Let’s Talk Nap Transitions

Nap transitions can be a little tough to navigate! But not impossible. As they adjust to less naps/consolidating nap sleep, things may feel a little wonky but stay the course and let it work out! Remember, it can take a few weeks to feel “settled” in on a new nap schedule.

Here are when common nap transitions happen (on AVERAGE):

As a newborn, they take 5-7ish naps a day. They can be anywhere from 20 mins to 2 hours long.

• The 4-3 nap transition happens between 3.5-5 months

• The 3-2 nap transition happens between 6-9 months (read about ours here)

• The 2-1 nap transition happens between 13-18 months

• The 1-0 nap transition happens between 3-5 years

Around 8-12 weeks, your little ones circadian rhythm is established and you start to see naps consolidate into a solid 4-5 naps a day.

Shortly after that, they’ll want to drop to 3 naps and so the 4-3 can be a sort of “seamless” transition into less naps (though that isn’t always the case!)

Signs your little one may need to transition to less naps:

• Early morning wake ups (this could be a sign of too much day sleep/not enough awake time in the day)

• Fighting a nap (this could mean that you are putting them down for their nap too early or that they are not tired enough for the next nap. Both are signs that naps should be more spaced out, and that one of the naps should/could be dropped)

• Fighting bedtime (too much day sleep/not enough awake time, just not tired enough)

• Shorter naps when longer ones were the norm

• Happy night wakings

So how do you go about dropping a nap?

First, make sure they are close to the appropriate age and your nights are starting to come together with longer stretches of sleep. Otherwise, dropping a nap/longer awake times with lots of night wakings are going to lead to an overtired cycle that can be very hard to get out of.

Then, as you watch for signs of needing more awake time, you’ll gradually increase your awake times until you max out what they can handle with that amount of naps that you’re at.

Signs of needing more awake time:

• If you’re currently using an awake time and the nap is good, BUT then becomes shorter for 4-5 days, increase the awake time by 15 minutes

• If your baby starts to fight bedtime and they aren’t tired enough, increase by 15 minutes

• Early mornings can be a sign of needing more awake time somewhere in the day

• If they were falling asleep easily and now they aren’t, push the awake time 15 minutes

Max awake time based on number of naps:

• 4 naps: max of 1.5-1.75 hours

• 3 naps: max of 2.5 hours

• 2 naps: max of 4 hours

• 1 nap: max of 6 hours

This does not mean EVERY awake time needs to be that amount of time, necessarily. But if you are at awake times of: 2/2.25/2.5/2.5, then I would not increase the awake time of the 2.5 hour ones. I would add awake time before the other ones that are lower (for example: 2.25/2.25/2.5/2.5!

Second, be flexible with bedtime! Don’t get hung up on a time on the clock. It is totally normal to need an earlier bedtime when you drop a nap until they can handle the longer awake times or until the nap lengthens. This helps to combat the overtiredness that can creep in when stretching awake times.

Third, don’t be afraid to help them nap for longer periods of time if they are currently taking short ones in order to keep them rested for night time sleep.

It is also okay to alternate between less/more naps in the day for a short period of time. I would not do this for longer than 1-2 weeks. After that, I would force the nap transition, resign to maybe some cranky days, and use that early bedtime. At some point, more naps just won’t work any more and you have to commit to the transition!

It is absolutely okay to take the next week or so and slowly push back the nap in 15-30 minute stints until the gap between the first and last nap was where it needed to be. Remember, we don’t want a wildly varied wake time throughout the day. Really short before morning nap and really long before bedtime can be a recipe for disaster.

If you feel like things have totally gone off the rails, go back to the last schedule you felt was working for you as a jumping off point. Regardless of baby looking tired or not, begin by putting him down 15 minutes later for each nap. 

When the quality of the naps seems to be going down, changing the quantity of the naps can be the answer.

Some main takeaways:

• Don’t try and drop a nap cold turkey

• Mom, not baby, decides when the nap starts and ends

• Regardless of seeming tired or not, put baby down 15 minutes later for each nap

• Stick with it, baby will adapt

Naptime should not bring a ton of stress! Assess your baby, assess the situation, but don’t obsess over it. Don’t feel like a failure if you got it “wrong” that day. Every baby is different, every day can be different. Roll with it, put that baby to bed early, and start over the next day! Each day is a new opportunity. Every sleep is a new opportunity. 

If you’re ready to start assessing the data, then grab my 7 day sleep log! You can put pen to paper, highlighting everything you need to know about your baby and learn how to interpret the data!