The No Cry Nap Solution (17 page)

Shifting Schedules

Changing from Two Naps to One Nap

See also: Catnaps: Making Short Naps Longer; The Nap

Resister: When Your Child Needs a Nap but Won’t Take

One; Shifting Schedules: Time to Give Up Naps?

My seventeen-month-old son still takes two

naps a day, but he’s starting to fi ght me about

naptime. Is he old enough to drop one of his

naps? How do I know which one to drop?

Typically, between the ages of twelve and twenty-four months,

toddlers switch from two daily naps to one. However, a year

of difference between turning one and turning two is a very long

span of time, and, developmentally, toddlers can be very different

from one another. Half of all children change from two naps to

one between twelve and eighteen months of age, but that means

half of all children continue to have two naps a day at that age!

This tells us that age alone is not the only factor to consider when

changing your child from two daily naps to one.

Some toddlers can make you think it’s time to make a change

when it really isn’t. They go on napping strikes for various rea-

sons that are temporary and don’t warrant a permanent schedule

change.

The question of two naps versus one isn’t about what your child

thinks he wants. It’s about the biological need for two naps versus

one. Naps at different times of the day serve different purposes

in brain development at different ages. Morning naps have more

102

Shifting Schedules: Changing from Two Naps to One Nap
103

dreaming, or REM sleep, which is what makes them so important

for infants and young babies, who require more REM sleep than

older babies and toddlers because of the type of brain develop-

ment that occurs in the early months. Since morning naps are

the ones that usually disappear fi rst, you don’t want to rush the

process if your child is still benefi ting from this important sleep

time. Your baby’s moods and health can also be affected by drop-

ping a nap too soon.

There is another consideration when deciding if your child is

ready to make a nap schedule change. If you’ll remember back

to Part 1, we discussed the Volcano Effect (page 14), that is, the

effect that the length of time that your child is awake from one

sleep period to the next has on his mood and behavior. The older

your child is, the longer he can go between sleep breaks with-

out getting cranky. That’s the reason that younger babies need to

divide their day up with two naps but older babies can handle a

full day with only one nap. Since there is a wide range of what’s

normal, it’s important to study each child’s behavior to see when

he is ready to transition to one nap a day—and when he is able to

handle the much longer awake periods from waking in the morn-

ing until naptime and from after nap until bedtime.

Napping Strikes

There are times when your baby resists napping for a while even

though he still needs two good naps a day. Nap strikes can last

a few days or a few weeks, and then your little one will suddenly

start napping again. If you identify the reason for the strike and

work around it, your child will revert back to his good napping

schedule much sooner. Nearly any topic covered in this book can

be the cause of a nap strike, so wander around the index and see if

anything sounds like it fi ts your baby’s pattern. A few of the com-

mon causes for these strikes and some quick solutions follow.

104 Solving Napping Problems

The Cause:
Learning to crawl, pull to a stand, or walk.
The eager-

ness to master new skills overtakes the tiredness factor, and your

little one resists stopping this new activity long enough to relax

and fall asleep.

The Solution:
Give your child ample time to practice his new

skills until about thirty minutes before naptime. At that time,

amend activities to those that are less physical and less novel.

The Cause:
Illness.
If your baby has a cold, an ear infection, a diffi -

cult bout with teething, or other illness, it may make it diffi cult for

him to fall asleep. He may be tired, but since he’s unable to relax,

he’ll resist being put down for a nap. Another aspect of this is that

when a child is sick, we often bend all the rules (as we should!) but

then it’s hard to get back on track.

The Solution:
Identify the cause of your baby’s discomfort and

take measures to lessen the effects, such as raising the head of the

bed, putting a humidifi er in the room, using saline nose drops, or

providing doctor-approved medication. Be fl exible during illness,

but get back to your usual schedule as soon as possible.

The Cause:
Sudden fears.
Perhaps something frightened your child

one day at naptime, and it’s sticking in his memory. Maybe the

monitor battery died and your child cried for a long time before

you knew he was awake, or your child fell out of bed during a nap.

Your child may have a memory of the event the minute he sees his

bed and be frightened about returning there to nap.

The Solution:
It might help to change the routine or the furniture

arrangement just a little bit. Stay calm and pleasant during the

nap routine. It can be comforting if you introduce a new stuffed

animal as a sleeping buddy. Have a brief, pleasant prenap routine.

The Cause:
Temporary interruption to routine.
An unusually busy

week, having visitors, a later-than-normal bedtime, taking a vaca-

Shifting Schedules: Changing from Two Naps to One Nap
105

tion—these types of temporary interruptions to your child’s usual

routine can disrupt his body clock and cause him to be off-kilter

for a few days.

The Solution:
Jot down the best times for the day’s touch points—

wake-up, meals, naps, and bedtime—and stay within a half hour

of your scheduled times. If you can do this for a week, you should

be back on track.

The Cause:
Developmental change.
As children grow, their needs

change in regard to eating and sleeping, and if we don’t respond

with a new schedule when needed, they will resist naptime.

The Solution:
Watch your child for signs of hunger and tiredness

in between usual meal and sleep times. See if he’s hungry earlier

than mealtime or not eating much when offered but is hungry

later, and take note if he seems wide awake at naptime but drag-

ging an hour later. Modify the schedule a bit and see if you can

fi nd a new eating and napping schedule that works better for your

child.

Mother-Speak

“Recently we had relatives over for a weeklong visit. Their

daughter takes one nap a day, so my son began to sleep

when she did. After they left, I noticed that he was getting

frustrated more often and fussing more than usual. Having

only one nap a day was fi ne when we were busy with our

visitors, but it caught up with him. He’s now back to two

naps a day and much happier. He defi nitely needs two naps

to function properly.”

—Miranda, mother of

sixteen-month-old Joseph

106 Solving Napping Problems

The Danger of Dropping a Nap Too Soon

The reputation that toddlers have that is known as the “terrible

twos” is very likely caused by inappropriate napping schedules.

There are a great number of toddlers who switch from two naps

a day to one, or—heaven forbid!—drop naps altogether, many

months before they are biologically ready. This can result in a

devastating effect on their mood and behavior: the dreaded and

horrible “terrible twos.” For those parents whose children suffer

the “trying threes” or the “fearsome fours,” it’s likely your child is

misbehaving for the same reason: an inappropriate nap and sleep

schedule. The good news is that a modifi cation of the napping

and night sleep schedule can make a wonderful and dramatic

difference.

Making the Right Decision for Your Child

Children develop sleep maturity at different rates that can’t be

easily identifi ed or measured, but you can take a good guess as to

when it’s time to switch from two naps to one nap and again when

it is time to drop naps completely.

There are a number of issues to watch that can give you signs as

to whether your child needs to hold on to that second nap. Some

of the issues are purely a factor of age, and others are based on the

individual needs of each child.

Watching Age and Hours

Let’s start by revisiting the sleep chart that appears on page 8.

It’s always smart to take a look at your child’s entire twenty-four-

hour sleep pattern in order to have a clear picture of what is going

on. It’s also important to keep an eye on the typical awake-time

span between sleep periods so that your child doesn’t build too

much homeostatic pressure and release his inner “volcano.” It’s

Shifting Schedules: Changing from Two Naps to One Nap
107

also important to identify how much sleep your child gets on a

typical night, because a shortage of night hours can be made up

during naptime.

Signs That Your Child Needs
Two Naps
Daily

Just as children have different daytime personalities, they have

different sleep personalities, too. But it’s also important to con-

sider all the typical signs that point to keeping a two-nap-a-day

schedule. Review this list of signs that your child may be resisting

the twice-a-day naps that he truly needs:

• Your child is under twelve months old or under twelve

months adjusted age for babies who were premature at

birth. (A small percentage of younger babies are ready to

drop to one nap, but if any other signs point to keeping two

naps, then try to maintain a two-nap schedule.)

• When you put your child down for a nap, he talks, plays,

resists, or fusses for a while but always ends up falling asleep

and sleeping for an hour or more.

• When you take your child for car rides during the day, he

almost always falls asleep in the car.

• If your child misses a nap, he is cranky and fussy or acts

tired until the next nap or bedtime.

• About three or four hours after waking from a nap, your

child starts to get whiny, fussy, or easily frustrated or has

tantrums.

• Your child is suffering from an ear infection, a cold, or

painful teething or is undergoing a change in his life (such

as a new sibling or starting day care) that seems to be dis-

rupting his nap sleep.

• Your child often misses naps because you’re on the go and

not at home for naptime, but when you are at home all day,

he takes two good naps.

108 Solving Napping Problems

Amelia, four years old

Signs That Your Child Is Ready to Change to

One Nap
Daily

If your child is physically ready to switch to one nap a day and

you’re continuing to try to enforce two naps, it is likely that it’s

creating tremendous stress for both of you. It’s hard for anyone to

fall asleep when they are wide awake, so your child won’t be happy