We all know, naps are really, really important
for our little ones.
But what no one probably told you,
is that your little one
is going to have to go through several major nap transitions
in the first few years of their life.
A nap transition simply means
your little one dropping a nap,
moving from one particular nap structure to another.
And it sounds easy, but I can assure you it's anything but.
Today I am answering your sleep question,
how do I transition my little one
from two naps down to just one nap?
And in this video,
I'll talk you through this really tricky nap transition,
that occurs somewhere between 12 to 15 months old.
So stay tuned.
But first tell me in the comments below,
how are your little ones napping?
Are they going through
or coming up to any big nap transitions?
And do you need a hand with anything?
Hi, I'm Nicky
I'm one of the founders of a company called Little Ones.
I'm a mother to three beautiful children.
And on my parenting journey,
I have experienced sleep deprivation just as you have.
This is why I'm so passionate about
helping families improve their little ones' sleep.
Have a look at the sleep programs on our website.
We have spent years developing age appropriate,
scientifically informed programs to help your little ones,
and of course you sleep better.
We'd love to help your family towards better sleep.
www.littleones.co
So let's talk about this big nap transition
from two naps down to one.
This generally occurs
somewhere between 12 and 15 to 18 months.
So by 12 months old,
your little one should have been well established
on two fairly regular naps,
totaling, ideally around two and a half hours of sleep
across the day.
The success of this nap transition
from two naps down to one nap is really dependent
on your little one's current nap structure.
So I'm gonna talk you through two scenarios.
The first scenario sees your little one
having a long morning nap at around 9:00, 9:30,
maybe for an hour and a half,
and then another nap later in the day
around 1:00, 1:30, 2 o'clock
for maybe 45 minutes to an hour and a half.
In that scenario,
your little one is having two fairly decent naps,
one in the morning and one in the mid to late afternoon.
If you're trying to go through a nap transition,
you have to drop one of those naps.
In this scenario,
you can't simply drop one of those two naps
and leave the other nap where it is,
because the morning nap is going to be too early,
and then you're gonna have way too much awake time
from then until bedtime.
Your little one will be very over tired in the afternoon.
And the afternoon nap is too late.
Your little one is never gonna make it to, 1:30, 2 o'clock
to have their afternoon nap
if they're not sleeping in the morning.
So what tends to happen in babies with this nap structure,
is that parents are trying to drop a nap
and kind of consolidate the naps,
and then drop one at the same time.
So it's a big, big change.
So what you would be looking to do in this scenario
is push that morning nap out,
so it's happening more around the middle of the day,
and then sort of
you've essentially consolidated those two naps into one.
So not only are you doing that,
you're also changing the biological nap time
that your little one has.
And that is important because,
when we have consistent nap times or meal times
or event times throughout the day,
as babies, as children, even as adults,
our body clocks come to expect that particular event.
So your little one will be getting tired
when they are normally due to have a sleep.
So what we're doing,
if we're shifting around nap times quite dramatically,
is it's going to be harder,
because we're working against
their current body clock set up.
Let me give you another nap scenario.
And this nap scenario is the one that we recommend.
This is the nap structure
that we promote in our sleep programs,
and in all our advice.
Right from birth we establish a long lunchtime sleep.
So we set up and establish your little one
to have a really good decent sleep
around the middle of the day for a couple hours.
And then we have a shorter morning nap prior to that,
and when it's needed earlier on,
we have a shorter late afternoon nap.
When we come to these nap transitions,
what we are wanting to stay in place
is that long lunchtime sleep.
That's already happening.
So that is the perfect nap
when your little one is down to just one nap.
That they're napping for a couple hours
across the middle of the day.
So having that nap already in place
is immediately setting you off on the right foot
for surviving this nap transition.
What we have then done,
is with the morning nap from sort of six months onwards,
we start dwindling that nap length down month by month.
So by the time your baby is ready for this nap transition,
that morning nap is really short anyway,
so it's pretty easy to just drop it all together
and push your baby through to that nice long lunchtime sleep
that you've already got in place.
This nap structure, we have found,
is easier, it's smoother, it is more effective
and it definitely makes this nap transition
last for much shorter time.
So if you're wanting to transition your little one
between 12 to 15 months down to just one nap a day,
this is definitely the nap structure
that I would want to see you putting in place,
to make it easier on your little one
and you and your whole household
during what can otherwise be a pretty tricky nap transition.
If you'd like any more help with naps at any age,
or any other nap transitions,
'cause there are quite a few,
then please check out our advice on our YouTube channel,
on our website, or if you want to go one step further,
have a look at our sleep programs.
www.littleones.co
We would love to help you and your family
achieve more sleep.
Thank you very much for watching,
and I'll talk to you again soon.