Comments on: Dropping the Second Nap – Let’s Discuss!

By: ariana

ariana — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:13:00 +0000

Molly, I LOL at your last paragraph :)

Sarah, I don’t know from experience, but I’ve read that it should be just under three hours. Riiiiiiiight!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:30:24 +0000

Thanks for responding, Ariana. I guess what I should have asked is what total amount of naptime sleep babies at a year old (or around there) are getting AFTER they drop that second nap. I’m wondering how much sleep they generally need in one nap to get them through the day… I just read Ali’s comments and share some of the same concerns: We’re lucky to get Finn down for just the 40 min — and that’s after OUR specific rituals done while home this summer. When he’s a year old, someone else will be trying to put him down! It’s SO helpful to hear how others are dealing with similar issues.

By: Ali

Ali — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:08:00 +0000

Molly And Ariana,

I feel your pain. Sleep, whether it be in the form of a nap or nighttime sleep, has been a consistent struggle for us. Miles is almost 15 months and I don’t think he is at all ready to give up a 2nd nap. What concerns me is that he is home from childcare in the summer, and goes back at the end of August and I fear he will resist naps completely as we have such a schedule and routine that consists of fans, stories, rocking, etc–there is no way of replication at childcare. (Though I am tempted to throw in a few extra bucks to see if they’ll spend the extra time to help him–jk!).

We, too, have a VERY early riser. 5:30am is pretty standard, and 6:10pm is LATE. And trust me, we have tried every trick in the book (ferber, pantley, etc) to get him sleep longer. Therefore, the day is a really long day without 2 naps. We try to get him down by 7:30pm, but it is usually closer to 8pm.

Here is my general mommy gut: you do what works for you–or what works better for you (we clearly have nothing that really “works!”), and if your child still needs 2 naps–do it. I guess my feeling is that unless there is some compelling scientific edvidence that suggests that by “x” months you must give up the 2nd nap, you shouldn’t feel like you need to subscribe to all generalities about napping schedules.

And in terms of the resistant napper–we struggle with that, too. Ariana–I know that feeling. Your boy just fights the nap with all his might, but you know in your heart he is tired (even overtired) and that he could really use a nap–especially because you know once 4pm rolls around, without that 2nd nap, you are in trouble! If I had the magic answer of how to get a resistant napper down for that 2nd nap, I could quit my day job. :) For the time being, we try to be really consistent with our routine–even if it means quiet play and cuddling for 45 minutes before I would like Miles to get to sleep…and then another 45 minutes of working on the actual nap.

Somedays it works–and somedays I think I am a top candidate for most failed mommy in the world. But what I keep reminding myself in all if this:

There will be a time in Miles’s future when I am dragging him out of the bed, forcing him to get ready for high school. Oh, and how tempted I will be to occassionally wake him up at 5am and remind him of the fun we had when he was little. :)

By: ariana

ariana — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:50:54 +0000

jb, you can be our guest blogger expert about temper tantrums! :)

Marybeth, I’m so glad that’s working for you.. that was our plan too on Sunday, but it totally backfired for us. I wonder if we need to be more gradual about it?

Monica, that’s EXACTLY our story! By 5 he’s soooo sleepy.

Sarah, I think Jasper’s NORMAL daytime sleep has been averaging about 3 hours (at daycare) and two and a half at home with two naps. Obviously the subject of this post is that things are changing now, but that HAD been the norm if that helps..

Molly, that may be the case.. or not. Some babies are just really early risers, but you can definitely try tinkering and see. Though my gut feeling tells me if he isn’t fighting going to sleep for that second nap he probably still needs it.. I think the common theme here is that they really start fighting going down when they are ready for that change!

By: Molly

Molly — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:10:36 +0000

Okay, now I feel like something isn’t right. Landon turns 1 in a week and he is still napping twice. He loves his sleep. He does 10 a.m. and 2 or 3 p.m. Then he goes to bed around 7:30 but has been waking up at 5 to 5:30 a.m. every morning. It is killing us. I am wondering if we need to cut the second nap.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 01:52:32 +0000

I’m so lucky that Finn is a couple of months younger; your blog is like a “heads up” for me. I can’t imagine him operating on only one nap so soon, though. At almost 10 months he does one at 10 or 10:30 and another around 3ish… but he only sleeps in 40 minute cycles and wakes after one cycle these days — which Pantley’s THE NO-CRY NAP SOLUTION says is not enough (she says naps at least 1.5 hours in length are needed for full benefits). She also says that at 12 months babies can do 1 or 2 naps, but that that TOTAL amount of naptime sleep should be 2-3 hours. Currently, Finn usually gets less than 2! I’d like to hear more about how much total daytime sleep other 10-12 month olds are getting.

By: Monica

Monica — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:53:55 +0000

There is no easy answer!! Adam (now 13 months old) is undecided about dropping his second nap! So right now we are taking it on a day to day basis and since I’m such a schedule freak it’s driving me bananas! But I let him lead the way. Some days he takes two naps and others he just takes one. When he only takes one nap he is the fussiest baby in the world – by four o’clock I’m wishing I could have a double! I’m hoping we’ll get this figured out soon but I’m glad to see that I am not alone here. Hang tough ladies!

By: marybeth at www.babygoodbuys.comWe

marybeth at www.babygoodbuys.comWe — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:28:53 +0000

We dropped the second nap a few weeks ago, at about 11.5 months. He was skipping the morning nap at daycare, but fighting the afternoon nap on the days he was at home. While he still gets sleepy in the morning, I couldn’t handle trying SO hard to get him down for a second nap. I felt like I was abandoning him in his crib while he just played in the dark for 30 or 45 minutes in the afternoon. Since most kids “hang on” to the afternoon nap rather than the morning one, we decided to just power through the mornings and have him take a solid afternoon nap. It’s worked out great so far! He sleeps really well in the afternoon (usually 2+ hours), goes to bed well, and sleeps later in the morning. Let’s hope it keeps up!

By: jbhat

jbhat — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:52:32 +0000

Back to see if you responded to comments, which you did–yay! I love that you do that. And also to say that the photos of your pal and her belly and her little one are very pretty indeed. I love her dress. AND to say that tantrums are the worst. Since I don’t have to “remember” how we deal with those–since it’s oh-so current (unfortunately!), I will be able to respond with a coherent comment when you do the post about it.

There. Back to work now…

By: Jeff (aka Daddy)

Jeff (aka Daddy) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:24:29 +0000

Despite the potential reprocussions of letting my comic book geek flag fly, I feel it necessary to correct a MAJOR error, and grave injustice carelessly written within the contents of this blog post… It was Spiderman’s Uncle (Uncle Ben) who coined the phrase “With great power comes great responsibility” and not his grandmother… for shame Ari… for shame… LOL, the pictures look great, you’re too hard on yourself!