I nanny for an 13 month old who sleeps from 6:45/7 to 5 am and is now starting to refuse his 2nd nap

[beloved926]

He was taking nap 1 around 8:45 am for 1-1.5 hours, then nap 2 around 2/2:30 pm for 1.5-2 hours. I’m not there for nap 1 but mom says she doesn’t think he’d make it to a later nap time. Her and the dad have tried earlier and later bed times in hopes of him sleeping past 5 am (sometimes a little before) with no luck. Any thoughts?

 

[bootsandjeans]

@beloved926 F this is me right now 12 month old wakes at 5/530 and refuses the second nap. We tried one nap for a week now and it helped the early wake problem but she’s so grumpy might go back to 2

 

[beloved926]

@bootsandjeans Sorry to hear, it’s brutal. Trying the 20 min “cat nap” for 1st nap sounds worth trying

 

[bootsandjeans]

@beloved926 Let me know how you go. Don’t have it in me to wake my beautiful monster if it’s for nothing haha

 

[beloved926]

@bootsandjeans What happens when you put her down for the 2nd nap? What sleep training method are you using?

 

[bootsandjeans]

@beloved926 Sleep training method = paid for a sleep trainer to come over and do it all for me haha so not sure what she did exactly but it worked right away.

2nd nap is at best 30 minute protest with a 10 minute sleep. Wake her up at 330pm regardless (sleep trainer rules)

How about you ?

 

[beloved926]

@bootsandjeans My NK usually cries right when he’s put down and they do the method where you go in after 5 min and tell the baby “it’s time for nap, I love you” but don’t pick them up. Then go in every 10-15 min until they stop and go to sleep. It usually takes him 5-15 min to go down but the other day it was 30 which is where the parents were capping but we decided to try going longer this week and one day it took him an hour. On days when he doesn’t go down until around 3, we let him sleep until until 4:15 because that still allows him to build up enough sleep pressure for bedtime around 6:45/7. He’s always been good with that. Getting close to the proper amount of daytime sleep is the most important. I think typically 2.5 to 4 hours of wake window is what is recommended and I know some babies to better with the lower end of that wake window and others the higher end.

What time is her first nap and how long is she sleeping? And when do you try the 2nd nap?

 

[john127]

@beloved926 Definitely I’d recommend to cap each nap at 1 hour, but honestly probably ready for 1 nap. When we first switched we had to do a cat nap around 10am for like max 20 min. And then big nap around 12:30/1pm!

 

[beloved926]

@john127 How long did she sleep at the 12:30/1 nap?

 

[john127]

@beloved926 Like an hour at first and then eventually 1.5 and finally 2 after we dropped the am nap!

 

[beloved926]

@john127 So there was a period of time where she was getting about 1 hour 20 min of daytime sleep? When was she falling asleep at night and waking up in the morning?

 

[john127]

@beloved926 Oh yeah that wasn’t abnormal for her though, never napped longer than 1 hour and 20 min at a time until we dropped to 1 nap. On 2 nap days she’d usually do 40/40 lol. So I think your NK is obviously higher sleep needs but the early morning wakes and nap refusal tell me it’s still a bit too much for him.

 

[beloved926]

@john127 What time was she waking up in the morning?

 

[john127]

@beloved926 Around 7/7:30

 

[beloved926]

@john127 Ok that’s where this gets tricky with him waking up at 5…but maybe cutting the length of the naps down with help get him to a later wake up time

 

[john127]

@beloved926 100%! He’s getting enough sleep in the day isn’t tired in the early morning when it’s hardest to fall back to sleep.

 

[beloved926]

@john127 That makes sense. Hopefully his parents can stick it out for a bit to see if it works because he’s going to be insanely cranky during the day until we can see if that helps. Knowing him it’s going to take a while. He has always fought sleep and we’ve tried putting him to bed later and earlier to help the wake time but so far nothing has worked. Also there have been days where he only takes his first nap for an hour or two max then goes to bed at night around his normal time and still wakes up the next morning at 4:30/5, so I think his parents may think we are unnecessarily causing him to get less total sleep.

 

[oncelostbutnowfound]

@beloved926 I’d definitely try capping the naps. My 13 month old usually gets around 2, maybe 2.5 hours of day sleep over 2 naps.

 

[anicondri]

@beloved926 Agreed it seems like a lot of sleep. Our almost 11 month old Napa 2h max during the day (2 1-hour naps), although she is lower sleep needs

 

[lostandinsecure]

@beloved926 Thats a lot of daytime sleep. I would cap nap 1 at an hour max, and go from there.