Seeking 12 Month Old Routine

L.,

I'm sure when the schedule kicked in, it was great having your baby sleep 2 great naps a day! Now, you are prob bored to tears. First thing is first that the baby needs sleep to thrive, so don't skip the naps. At the 12 mos mark is when the majority of kids begin dropping a nap, eating lunch at about 11:15 and then dozing to sleep for noon. It sounds odd, but believe it or not, they literally drop the 2nd nap in a matter of days...the key is for you to adjust to it as well. so you are prob just weeks away from going to one nap a day!

When my kids were 12 months old they were getting ready to transition to one nap a day. So, we would get up around 7:30am and then go out and run errands. I was careful not to let them fall asleep in the car. Give him some toys, books, things to do. I tried not to be in the car during the old morning nap time. We used this time to quietly read and play - rest time - for about a half hour. I did put them in their crib during this rest time and if they fell asleep, I limited it to 1/2 hour nap. Then I would put them down again around 2:30pm for the afternoon nap. But, if they didn't fall asleep, lunch was around 11:30pm and then by 1pm they took a long nap until 3-3:30pm. In the afternoon, we could then get out without anyone falling asleep. Bedtime was 8-8:30pm. Hope this helps.

My daughter is 14 months old and has had the same routine forever. She wakes at 8, I give her breakfast at the table yogurt, oatmeal and fruit. She then goes off to play. She is walking and has all sorts of area's to wander off to. She plays in the living room the most. We have a bin of toys in there About an hour later she gets a bottle. There is usually a diaper change and a few more minutes of play while I get her crib ready for nap. I rock her for a few minutes and poof she goes down for nap for 1.5-2 hours. Then she wakes for lunch, I set her at the table and she has a half sandwich and some milk along with fruit. We get down to have pillow mountain or she wants to watch her dvd of phonics for baby which has sing along songs. She likes to play with her barn and play with her blocks. About fifteen minutes before she goes down I give her a bottle. its usually about 2 or 3. She typically makes this nap a short one, about an hour. Once she is up I have us go to the store or for a walk of some kind. As I make dinner she plays in her kitchen cupboard and chases the animals around. She then eats dinner with us. Evening time we play ball and read stories blanket play and other quiet play until 7:30, then it is bath-time and bottle, off to bed she goes to sleep the night through till 8 am. I hope you get some idea's from my daughter, she seems to enjoy herself.

hi - my doctor said that by 12 months they should be down to one nap a day. i waited until 14 months b/c i really felt that my son needed the morning nap still. try waking him up after an hour in the morning, and then slowly transition him to just an afternoon nap. once you do, it'll be alot easier to plan your day. and if he does fall asleep on the way home then wake him up, bring him inside for lunch, play a bit then put him down for a nap. car to crib usually doesn't work and he won't get anough sleep for the day in the short trip in the car so after lunch & some play he will be ready for a good afternoon nap. good luck!

L.,

on days when you want to leave the house plan for something local, and eat breakfast OUT,

dunkin Donuts has those flat bread sandwiches, my kids love em

and panera bread has little souffle's and warm breads and muffins

cut up bits of sausage at mc d's and eggs

take him out, so he gets excited,

when you go out put the music on and dance with him, open a window and let the air cool him off a bit

starting out early lets him be awake for his experiences

also PLAY DATES, parks, the mall

you really need to get out of the house more often if you can,

atleast 2 days a week with kids interacting

When my son was 12 m onths old our typical day would go like this:

7:00 am wake up
7:00-8:00 Free Play on the floor
8:00-breakfast, brush teeth, get dressed
8:30-9:00 Sesame Street ( while I clean up)
9:30 transition to get out the door for some activity. Either a class, shopping, park, playdate...I would give at least 15 minutes for us to get ready to get out the door as transitions were hard. It helped to have his favorite snack in the car and let him pick out a couple of his favorite cars to bring.
10:00-11:00 Activity
11:30 Lunch
noon-read, rock, nap
2:30-learning time/abc's, numbers, shapes, colors
3:00-4:00 snack then play time either at a park, stroll to a destination, play in yard, play with toys in the house
4:00-5:00 get dinner ready, give him pots and pans to play with, also tupperware. It works great to have a play kitchen in the kitchen while you work.
5:00 dinner
5:30 play with daddy while mommy takes a break :)
6:30 more reading, or playtime
7:00 bath and wind down time
8:00 bedtime
of course this varies and it is flexible but this is what I can remember doing with him.
Good luck!

Would love to hear the responses. We have twin girls who
get up a 7am
nap 9-10
play
stroll
nap again 1-3 (if that long, going to lose the 9-10 nap and work on moving 1 pm nap earlier)
In MAJOR transition right now and think ONE nap will help. Want to take them to a class at local library (reading and puppets) and maybe in a month to swimming at the Y on weekends. Otherwise playground is our "best friend" as we need to start meeting other kids for playdates.... Working on that as a full time mom.
Look forward to hearing what the group says. AND how did your child's nap evolve to this time frame? THANKS. L.

Hi L.,
At 12 months my son was still on two - 2hr sleeps per day. He changed to one sleep around the 16month stage. He would wake at 6:30
Breaky at 7
Play indoors (blocks, puzzels, crayons,sing songs - whatever would entertain him)or go to the grocery store. snack time
9-11 he slept
11:30 Lunch
12-1:30 park/playdates
2-4 sleep
4-6 snack - play - park/playdate or at home
6 dinner
7pm bath and bed by 7:30

The tranisition to one sleep occurred over a few months. He would try and have a morning sleep and that was all he wanted. I slowly moved the time to 12ish. Now at the age of 27 months he sleeps for 2-3hrs at around 1pm. I guess I avoided placing him in the stroller close to nap time as he would fall asleep there. Having said that my son transitioned well from stroller to crib.
I guess I manage my day around his schedule. It is a luxury I can do.