Should you force a nap transition?
There are a lot of resources available about signs of a nap transition. It feels a little like this impending doom when you’re in that age range. It’s inevitable, but WHEN exactly is it going to happen?!
Now, I’ll be the first to say: there’s no race to transitioning to less naps. And sometimes, the quicker you drop a nap, the quicker they are to drop ALL naps and the end of your napping era isn’t something I’d rush.
The other reason you don’t want to rush a nap transition is that it generally requires your child to be awake longer between naps and bedtime. That happens naturally with age (hence the reason for naps becoming less and more spread out throughout the day), but when we rush a nap transition, it could require them to be awake longer than they can tolerate which can backfire into an overtired dumpster fire.
So should you force a nap transition if you’re not necessarily seeing signs of doing so + they’re in the age range that it’s appropriate to do it?
Maybe!
I’ve forced a handful of nap transitions myself as it suited the family life a little better AND I get super tired of micromanaging the day in order to make naps fit in the day. Most recently, I’ve forced the 5-4 transition as well as the 4-3 transition (and slightly earlier than I’d ever do with a client or any of my other kids, quite frankly— but such is the life of the 4th child!)
Here’s what you should consider when making this decision:
Are you willing to accept the fallout of the transition with it potentially being a little bumpier than if you had waited? Are you willing to work through potentially short naps and/or night time wakings/early wakings from pushing them a little past their comfort as far as wake times? Are you willing to experience the disruption in favor of less naps, more freedom, or sibling nap alignment?
If so, go for it!
If it’s only going to add to your stress/anxiety, then it’s better to hold off.
Remember, each phase of parenting is simply that- a phase and they’re often over faster than we think they will be. So sticking with more naps than you’d like for a short period of time could be worth it for you.
If it’s not worth, you’re a risk taker, and you like to experiment a bit (I mean, this is how I figure out what I’m capable of doing schedule-wise with my littles), then give it a go!
The worst case scenario is that it doesn’t work out and you go back to the schedule that was working for a short period of time.
Wondering more about nap transitions? Check out these blogs:
