IMG_2777As a normal part of our little ones growth and development. There comes a time when they get older and their need for day sleep reduces, but does not completely disappear. Around 15-18 months most toddlers only require one nap a day of around 1.5-2 hours.

Different signs you can tell your toddler is ready to drop to one nap. First they will start resisting their morning nap, their naps start getting shorter and shorter in the morning, once they finally get to sleep over a period of time they may start waking up earlier in the morning, and what seemed like yesterday you had that perfect sleeper now it feels like they are waking up all the time at night and too early in the morning, which makes them overtired and hard to settle back down.
For most people the big question comes is when is my child ready to cut down to one nap a day and what is the duration of it? Also how will they be able to cope lasting till their daytime nap and bedtime without becoming overtired?

To help make this transition smoother start by reducing the short morning nap down to 20 and then to 10 minutes over a period of a week. During this time your toddler may not even go to sleep, but you still allow them the opportunity to do so and this will allow the adjustment period of them having that rest time easier to cope with. Another idea is trying the morning nap every second day (over a period of one to two weeks) giving them the opportunity to get used to being awake over longer stretches. On the days that he doesn’t have the morning naps and when you have dropped the naps completely. Move the lunch time naps to noon until they have adjusted and can deal with being awake for 5 hours straight. You should find that you can go back to the 12:30-1 PM nap within 2 weeks, which will give balance to their morning and afternoon-evening time.