3 to 2 Nap Transition
Nap transitions are always hard. Any change in your child’s schedule is always hard as it takes some time for both the parents and the child to get used to. With any transition, you have to give your child some time to adjust to the new wake windows, and sometimes less day sleep.
Your child may start showing resistance to 3 naps anywhere between the ages of 8-9 months old. That 3rd nap of the day, which is often a catnap, becomes a struggle and they begin fighting it more and more. That last nap has been there to help bridge the wake window to bedtime. In the transition phase, there will be times where they’ll skip that nap altogether and then they are awake far too long, which can cause them to be overtired. And then there will be times when your child isn’t resisting the third nap, but rather falling asleep much later, which can also affect bedtime, pushing it really late. Many times you are in that limbo state that I like to call “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” If your child does take that third nap can often mean a later bedtime. But if your child doesn’t take that third nap, you want to avoid pushing those wake windows too much and are looking at an earlier bedtime.
How do you know your child is ready to drop to 2 naps?
Your baby is between the ages of 8-9 months: You want to make sure your little one is between the ages of 8-9 months old before you do the transition. Changing your child’s schedule too early, can affect her sleep, as she’s not ready to stretch those wake windows too far and can’t handle only 2 naps a day.
Sleeping 11 hours through the night: In order for your child to be able to stay up longer throughout the day, you want to make sure she is rested and sleeping all night. If your little one isn’t sleeping well at night, often they will need day sleep to recover, so dropping a nap will only make your little one more overtired.
Taking longer to fall asleep: In this case, your little one will end falling asleep, but it’s a struggle. You’ll leave her in there and she will fall asleep, but it will take her a long time to fall asleep, which will then push bedtime even later.
Resisting that 3rd nap: Where your little one normally would fall asleep without any problems, you are now seeing her completely resist that first nap. Your baby won’t nap at all even though you have kept her in her crib for the full hour.
Too much day sleep affecting bedtime/night sleep: In this case, your child is napping 3x a day, but seems to be getting too much overall day sleep, and now that has either pushed bedtime too late, or has taken away from overall night sleep.
How to make the transition:
Extend wake windows: While this is sometimes the hardest and scariest thing to do, you will need to start pushing those wake windows larger because she can handle it. A lot of times we are scared to do this, as we should be, but when they can handle it, we must do it. Remember that at this age, her wake window is 3-3.5 hours.
Allow for longer naps: In this transition period, you want your little one to get in as much day sleep as she can within those 2 naps, without letting her exceed the total amount needed in one day. At this age your little one should not be napping 3 hours total (maximum), so if she does take 2 excellent naps, this will help her stay up longer intervals and avoid that 3rd nap.
3:00 p.m. rule: If your little one wakes up from her second nap at 3:00 p.m. or later, it is recommended to skip the 3rd nap and move bedtime earlier. If she wakes up before 3:00 p.m., she will need a small late afternoon catnap, even if it’s only for 20/30 minutes.
Push bedtime earlier: On the days where your child doesn’t take her 3rd nap, remember to move bedtime earlier. Since your little one is old enough to handle 3 to even 3.5 hours of a wake window at the end of the day, you will move bedtime to 6/6:30 p.m. and end the day then.
Give it time: Remember, with all transitions, this can take a few days, even weeks. Remember that she is adjusting her body to only take 2 naps a day and to be able to handle larger wake windows. We need to be patient and consistent more importantly, and continue with the pace as your child will soon get adjusted to the new wake windows, and less overall day sleep. The more consistent you are, the sooner it will click.
Are you struggling with your little one’s nap transition? Let’s talk!