Sleep train a 12 month old?

amother

Thu, Oct 14 2021, 2:18 pm

Any ideas how to get my 12 month old to take naps? As of now, we rock him to sleep for naps, but at night he goes down without a problem- just do his bedtime routine (book, shema, song, put down) and he goes to sleep on his own!
The same routine just doesn’t work for naps. He just stands and cries. If I try to lay him down, even multiple times in a row, he’ll just stand right back up.
Would you let him cry for a while and hope he figures out what to do? (I can’t handle that really, unless it’s the only way.) Keep going in and calm him? (but he is too smart for that and and screams the second I put him back down…) Sit and wait until he falls asleep? (How long should that take? I tried once and gave up after he cried for almost no an hour even while I was right there.)
Help! This is not my oldest, but my other kids all figured it out without “training” at all. I can’t keep rocking him to sleep. He’s getting too heavy for that!

allthingsblue

Thu, Oct 14 2021, 9:39 pm

With some kids I never had luck with naps. I didn’t sleep train them for naps- just for actual bedtime.

many times I’d use a stroller (not a car seat- a fully reclining flat stroller )

amother

Brown

Thu, Oct 14 2021, 9:42 pm

It sounds like it’s mostly an issue of either being overtired or under tired.

At that age I nap my kids on a 2-3-4 schedule most days. Meaning wake up then sleep 2 hours later, nap again 3 hours after last wake up and bed 4 hours after that. That’s pretty typical but you can play around and see what works for him.

Also is his room dark?

amother

Mon, Oct 18 2021, 10:09 am

allthingsblue wrote:

With some kids I never had luck with naps. I didn’t sleep train them for naps- just for actual bedtime.

many times I’d use a stroller (not a car seat- a fully reclining flat stroller )

Thanks! I’ve tried the stroller, but the problem is that he only sleeps on his stomach, so he hated it.

amother

Mon, Oct 18 2021, 10:11 am

teachkids wrote:

He may be ready to cut to 1 nap

Hmm that’s a thought. Maybe. I thought it was a little early for that, because he’s only 12 months. My other kids were more like 18 months when they switched!
You mean maybe he’s not tired enough, and really I should push off the first nap?

amother

Mon, Oct 18 2021, 10:13 am

amother [ Brown ] wrote:

That’s pretty much the schedule, close to 2-3-4. Often it’s more like 3-3-3, and he goes to sleep at night beautifully even after only 3 hours.
His room isn’t fully dark, but mostly.

I feel like he just doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do. He just stands and cries. He doesn’t try to lay down or anything.

amother

Acacia

Mon, Oct 18 2021, 10:50 am

I have the same thing going on with my 14 month old, but truthfully, she hasn’t gone to sleep in her crib for a nap more than 5 times since she’s born. She knows the bedtime routine for night time, but during the day she just won’t lie down. She keeps standing up and crying. The only way I get her to sleep during the day is if she falls asleep in my arms and I put her down, or in the stroller, or if she falls asleep in her car seat while I’m driving. (And I wouldn’t dare (!) transfer her.

I would not say “she doesn’t know that she’s supposed to nap now.” She’s a smart kid. We communicate. I’m sure she knows that it’s nap time but she just doesn’t want to.

She doesn’t sleep well during the day from when she was practically a newborn. (Then she was sleeping in a swing.)

amother

Mon, Oct 18 2021, 10:59 am

amother [ Acacia ] wrote:

Thanks for the validation! I’m not the only one Smile

He’s pretty smart and knows he’s tired. I think he just doesn’t know how to do it.

amother

Mon, Oct 18 2021, 11:01 am

SuperWify wrote:

How many naps are you going for?

Right now he takes 2 naps. First one about 2 hours long, and second one is usually around an hour.
Once I rock him to sleep and put him in his crib, he sleeps well, so that makes me think that he really does still need both naps.

BrisketBoss

Mon, Oct 18 2021, 11:03 am

Naps and nights are very different. You can generally train one before the other.

I train both by paying attention to a combination of wake windows and sleepiness cues. When it seems to be the right time, which will shift a bit from day to day (I don't schedule babies), I put the baby down and wait. If my timing was good then they fall asleep within a few minutes, or at least within 10-15. But sometimes the crying is too frantic and going on too long and I rescue.

At least, this has worked for me so far, but I haven't tried it on many babies!