Usually between 16 months and 21 months my toddlers have begun to drop their morning nap.  Suddenly they stop sleeping as long as usual in the afternoon or else they don't sleep during their usual morning nap.  My fifth child actually started doing this at 14 months!

When this begins to happen we transition to what we call "roomtime" or if still in a crib, "cribtime".  In place of the normal 2 hour morning nap, we leave the lights on and put toys and books in the child's crib (or room) and sometimes play music and give them an hour to rest and play undistracted.  They are still tired and in need of some downtime.  Sometimes they still fall asleep and if so we wake them after the hour and get them up.

This generally means that they are ready for their afternoon nap earlier in the day so we back up that 2p naptime to 1p or even noon.  And it tends to be a two to four hour nap.

This is the most common question I get from other "Babywise moms" after the first year.

Happy Napping!

Moms4Psalms