From Two Naps to One: When and How?
The transition takes weeks, not days. This way, you can build up to it gradually.
Sometime between the first and second years of life, one of the two naps disappears. This transition rarely happens all at once, and that's normal.
The signals
Your child has trouble falling asleep during one of their two naps, consistently takes longer to fall asleep, or gets tired later in the evening. One bad day doesn't mean anything; it's about a pattern that lasts a week or two.
Why It Scrapes
During this transitional phase, one nap is too few and two are too many. That means some days go well and others don't, and this can last for weeks. Don't expect to solve this in just one week.
How to Build It
Gradually move your morning nap toward the middle of the day, by 15 minutes every few days. That’s better than eliminating it all at once, because then the afternoon will be too long.
Temporarily move bedtime up
During the transition period, your child is more likely to be exhausted at the end of the day. Putting them to bed half an hour earlier helps address this and prevents restless nights.
Things are different on the road
On vacation, your routine gets thrown off anyway. So don't start the transition right before or during a trip. See " Afternoon naps while traveling."
For the broader rhythm: sleep patterns on vacation.
