1 year, we were on one nap a day here, but that might be difficult since they are waking so early. I would maybe try limiting the first nap to a fairly short one in the hopes of getting a longer nap in the afternoon in preparation for going to one nap a day later on. What time are they going to bed at night?

 

They go down between 6:30-7 pm depending on when their last nap occurs at this time. Putting them down earlier could possbily be done. Maybe I should try 1 nap a day with a 6 pm bedtime??

 

It is possible we have the exact same children, as my two are pulling almost the exact same thing..and they turned 11 months today!

A typical day in the last week or two looks like this:
6 am wake up
9 am nap
10:30 wake up
2 pm nap
2:45 or 3 wake up
And then they barely make it to a 6:15/6:30 bedtime.

It is driving me BONKERS because they totally fight that afternoon nap, and then are having a hard time going down for their bedtime. It's very frustrating.

 

We had a tough time at that age as well. I totally remember that. I too would try and get them down for their naps earlier and then get them to bed earlier. At that age mine were getting up at about 5:30 and we werent going to them until 6am and then they were back down by 8:30 or 9. This nap was getting shorter. I would say about an hour. Then they had an afternoon nap and went to bed at 5:30. If they stayed up a minute later they were in full meltdown mode. It took them a few months to mature out of the early to bed/early to rise routine.

Trying one nap is worth a try, but I suspect that they still will need two based on their age. We didnt drop the second nap until about 14 months. But I have read it done much earlier.